What is an IT Service Desk?

The IT Service Desk is intended to be a primary point of engagement between users and an
IT organization. According to the ITIL, the service desk is the single point of contact (SPOC)
between the service provider (IT) and users for day-to-day activities. A typical service desk
manages incidents (service disruptions) and service requests (routine service related tasks)
along with handling user communications for things like outages and planned changes to
services. A service desk typically has a broad scope and is designed to provide the user

What is a Service Desk?

Service Desk vs Help Desk
Benefits

Best Practices
Service Desk Software

Where did IT Service Desks Come From?

The IT helpdesk function was born in the late 1980s as a support capability to fix IT issues.
It was a highly technical function focused on the technology rather than the end users. Early
IT helpdesks didn’t have the concept of SLAs or time-based targets for resolving issues. It
wasn’t until ITIL came onto the scene in the 1990s, capturing IT Service Management best
practices, that the concept of the user-centric IT service desk began to emerge. The service
In the mid-1990s, research by Iain Middleton of Robert Gordon University found that value
was derived not only from a reactive response to user issues, but also from the help desk's
unique position of communicating daily with numerous customers or employees. Information
gained about technical problems, user preferences, and what satisfies users can be
With the publishing of ITIL v2 in 2001, the Service Desk function and its role in incident and
request management became one of the core components of IT service operations in many
organizations. As the decade continued, globalization along with increasing pressures to
reduce IT operational costs led many organizations to centralize IT Service Desk functions
with many engaging 3rd party support partners to staff them. Outsourcing of IT service desk
Modern technology trends including cloud-services, the widespread use of 3rd party
components in the IT ecosystem and advancements in discovery and monitoring
capabilities have led to the integration of stand-alone helpdesk ticketing systems into more
comprehensive ITSM platforms that serve as the hub of operations not just for the IT
service desk, but the entire IT function. As companies seek to further modernize and pursue
Digital Transformation initiatives, the IT Service Desk is evolving again to become more
What is the Difference Between an IT Service Desk and a Helpdesk or Call Center?
Companies often use the terms “call center”, “helpdesk” and “service desk” interchangeably
which can lead to some confusion. ITIL regards call centers and help desks as limited kinds
of service desks, offering only a portion of what a service desk offers. With ITIL taking a
service centric perspective and focusing on IT, this makes sense. For many companies, the
ITIL definition doesn’t align with operational practices making the distinction is much more
Helpdesk
A help desk is a resource intended to provide the customer or internal user with information
and support related to a company's processes, products and services. The purpose of a
help desk is to provide a centralized resource to answer questions, troubleshoot problems
and facilitate solutions to known problems. Common examples of help-desks include:
Technical Support centers, Product Support /Warranty functions, Employee Benefits desks
Call Center
A call center or contact center is a central point for managing customer contacts and
interactions. office tasked with handling a large volume of requests typically by telephone
(but could include letters, faxes, social media, instant message or email as well). Inbound
call centers are often use for things like product support, customer service, order processing
andone
As 24/7 phone
can see, services.
there is aOutbound call centers
lot of overlaps betweenare use
the for thingsoflike
definitions telemarketing,
helpdesks, debt
call centers
and IT Service Desks. The distinction among them really centers around the scope of what
the function covers and how they are structured:
A helpdesk is focused on providing “help” and “break-fix” support. Helpdesks don’t have to
be IT focused and can be used to support exceptions to normal operations that take place
all over the company. They can either be physical locations interacting directly with
requestors in-person or remote/virtual locations using technology such as phone, email,
Call Centers are the broadest in the scope of issues that they cover, including both
technical and non-technical topics. Call centers don’t interact with requestors in-person and
always involve some sort of intermediary technology to facilitate engagement.
IT Service Desks focus only on supporting IT Services, but handle both the reactive “help”
services as well as supporting routine tasks like provisioning of resources, access
management, etc. IT Service Desks may be physical locations that users can visit in-person
or they may be remote operations like a call center. Those versed in ITIL may say that help
What Does an IT Service Desk do?
The primary role of an IT service desk is to serve as the primary point of contact for
monitoring / owning incidents, addressing user requests/questions and providing a
communications channel between other service management functions and the user
community. In addition to these core functions, the service desk often plays an active role in
In some organizations, the service desk is integrated into other business processes such
as:

Employee Onboarding
Acquisition Integration
Data Access Management
Supplier/Partner Onboarding and Off-boarding
Reporting and Metrics management
Business Continuity Management
Infrastructure/Service Monitoring

Benefits of an IT Service Desk

Cost Savings and Scalability
Cost savings and scalability are the two most common benefits that companies are seeking
when they implement an IT Service Desk. A service desk that is properly staffed and well
managed can handle much of the routine work of IT. The service desk provides the
organizations with a relatively low-cost option for transferring simple work from expensive
engineering teams and subject matter experts, enabling them to focus on activities that add
A Finger on the Pulse of User Sentiment
The service desk is the starting point for many key processes and services for IT and as
such is often the primary interface between users, business processes and the IT services
that enable them. Monitoring this interaction provides valuable insight into user satisfaction,
sentiment towards services and features and un-met needs that could potentially be
Early warning of potential problems
Because of the volume of issues and requests that the service desk handles, with the right
data and tools for evaluating patterns and trends, the organization can use the service desk
as a monitoring tool to identify and preemptively address service issues. The “early warning
system” that the service desk provides can enable proactive problem management,
IT Service Desk Best Practices
Companies have been operating IT service desks for many years and out of those
operations some best practices have emerged.
Customer Engagement

