IT Service Desk

The Top 10 IT Help Desk Solutions

Discover the top IT help desk solutions. Explore features such as ticketing systems, knowledge bases, and real-time chat support.

The Top 10 IT Help Desk Solutions include:
  • 1. FreshWorks Freshdesk
  • 2. HappyFox Help Desk
  • 3. Hiver
  • 4. Jira Service Management
  • 5. LiveAgent
  • 6. SolarWinds Service Desk
  • 7. Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk
  • 8. SysAid Help Desk Software
  • 9. Zendesk
  • 10. Zoho Desk

IT help desk solutions are used by IT teams to assist customers and employees through specific requests or general troubleshooting. The solutions act as online portals, helping support teams manage Helpdesk requests, offer self-service options to end-users and track query performance. The portal also acts as a central information repository when users can find FAQs and other general information. These are important and effective solutions that assist with troubleshooting, productivity, user satisfaction, and maintaining business continuity. 

IT help desk solutions can monitor, categorize, assign, and resolve incidents. knowledge center allows common or recurrent issues to be noted, with helpful information shared to the users that need it. User can be directed to an FAQ portal or knowledge base where they can quickly find an alternative solution or answer to their problem without the need to create a ticket and contact the team. IT help desk platforms also use advanced analytics and reporting features to give teams insight into support performance, ticket trends, and where there are multiple, recurrent errors that may need improvement.

In this article, we’ve listed the top IT help desk solutions currently on the market. We’ll explain the key features to help you identify which solution best suits your organization. Read on for a short FAQ covering the main questions surrounding IT help desk solutions.

Freshdesk

Freshworks is a global software company that offers solutions aimed at enhancing both customer (CX, CRM) and employee experiences (ITSM, HRSM). Currently utilized by over 50,000 businesses around the world, Freshworks operates out of 13 global locations to meet the needs of their customer base.

Freshdesk is FreshWorks customer service software that facilitates seamless customer support experiences. It provides a host of tools for efficient ticket management, enabling teams to prioritize, categorize, and track customer service tickets effectively. The software also offers features such as AI-powered automation and collaborative tools to streamline operations, enhancing agent productivity. Freshdesk provides analytics to monitor and optimize support operations, identifying potential issues and delivering AI-driven insights to improve service delivery.

Freshdesk enables customer self-service, with a scalable knowledge base and custom widgets that assist customers in finding answers easily. This functionality, not only optimizes agent workloads, but also offers custom app integrations to address specific business needs. Chat bots, support ticketing, and live conversations are integrated into a single unified platform.

Freshdesk ensures data security with stringent audits of networks and systems, along with adherence to regulatory compliance. It offers custom SSL certificates to safeguard your domain, and facilitates controlled access with features such as IP whitelisting and identity & access management. The platform is highly customizable, allowing for personalized workflows and agent roles, aligning with your business’s unique needs and fostering a secure, efficient, and responsive customer service environment.

Freshdesk
Happyfox

HappyFox offers a straightforward and efficient help desk and ticket management solution. Designed to centralize and simplify omnichannel requests, it facilitates a single platform where you can convert emails, phone calls, chats, social media interactions, and web requests into actionable tickets. This tool seamlessly integrates with HappyFox Chat and other live chat widgets, recording all customer conversations as tickets in the help desk system. It also manages knowledge base articles and FAQs in multiple languages, encouraging self-service among end-users, allowing you to reduce ticket volume.

HappyFox integrates with popular SaaS applications, enhancing its utility by integrating information from other CRMs, online stores, call centers, or project management tools into its interface. HappyFox also provides a powerful automation suite. It facilitates the crafting of smart rules that dictate trigger conditions and can automate everyday actions, along with intelligent ticket assignment algorithms to expedite the support process.

To augment collaboration and efficient problem-solving, HappyFox allows for private notes to facilitate internal discussions amongst team members. This feature, alongside the ability to create ticket templates and preset responses, streamlines the process of managing and responding to customer issues. Furthermore, task management capabilities let you break down complex tickets into smaller tasks, making the resolution process more organized and manageable. This is complemented by a robust reporting module, offering real-time insights that can assist in optimizing support strategies and identifying areas for improvement.

HappyFox also offers enterprise-level security functionalities. It includes features like IP restrictions, custom SSL certificates, two-factor authentication, and session-based security to safeguard data and prevent unauthorized access. Additionally, HappyFox provides a seamless onboarding experience for support agents with resources such as HappyFox University and a comprehensive support center.

Happyfox
Hiver

Hiver is a customer service platform built specifically to integrate with Google Workspace, offering teams the opportunity to manage customer service tasks directly within the familiar Gmail interface. Hiver facilitates the swift and efficient resolution of customer issues by turning emails into actionable tasks, assigning them designated owners, and categorizing them for quick access. With this setup, teams can collaborate seamlessly on both internal and external queries within the Gmail environment.

