The difference between help desk and service desk services is extremely clear, and each is specifically advantageous for corporate operations.
What is a Help Desk?
The help desk serves as a single point of contact (SPOC) via which staff members and clients may get support from a company. The main tactical application of help desks is to handle urgent technological problems and incidents. Help desk operations can be run separately or in conjunction with bigger service desks. The help desk’s primary objective is to respond as quickly as possible to user queries.
An organization’s ability to manage reported concerns and see them through to resolution is made possible by a help desk. These are some important characteristics:
- Single-point of-contact operations (SPOC)
- Using software to keep track of occurrences and see them through to completion
- Tracking, escalating, and alerting of issues through automation
- Service level agreements and service request support (SLAs)
- Providing just a limited amount of connectivity with ITSM procedures
- Multiple communication methods, including the phone, email, live chat, etc., are available for customers to reach a company’s support desk. Many clients even like interacting with support staff on their social media pages, like Facebook or Twitter.
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What Is A Service Desk?
A service desk performs the same function as a help desk by serving as the sole point of contact for clients and support staff. However, the service desk is much systematic and considers both service requests and issues. Compared to help desks, a service desk performs a wider range of tasks and serves as the sole point of contact for customers and service providers.
Instead of focusing on problem-solving, a service desk considers overall company demands. The management of problems, service requests, and user communication is done through service desks. With the overarching objective of increasing IT operations and company productivity, the typical service desk will feature a help desk component.
IT service desks must take into account more than just individual users. Instead, they concentrate on the overall demands and objectives of the organization. The following are important characteristics of a service desk:
- Complete integration with ITSM processes in service planning, service design, service transfer, service operation, and ongoing service improvement.
- Using automation to make fixes to stop issues from happening again
- Keeping a database of information for future use
- Making sure SLAs are followed
- The establishment of a SPOC for all IT-related areas and procedures
- Updating services, procedures, and technology proactively to enhance IT procedures.
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Help Desk vs. Service Desk
When it comes to their respective functions, these two names overlap, yet there are still some important distinctions between them.
The help desk was developed as a result of organizations becoming more IT-focused in order to aid customers and enhance their support experience. The service desk, on the other hand, is frequently seen as an improved help desk that focuses mainly on achieving business goals. The ITSM leading practice framework, often known as ITIL or the IT Infrastructure Library, serves as the foundation for the service desk.
The break-fix approach is how a help desk operates; if a problem arises, clients or staff can get in touch with the support staff for assistance. However, a service desk enables your company to handle all demands for news services or data in addition to managing break-fix. For workplace use, a staff member can ask for a new laptop or printer, for instance.
In that the support staff can only provide assistance after an event has occurred, the majority of help desks are reactive. For instance, the appropriate specialists and developers can cooperate to fix the problem when users report that the webpage is unavailable. Service desks, on the other hand, take a pro-active stance and assist your company in long-term decision-making to raise the caliber of the IT services desk.