Examine customers behavior and expectations to make sure you understand their needs
Provide an end-user Self-help portal accessible 24 hrs/day (even when your service desk is
closed)
Use SLAs and priority/severity classification to differentiate requests so you can address the
mosttocritical
Try resolveones firstat the first point of engagement and avoid hand-offs, escalations and
issues
the needcustomer
Perform for call-backs
satisfaction surveys on a regular basis to understand how your clients
feel about the services they are receiving

Service Desk Management & Reporting

Use real-time helpdesk reports, dashboards and analytics to monitor operations and initiate
corrective
Ensure actions before
escalation issuesprocesses
and handoff become problems
are clear and well understood to avoid missed
SLAs
Leverage analytics capabilities from your ITSM system to reduce the time/effort to generate
reports
Ensure management experiences your service desk operations first hand to gain an
appreciation
Treat servicefor what
desk service
staff desk staff do
as professional and the challenges
communicators they face
and problem-solvers, giving them
the tools they need to be successful

Using technology to support the IT Service Desk

Implement service request workflow capabilities in your helpdesk software to help

orchestrate escalations and hand-offs
Provide automation capabilities for common user requests (access, password reset, etc)
Use your service desk software to facilitate and record communications between agents
and requestors
Integrate your Service Desk systems into your broader ITSM to provide agents greater
access to information about the IT environment

Knowledge Management

Implement a knowledge management system to capture knowledge in a place it can be

accessed
Provide by multiple
answers people Asked Questions directly to end-users - avoiding the need
to Frequently
for agent
Keep yourcontact
knowledge records current and accurate by reviewing and purging knowledge
records frequently

Software that Support an IT Service Desk

An effective IT Service Desk requires a solid technology foundation to provide agents with
the tools and information to effectively address requestors’ needs.
Help Desk Ticketing
The helpdesk ticketing system serves as the core transactional platform for the IT Service
Desk - orchestrating both incidents and service requests throughout the service desk
function and any extended support teams. Essential functions of the ticketing system
Workflow management
Alerts/Escalations
Automated Routing
Contract/SLA Management

Knowledge Management
Knowledge is the most valuable resource the service desk has and to maximize operational
performance they need to make knowledge data the best quality it can be. A knowledge
management system is critical to managing this resource and ensuring organizational
knowledge is made available to those people who need to use it. The essential functions of
Knowledge Database (KMDB)
Knowledge Management workflows to support a knowledge lifecycle
Known Issue / Known Error Database (KEDB)
Separate agent and end-user views of knowledge data
Suggestive key-word searching based on incident description

End-User Self-Service
Many issues and requests that generate user calls into the IT Service Desk are things that
the user could address on their own if they had the right set of tools and access to
information. Self-service support capabilities enable users to resolve their issues faster,
without the delays of waiting for an agent. They also save the company money by reducing
the need for additional agent capacity in the IT Service Desk to support simple requests.

Knowledge Search
Self-service diagnostics
Automated common processes
Service Request form

Service Desk Management and Reporting

Management and reporting functions are critical within the IT Service Desk as leaders seek
to optimize operational costs, preemptively identify business impacting issues (major
incidents), manage user satisfaction and ensure SLA compliance. Technology can play a
big role in enabling the management functions by giving service desk managers access to a
holistic picture of their operations and data to make informed decisions. Some of the key

Major Incident Management capabilities

Service Performance and Availability Dashboards
Agent / Call management metrics reports
SLA conformance reports
Known Issue Analytics

Integration with other ITSM Capabilities

The IT Service Desk operates as a piece of the greater Service Management operations of
your IT function. While the IT Service Desk can operate independently, performance and
value are enhanced by integrating the service desk software with other parts of the
company’s ITSM system. Some of the integrations that are particularly valuable include:
Configuration Management Database (CMDB)
Giving agents access to the complex web of technical dependencies and component
configuration information to enable them to better assess the impacts of incidents
Change Management
Many technology issues are caused by planned changes. By giving agents access to the
change management system, they will be able to identify change related incidents more
quickly
Monitoring
Service and infrastructure monitors provide real-time visibility to the health of the IT
environment and alerts when something goes wrong. By integrating monitoring capabilities
with the service desk system, many incidents can be identified without the need for a user
Problem Management
The best way to address incidents is to avoid them happening at all. Integrating with
problem management capabilities not only helps service desk agents understand what
known issues are already being worked on but it also enables problem management teams
Asset Management
IT Service Desk interactions with users is an ideal time to verify and update asset
management information. Providing agents the ability to see and update asset management
data can be an effective way of improving the quality of this important ITSM data set.
Conclusion
The IT Service Desk is an essential part of the ITSM function of modern companies. As
technology takes on a broader role as an integrated part of business processes and users’
experiences, ensuring that the technology services are working well and accessible to those
people who need to use them is critical. The user-centric IT Service desk, with its
orchestrated
Every workflows,
organization deepand
is unique wealth
yourofservice
organizational
desk andknowledge anduse
the tools you connections into
need to be the
fully
aligned to your business needs. Whether your organization is more technology focused and
needing an integrated ITSM solution like Fresh Service or taking a broader view of the
service desk in supporting not only IT but other business functions using a customer service