This customer service solution provides multiple features that allow for a comprehensive view and management of customer queries. These include shared labels for categorizing the shared inbox or selective email sharing within a team, and conversation IDs for easy tracking of email threads. The platform enables collaboration with team members across different departments, and offers insights into customer and employee conversations, helping to craft more personalized responses.

Hiver enables teams to optimize workflows, with features such as email templates for faster and consistent responses, and real-time alerts to prevent email duplication errors. The platform provides streamlined approval workflows and allows for the sharing of emails through secure permalinks. These features work collectively to enhance team productivity and improve the customer service experience.

Hiver offers multi-channel support capabilities, allowing teams to manage various communication channels including email, live chat, and phone, all from the Gmail inbox. This extends to integrating with a host of popular apps like Salesforce, Slack, and QuickBooks, centralizing and enhancing visibility into various processes. The platform also facilitates on-the-go customer service with its Android and iOS apps, ensuring agents can address customer issues efficiently, from any device.

Hiver
Jira Software

Jira Service Management facilitates seamless communication and operations between IT, business teams, and development units. The tool offers a comprehensive suite of IT service management features that allow teams to rapidly adapt to changes and provide top-notch IT service and support. This solution is a strong choice for enterprises seeking a responsive ITSM solution.

Jira offers several management features to streamline various IT processes. With Request Management, teams can centralize work requests and ensure timely assistance to employees and customers. Incident Management aims to foster quick responses and resolutions to incidents by bridging the gap between development and IT operations teams.

Change Management provisions IT teams with critical insights from software development tools to enhance decision-making and mitigate risks. Asset Management aids in efficient inventory management, keeping track of asset ownership and lifecycles to curb expenses. Jira Service Management encourages self-service through providing users access to knowledge articles, thereby reducing request volumes.

Jira Service Management is also available as a mobile app, which allows them to submit, approve, and resolve issues swiftly from any location. Jira offers varied plan options including Free, Standard, Premium, and Enterprise packages, as well as a Data Center alternative for organizations preferring a self-managed environment. This broad selection makes it easy to find a plan that meets your organization’s unique needs and scale.

Jira Software
LiveAgent Logo

LiveAgent is a customer service platform equipped with over 175 features to assist in help desk and live chat functionalities. It streamlines customer communications by consolidating messages from various channels into a single, organized inbox. This facilitates improved customer relationships by enabling faster ticket resolution times and fostering meaningful conversations without imposing a heavy financial burden.

At the core of LiveAgent’s services is its ticketing system which converts customer messages into help desk tickets, providing a structured view of all customer queries. The software also features a fast and user-friendly live chat widget supported by functionalities such as pre-written responses and real-time typing view; this allows for quicker and more efficient customer service. Additionally, businesses can establish a call center to manage both inbound and outbound calls, offering a personal touch in customer interactions and addressing tickets effectively.

LiveAgent also integrates with social media platforms, enabling customer support teams to engage with the users directly from the ticketing system. A knowledge base tool is also integrated, allowing the creation and sharing of a range of informative materials including “how-to” guides and business best practices, facilitating easy self-support for customers, and equipping agents with necessary information.

LiveAgent offers an array of additional features including task management and workflow automation, helping to eliminate repetitive tasks and focus on critical areas of customer service. The software supports 43 languages, and also includes analytics, with reports to help gauge performance metrics across various channels and agent rating, with CRM integrations. LiveAgent also offer a mobile help desk app for Android and iOS devices.

LiveAgent Logo
Solarwinds logo

SolarWinds Service Desk is a cloud-based, AI-powered IT service management (ITSM) platform designed to enhance productivity and speed up problem resolution. This platform includes modules for incident, problem, release, and change management, along with a streamlined Configuration Management Database (CMDB) to cater to your specific service needs.

SolarWinds facilitates the automation of numerous help desk processes, including ticket classification, routing, and correlation. This automation is further complemented by self-service capabilities, enhanced by an comprehensive knowledge base to bolster efficiency. In addition, the service desk offers IT asset management (ITAM) functionalities, ensuring full lifecycle management and maintaining an audit trail of your hardware, software, licenses, and contracts, facilitating a seamless workflow and operational transparency.

Adding another layer of functionality is its service catalog that is capable of automating manual tasks, processes, and approvals not just for IT support, but extending to HR, facilities, and finance departments. This is geared to streamline employee services, making operations smoother and more cohesive. The platform is also equipped to integrate effortlessly with various tools and applications, thanks to REST APIs and robust integrations with SolarWinds’ observability solutions and ChatOps collaboration tools.

SolarWinds Service Desk provides customizable reporting options, giving insights into customer satisfaction scores and service-level agreement (SLA) management, allowing for more precise operational analysis and improvements. The platform supports over 40 languages and offers real-time dashboard views, facilitating global ticketing trend analysis and catering to a diverse workforce. This platform stands as a comprehensive solution for organizations looking to optimize their IT service management strategy.

