service desk definition

 

What is the difference between an IT Service Desk, a Help Desk and a Call Center?

Businesses often use the terms "call center", "help desk" and "service desk" interchangeably, which can lead to confusion. The ITIL considers call centers and help desks as restricted types of service desk, offering only part of the services provided by a service desk. Given that ITIL has taken a service-centric and IT-focused perspective, this makes sense. For many companies, the definition of ITIL does not conform to their operational practices, which further complicates their differentiation. Here are some explanations of the help desk and contact center functions to help differentiate them from an IT service desk.

Help desk

A help desk is a resource whose purpose is to offer information and support related to the processes, products and services of a company to its clients or internal users. The raison d'être of a help desk is to offer a centralized resource for answering questions, solving problems, and facilitating the resolution of known problems. Some common help desk examples are: technical support centers, product warranty and support functions, employee benefits call centers, and facility service centers. Help desk support can be provided through a multitude of channels, including physical locations, toll-free numbers, web pages, instant messaging, or email.

Call center

A call center or contact center is a central point for managing contacts and interactions with customers. These types of offices are usually responsible for handling a large volume of requests, typically by telephone (but which can also include letters, faxes, social networks, instant messages or emails). Inbound call centers are often used for things like product support, customer service, order processing, and 24-hour phone services. Outbound call centers are used for things like telemarketing, debt collection, and market research. A company may have multiple call centers that support various parts of business operations (including IT),

As you can see, there is some overlap between the definitions of IT help desk, call center and service desk. The difference between these is really based on the focus of the function, and how it is structured:

 

A help desk focuses on providing "help" and "not working-working" support. Help desks do not necessarily need to be IT-focused, and can be used to provide exceptional case support to normal business operations of the company. They can be both physical locations where applicants are interacted directly and in person, as well as remote / virtual locations that use technologies such as telephony, email, chat and others to facilitate virtual interaction service desk definition.

 

Call centers are the most comprehensive in focus in terms of the problems they can attack, including both technical and non-technical issues. Call centers do not interact in person with applicants, and they always use some kind of intermediary technology to facilitate interaction.

 

IT service desks focus exclusively on supporting IT services, but handle both "help" services and routine support tasks such as resource provisioning, access management, and so on. IT service desks can be physical locations that users can visit in person, or they can also be remote operations, such as a call center. Those most knowledgeable in ITIL would say that a help desk is tactical, while a service desk is strategic. This can vary from organization to organization.