Best Help Desk Software Of 2024

Analyst Rating

Company Size

Small Medium Large

Deployment

Cloud On-Premise

Platform

Mac Windows Linux Chromebook Android

Request Pricing Request Demo

Why We Picked Zendesk

Zendesk For Service offers streamlined tools for businesses of all sizes. It excels in features like ticket management, collaboration and knowledge management. Its interface is easy to use and understand, and there are plenty of onboarding resources for new users. The platform also offers numerous integrations with programs like CRM systems, project management tools and collaboration tools like Slack.

While users praised the comprehensive features and level of customization offered by the platform, they also said that this can make the learning curve steeper. Some customers were also disappointed by the lack of advanced reporting tools, the unresponsiveness of customer support and high cost for small businesses. All in all, Zendesk is a scalable and feature-rich solution for businesses looking for an efficient ticketing and support tool.

Zendesk Reviews Visit Website

Request Demo

Pros & Cons

Ticket Management: 83% of users who talked about Zendesk’s ticket management features had a positive experience and praised the platform.
Ease of Use: 64% of users who talked about their onboarding and general experience using the platform said Zendesk was easy to use and learn.
Integrations: 57% of reviewers who mentioned integrations were happy with the range and variety of integrations available.
Knowledge Management: 83% of users who mentioned using the knowledge management and help center tools said they had a positive experience.
Collaboration: 92% of users who talked about Zendesk’s collaboration tools said that the platform made external and internal collaboration and communication easier.

Reporting: 55% of users who talked about the platform’s reporting and analytics tools complained about the lack of advanced reporting tools, especially on cheaper plans.
Customer Support: 70% of users who talked about contacting Zendesk customer service expressed dissatisfaction with their experience.
Cost: 100% of users who talked about pricing said that the cost of the platform was quite high for small businesses and businesses in developing countries.

Key Features

Ticketing System: Offer high-quality customer support across various channels with pre-built dashboards, automation, customer ticket fields and dynamic forms. Avoid misplacing tickets, produce faster resolution and boost the bandwidth via robust tools such as CSAT ratings, routing, service-level agreements and time tracking.
Omnichannel Support: Offer quick and seamless customer support through multiple channels including email, phone, chat, customized chatbots, a website, WhatsApp, messaging, Facebook and Twitter to ensure faster resolutions
Messaging and Live Chat: Engage in long-term, personalized conversations with customers to deliver instant support without any repetitions. Help customers get instant answers via bots and integrated programs with the ability to turn to a live agent whenever needed.
Help Center: Give customers access to knowledge base articles and automated suggestion pop-ups to enable a streamlined and efficient self-service. Convert essential issues in the community into resolvable tickets and update reusable content from help centers and articles through content blocks.
Voice Support: Deliver instant support to customers with a cloud-based voice solution, plug into 90+ telephone providers. Extend voice capabilities with services including redaction, quality assurance and advanced call transcriptions.
Community Forums: Create a platform for customers to collaborate, provide feedback, review the product, and answer other user’s questions. Help them reach out for the most relevant services.
Reporting and Analytics: Analyze how customers use websites, products, services and various support channels. Determine ways to improve the experience by getting instant access to insights and identifying problem areas via customizable, pre-built dashboards.
Knowledge Base: Help customers get to know the services and products better by creating easy-to-read articles with rich formatting and translations to 40+ languages for a localized customer experience.

Request Free Trial

LiveChat

Start Price

^$20

Analyst Rating

Company Size

Small Medium Large

Deployment

Cloud On-Premise

Platform

Mac Windows Linux Chromebook Android

Request Pricing Request Demo

Why We Picked LiveChat

LiveChat is often praised for its user-friendly interface and ease of setup. It seamlessly integrates with various platforms and offers a wide range of customization options. One of its strengths is the ability to create automated chatbots, which can handle simple inquiries and free up agents for more complex tasks. LiveChat's analytics and reporting capabilities provide valuable insights into customer interactions, allowing businesses to optimize their support strategies. It compares favorably to similar products due to its comprehensive feature set, intuitive design, and robust reporting functionality. These factors are crucial for businesses seeking a reliable and efficient live chat solution.

However, some users have expressed concerns about occasional technical glitches and limited customization options for chatbots. Additionally, LiveChat's pricing can be a consideration for smaller businesses or those with limited budgets. Despite these minor drawbacks, LiveChat remains a top choice for businesses seeking a comprehensive and user-friendly live chat solution. Its strengths in ease of use, automation capabilities, and reporting functionality make it particularly suitable for businesses looking to improve customer support efficiency and gain valuable insights into customer interactions.

LiveChat Reviews Visit Website

Request Demo

Pros & Cons

Seamless Customer Support: LiveChat enables real-time communication, allowing businesses to resolve customer queries promptly and efficiently, enhancing customer satisfaction.
Personalized Interactions: Agents can access customer history and context, facilitating personalized interactions that build stronger relationships and drive loyalty.
Increased Conversion Rates: LiveChat provides an opportunity to engage with website visitors proactively, addressing objections and guiding them through the conversion funnel.
Improved Team Collaboration: LiveChat fosters collaboration between agents, allowing them to transfer chats seamlessly and share customer information for effective problem-solving.
Comprehensive Analytics: LiveChat offers robust analytics that provide valuable insights into customer behavior, enabling businesses to optimize their live chat strategy and measure its impact.

Inconsistent Agent Availability: Users experience frustration when they are unable to connect with a live agent during critical moments, leading to unresolved queries and dissatisfaction.
Limited Customization Options: Predefined chat templates and inflexible chat window designs restrict businesses from tailoring the live chat experience to match their brand identity and specific needs.
Data Security Concerns: Users are hesitant to provide sensitive information through live chat platforms due to concerns about data privacy and the potential for security breaches.
Delayed Response Times: Slow response times can lead to frustration and abandonment, especially during peak hours when users expect immediate assistance.
Lack of Proactive Engagement: Live chat software that lacks proactive engagement features limits the ability of businesses to initiate conversations and proactively address customer needs.

