Thursday, August 2, 2007

Help Desk Software Basics

What is a help desk?

A help desk is an information and assistance resource that troubleshoots problems with computers, e-businesses and any products or services where customers require help.

How does it work?

Corporations often provide help desk support to their customers via a toll-free number, website and/or e-mail. There are also in-house help desks geared toward providing the same kind of help for employees only. This is also called an internal help desk.



What is a service desk? Is help desk a part of a service desk?

A Service Desk is a primary IT capability called for in IT Service Management (ITSM) as defined by the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL). It is intended to provide a Single Point of Contact ("SPOC") to meet the communications needs of both Users and IT and to satisfy both Customer and IT Provider objectives. Many organisations have implemented a central point of contact for handling Customer, User and related issues ("User" refers to the actual user of the service, while "Customer" refers to the entity that is paying for service). The Service Desk function is known under several titles (often interpreted as having increasing levels of business relevance) including:

Call centre
Contact centre
Help desk
Service desk


What comprises a service desk?

The ITIL approach considers the Service Desk to be the central point of contact between service providers and users/customers on a day-to-day basis. It is also a focal point for reporting Incidents (disruptions or potential disruptions in service availability or quality) and for users making Service Requests (routine requests for services). The Service Desk handles incidents and service requests, as well as providing an interface to users for other ITSM activities such as:

1. Incident Management
2. Problem Management
3. Configuration Management
4. Change Management
5. Release Management
6. Service Level Management
7. Availability Management
8. Capacity Management
9. Financial Management
10. IT Service Continuity Management
11. Security Management

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