Solarwinds logo
Spiceworks

Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk is a free and user-friendly IT help desk solution utilized by over 280,000 organizations globally. It is a comprehensive tool designed to help manage, prioritize, and streamline daily support tasks and user requests without the need for a substantial budget or support department.

This solution allows for the easy tracking and prioritization of user requests, reducing time spent on support tasks. The platform includes customizable web portals for user-submitted tickets, automatic ticket assignment and routing based on categories and priorities, and customizable ticket views and rules. The software offers Android and iOS apps that bring network inventory and monitoring capabilities to your fingertips. This is easy to deploy across all platforms.

In addition to facilitating task management, Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk provides detailed reports, helping businesses strategize and make informed decisions. The advanced reporting feature supports the creation of various reports with different filters, catering to the specific needs of an organization. The platform integrates seamlessly with Power BI Desktop, allowing for easy data retrieval and reporting, thereby enhancing business intelligence capabilities.

Spiceworks
SysAid

SysAid Help Desk Software is a reliable tool that can streamline the IT support processes within your organization. Instead of navigating the tedious setup and maintenance of IT help desks, SysAid offers an automated solution that allows your team to focus on other tasks. The software is designed to automate various help desk functions including ticket handling, asset management, and issue resolution, aiming to optimize your team’s time and efforts.

One of the main features of SysAid is its ability to quickly resolve issues, facilitated by the cross-referencing of tickets, users, and assets within the system. The ticket automation feature automatically sorts, routes, and assigns tickets to the appropriate desk. This means that ticket resolution can be as efficient as possible; all necessary data and records are readily available within each ticket.

SysAid empowers employees with self-service automation options. This feature includes automated password resets and one-click issue submissions, thereby offering employees a smoother experience as they solve common IT problems independently. The software also comes with remote control capabilities, allowing direct connection to users’ machines to expedite issue resolution, whether employees are working in-office or remotely.

SysAid also offers asset management by tracking all your IT assets directly within your service desk. To aid in making informed business decisions, the solution offers comprehensive reporting that provides a holistic view of service performance through essential KPIs and statistics. It also integrates a Hotkey feature that enables end-users to record screen activities with a single click, automatically uploading the recordings to the tickets in the self-service portal.

SysAid
Zendesk logo

Zendesk, established in 2007, is a well-recognized customer service solution, that enables businesses to personalize customer interactions across various channels such as telephony, chat, email, and social media. Zendesk serve over 100,000 brands and connecting them to hundreds of millions of customers globally.

At the core of Zendesk’s offerings is its ability to scale according to business needs. The service accommodates new teams and divisions effortlessly while maintaining stringent security measures. It allows the swift implementation of new features and solutions, helping businesses to adapt without a surge in costs. The platform’s key features include messaging, AI and automation, a help center, and wide range of integrations.

Zendesk is noted for offering personalized support at a large scale, whilst fostering strong customer relations. It equips agents with essential information about customers, facilitating faster and more tailored responses. The platform offers tools like the Zendesk Web Widget and Mobile SDK to make support readily available to customers wherever they are, leveraging live chat and in-context self-service options.

The company prioritizes data security and is trusted by several Fortune 100 and 500 companies. Zendesk adheres to industry standards and best practices to achieve compliance with recognized security and privacy frameworks, including certifications such as SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001:2013, ISO 27018:2014, ISO 27701:2019, and FedRAMP LI-SaaS, demonstrating its commitment to safeguarding customer data and helping subscribers meet their own compliance standards.

Zendesk logo
Zoho Logo

Zoho Desk is a comprehensive customer service solution that facilitates the efficient management of customer interactions across various channels including email, telephony, live chat, and social media. The platform offers multi-brand and multi-department structures to better organize your help desk according to your company’s configuration. It also streamlines ticket management, allowing you to track customer requests, no matter the product, brand, or department concerned.

A standout feature of Zoho Desk is its integration with ZIA, an artificial intelligence engine that assists in automating repetitive tasks and offering contextual insights to aid customer service agents in their responses. ZIA can analyze sentiment in conversations, auto-tag tickets based on their key elements, and alert the team about unusual activity in the ticket stream. It further enhances agent productivity by showcasing relevant solutions from your knowledge base for ticket responses.

In addition, Zoho Desk offers self-service options for customers who prefer finding answers on their own. It allows you to build a knowledge base of solutions to commonly asked questions and enables the development of guided conversations and embeddable self-service portals for multiple brands. The platform can be personalized and extended to suit your business needs. It offers customization options including layouts and templates, as well as allowing integrations with other software used by your team.

Zoho Desk places a high priority on security, offering features that help in safeguarding customer data while providing necessary information to your team. It helps in managing data access at various levels and assists organizations in GDPR compliance. The platform offers insights and analytics to monitor team performance and track time spent on each ticket and task, aiding in a better understanding of the workflow and identifying areas for improvement.

Zoho Logo
The Top 10 IT Help Desk Solutions