IT Support Help Desk and a Services Desk – The Differences
Providing the best service to your customers has become crucial as products and software become more efficient and your clients expect more from you. Having an IT support help desk has become vital, and many companies can’t function without one.
However, how can you know if you need an IT support help desk or just a service desk? Knowing the difference between these two will help your business provide a better customer service experience!
Each Has Its Own Focus
The difference between an IT support help desk and a service desk begins with their respective focuses.
An IT support help desk focuses externally on customers—providing end users with solutions to problems they encounter. They handle customer’s problems as efficiently and quickly as possible. A great help desk will also keep track of incident data and use software and best practices to be proactive about problems rather than just reacting appropriately.
A service desk is more internally focused on your business. A service desk is generally the first point of contact for any IT questions or issues. They can either solve problems themselves or connect to the IT support help desk. Although the service desk is more concerned with IT efficiency than customers, it needs to have the ability to provide end users with solutions as well, and in this way, it can also function as a help desk.
Their Goals Differ
Your IT support help desk and service desk will also have different goals based on their different focuses to support your business as well as its customers.
An IT support help desk operates under the goal that they aim to provide resolution for a customer’s problem as quickly as possible during that first point of contact. They handle the needs of customers to resolve any incidents in a timely manner on a daily basis.
A service desk has the goal of improving all IT operations and processes throughout your business. A service desk collects and records data and always looking for opportunities for efficiency in your business. The service desk supports the IT support help desk and its goal of better serving customers, and in this way these two function as a unit in which the best service is provided.
Can You Have One Without the Other?
Although you can have a IT support help desk without a service desk, it’s almost impossible to have a service desk without a help desk. This is because your service desk needs to function as both your help desk and service desk, so having a service desk that focuses solely on your organization’s needs won’t provide great service to your customers.
Your business might not be ready for a service desk, but having an IT support help desk can generally meet all of your needs and provide your customers with the great resolution experience they’re looking for. Your help desk can be part of your service desk or a totally separate entity—it all depends on your business’ unique needs as well as its size. Your service desk needs to be able to function as a help desk in order to provide service to your customers.
When considering the implementation of an IT support help desk or a service desk, consider what makes them different. Maybe your business just needs a help desk, or maybe you’d like the first point of contact customers have to be with a service desk. Either way, you can ensure the best experience for your customers with a great IT support help desk!