{"id":28234,"date":"2022-10-01T15:40:31","date_gmt":"2022-10-01T14:40:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/?p=28234"},"modified":"2024-11-15T16:20:01","modified_gmt":"2024-11-15T16:20:01","slug":"what-is-a-service-desk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/what-is-a-service-desk\/","title":{"rendered":"What is a service desk?"},"content":{"rendered":"

A service desk is the main point of contact between users and service providers. It can support users by addressing service requests, providing solutions to issues, issuing refunds, and more.<\/p>\n

Service desks can be internal to an organization, such as an IT service desk that helps employees get set up for success, or external, where they serve customers. Regardless of who they serve, many service desks are structured in layers<\/a> so issues of greater complexity and magnitude can be escalated to the appropriate individuals.<\/p>\n

Service desk vs. help desk<\/h2>\n

When it comes to IT, service desks are often conflated with help desks. But these are two different offerings.<\/p>\n

A help desk<\/a> tends to be more tactical and reactive in nature, helping users to fix issues when they arise. The key metrics for a help desk are typically linked to the speed with which its representatives can solve issues for users. In some organizations, a help desk is a sub-offering within a service desk.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, a service desk tends to be more strategic, with a broad focus on delivering services to users. It\u2019s often aligned to business goals, and performs work that helps the organization meet those goals.<\/p>\n

These strategic traits can include:<\/p>\n