Help Desk Software

What is the best Help Desk Software?

What is Help Desk Software?

Help Desk software is a centralized portal where customers or internal team members can submit questions, receive product support, or resolve technical issues efficiently through an automated ticketing system.

Most help desk software systems leverage a ticket system that gives the customer or team member the option to select the type of support they need and submit their question using menus or free-form text boxes. Once this information is submitted, the system creates a ticket and moves the request into queue, according the nature of the request and which department should receive it to provide assistance.

Your staff can work through tickets in order of priority or submission to provide answers and support in a streamlined, organized fashion that is all tracked and stored in your system, creating a record of all the communication and work that took place from the time the ticket was opened until the issue was resolved. Using help desk software ensures that customer or team support requests are handled in a timely manner and gives your support teams the tools they need to work more efficiently. 

Help Desk Software Vs. Contact Center Software

While help desk software and contact center software solutions are both rooted in service, these two systems are typically used in quite different ways.

Help desk software is typically used by companies to provide internal technical support to their own teams or help track work done in certain releases and upgrades to their systems. It may also be used by companies who offer technology-based services, as a way to manage technical requests and questions. 

On the other hand, contact center software provides a full suite of multi-channel (email, phone, chat, etc) tools that are intended to serve customers and help them with questions, resolve issues related to products or services, or upsell them to other products. Contact center software tracks customer interactions and provides tools to analyze customer behavior and patterns with advanced analytics. A contact center may actually support many departments within a company, including inbound customer care as well as outbound sales and marketing.

The top features in Help Desk software include:

  • Ticketing automation
  • Customizable ticket submission forms
  • Grouping of related tickets
  • Service Level Agreement (SLA) management
  • Tags for organizing tickets
  • Customizable ticket pages by customer or employee
  • Customizable, individual ticket queues
  • Customizable ticket statuses (other than just “open” or “closed”)
  • Control of public and private ticket updates and actions
  • Inventory integration

The benefits of Help Desk software include:

  • Streamlined, efficient management of tech support requests and issues.
  • Enhanced visibility into all open issues, for staff and customers, from the time a ticket is opened until it’s resolved.
  • Improved agent and technical support productivity and organization.
  • Fewer missed service or support requests.
  • Simplified operations and more ease in meeting SLAs.

The level of service that customers and internal employees expect has increased substantially thanks to the conveniences and speed of technology and how it supports service today. Help desk software will continue to innovate along with this trend to ensure that solutions offer all the tools that a company needs to provide superior support and keep pace with the demands that puts on staff. 

Support and service is becoming more popular on social channels, and many consumers will seek help, advice, and support through social channels. Help desk software (along with other software solutions) are becoming more robust in how they integrate with social channels and will continue to provide tools to support this trend.

Top 10 Help Desk Software

Zoho Desk / Vision Help Desk / GoTo Resolve / LiveAgent / Zendesk Suite / ServiceDesk Plus / TOPdesk / MSP Manager / Ameyo / UseResponse

WH Score
7.0
ServiceWise
0reviews
Starting Price:$20 / user / per month
ServiceWise provides customizable tools that can be used to run and manage an internal helpdesk and also offers features and capabilities that support internal helpdesk and IT Service Management (ITSM) solutions.
WH Score
5.8
Elementool
0reviews
Starting Price:$89.99 / user / per month
Elementool Help Desk is a web-based help desk platform that helps organizations manage their customer support tickets. Clients can generate tickets, allocate them to particular representatives, monitor their status, and rank them in order of priority. Elementool Help Desk also comes with sophisticat...
WH Score
5.8
FuseDesk
1review
Starting Price:$0 / user / per month
FuseDesk is a unique support platform that was created by entrepreneurs and business owners who were looking for a way to streamline support activities, improve customer interactions, and analyze support efforts all in one easy to use solution. FuseDesk provides tools that can be used to support mul...
WH Score
4.4
NinjaOne
9reviews
Starting Price:N/A
NinjaOne is a comprehensive Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) platform designed to empower IT professionals and Managed Service Providers (MSPs) with efficient IT infrastructure management and monitoring capabilities. With a wide range of advanced features, NinjaOne simplifies the management of...

Learn more about Help Desk Software

What is Help Desk Software?

Help Desk software is a centralized portal where customers or internal team members can submit questions or resolve technical issues efficiently though a ticketing system. Help Desk software can be used to support customers or provide support to end users of products or services. 

What Does a Help Desk System Do? 

A Help Desk provides a centralized portal for customers or end users of a product or service offered by a company to obtain support, get answers to questions, and troubleshoot issues through an organized ticket system. 

What is the Difference Between Help Desk and Service Desk?

The difference between a help desk and a service desk is that a help desk is often used for IT support, fixes, and troubleshooting while a service desk is structed around customer questions and product support. 

What is the Difference Between Help Desk and Contact Center?

The difference between help desk and contact center is that a Help desk software is typically used by companies to provide internal technical support to their own teams or help track work done in certain releases and upgrades to their systems. 

On the other hand, contact center software provides a full suite of multi-channel (email, phone, chat, etc) tools that are intended to serve customers and help them with questions, resolve issues related to products or services, or upsell them to other products. 

What are the Common Features of Help Desk Software?

The common features of help desk software include:

  • Contact Points
  • User-Friendly Interface & Dashboards
  • Efficient Ticketing 
  • Knowledge Base
  • Self-Service Portal and Tools
  • Escalation Options
  • Workflow and Ticketing Automation
  • Customer Satisfaction Surveys

What are the Main Components of Help Desk Support?

The main components of help desk support include:

  • Incident Management and IT Support
  • Trouble-Shooting and Problem Solving
  • Change Management
  • Automated Ticketing Workflows
  • Service Requests

What are the Benefits of Help Desk Software?

The benefits of Help Desk software include:

  • Streamlined, efficient management of tech support requests and issues.
  • Enhanced visibility into all open issues, for staff and customers, from the time a ticket is opened until it’s resolved.
  • Improved agent and technical support productivity and organization.
  • Fewer missed service or support requests.
  • Simplified operations and more ease in meeting SLAs.

What are the Challenges with a Help Desk?

The challenges with a help desk include:

  • Multiple requests coming through multiple channels for support or service
  • Lost issues
  • Prolonged resolution times
  • Wasted time due to interruptions or dealing with repetitive, manual tasks
  • Low IT or customer satisfaction ratings
  • High operational costs

How to Buy Help Desk Software?

You can use the following checklist to help you determine how to buy the best Help Desk software for your business.

  • Focus on business needs, service issues, and growth goals driving the decision to get a new or upgraded Help Desk system.
  • Plan for data migration, implementation costs, IT involvement, and any downtime that may impact customer or technical support during the transition.
  • Make a plan to support user adoption through training.
  • Understand the support processes you’re looking to streamline and automate.
  • Don’t skip the product demos offered by Help Desk software vendors to show features and functionality.
  • Understand reporting and analytics needs.
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