Key Features

Ticketing System: This module streamlines and simplifies the process of managing tickets. Users can create tickets from email or chat, group related cases with tags, assign tickets, schedule automated follow-ups and track open cases via a dashboard. Any messages sent after hours are saved as a ticket so no conversations are left untouched.
Chat Routing: This feature ensures that customers speak to the most suitable agent based on department (sales or service, for example). Incoming chats can be routed automatically based on criteria like URL, or they can enter a queue for agents to manually select from.
Reporting: A range of reports and analysis tools grant visibility into support efforts for a better understanding of performance. Managers can project staffing needs, monitor agent activity, track effectiveness via ticket statistics, drill down based on tags or groups and view high-level metrics like number of chats. Reports can be scheduled and delivered in multiple formats including CSV and XLS.
Marketplace: LiveChat offers integration with more than 170 third-party tools for CMS, CRM, help desk, analytics, email marketing and e-commerce. Integrations include Slack, Calendly, Dropbox, Salesforce, Google Analytics, Facebook Messenger, ChatBot and MailChimp.
Eye-Catcher: This tool increases engagement with chat widgets by letting users add visuals like images and GIFs that help draw attention to the chat.
Notifications: This feature prevents messages from going unanswered via visual and audio alerts. Users can select the type of notifications to receive — new messages, new chats, etc.
File Sharing: Reps can provide information when needed through this feature, such as sharing tutorials or marketing collateral. Visitors can also share files.
Chat Archives: Users don’t have to worry about losing historical information with the ability to refer to chat histories. This feature is included in all plans, but the Starter package has a limit of 60 days.
E-Commerce: Managers are able to estimate and measure the effectiveness of LiveChat with tools for goal setting and sales tracking.
Security: LiveChat provides robust security via SSL encryption, single sign-on (SSO), two-step authentication, credit card masking, access restriction and audit logs. It’s hosted on U.S. or E.U. data centers and supports IP blocking.

Request Free Trial

Zoho Desk

Start Price

^$12

Analyst Rating

Company Size

Small Medium Large

Deployment

Cloud On-Premise

Platform

Mac Windows Linux Chromebook Android

Request Pricing Request Demo

Why We Picked Zoho Desk

Zoho Desk is a help desk software that offers world-class customer experiences by prioritizing and managing customer interactions across multiple modules. Based on the reviews, the product is simple and intitutive. Users also said that they were able to implement it in no time and were able to figure out all the functions easily. With tons of features, it has won the hearts of many.

However, some users said that customer support functions were lacking. Moreover, many customization options are only available for admins. Users also talked about the difficult pricing structure of the product. In all, it is a great product for all mid, small and big companies. But be sure to explore extensively before buying.

Zoho Desk Reviews Visit Website

Request Demo

Pros & Cons

Implementation: According to 100% of users, the software is extremely easy to set up and configure.
Ease of Use: Approximately 100% of users said that it has a helpful interface with an easy-to-use platform for small teams who wish to establish a helpdesk.
Features: According to 98% of customers, the product has tons of tightly integrated features in mail, CRM, bookings, messaging (Cliq) and conferencing (Meeting).

Integration: According to 45%of customers, the product is a little bit tricky to integrate with its own domain.
Pricing: The pricing structure is difficult according to 50% users.
Customization: Approximately 40% of users claimed that the tools aren't very customizable in terms of automation, workflow and user interface.

Key Features

Ticket Management: Engage in communication with customers and manage tickets across multiple channels, departments, products and brands. Create separate departments within the help desk to ensure appropriate responses to customer queries without any delays or unnecessary actions.
Zia: Boost team’s productivity with the product’s AI assistance for business. This contextual AI features tools such as Zia Voice, Ask Zia, Zia Notifications, Zia Dashboards, Zia Skill Builder, Reply Assistant and Sentiment Analysis that help deliver quick, instant and high-quality support to customers.
Productivity: Access work modes to proactively organize open tickets to make sales reps more active. Send helpful and informative responses to tickets using response editor, FAQs and templates. Combine the main functionality with CRM capabilities for closing more tickets in less time.
Extensibility: Extend help desk service capabilities by integrating help desk modules with other software and services as per the needs of the business. Update details in help desk and other platforms via custom codes. Embed interactive and coactive widgets into the help desk interface via extensions and build custom mobile apps through SDKs.
Insights and Impact: Get insights into team performance via dashboards and reports. Explore the product’s unique tools such as Radar — a mobile app for a proactive, hands-on manager experience -and headquarters-a live dashboard displaying a big picture of the team’s progress and performance.
Customization: Customize help desk workflow and match it with the brand’s personality with the help center theme gallery to create a long-lasting impression on customers and promote team productivity.
Support: Get access to GDPR compliance and protect customer’s data from leaking by managing the organization’s hierarchy and controlling data access.

Request Free Trial

Best for Dashboards and Reporting

Best for Live Chat Management

Best for Mobile Capabilities

More Awards

Best for Platform Capabilities

Best for Platform Security

Vision Helpdesk

Start Price

^$30

Monthly

Analyst Rating

Company Size

Small Medium Large

Deployment

Cloud On-Premise

Platform

Mac Windows Linux Chromebook Android

Request Pricing Request Demo

Why We Picked Vision Helpdesk

Vision Helpdesk’s user reviews over the past year have been predominantly positive, with many users praising its user-friendly interface, robust reporting capabilities, and ability to streamline their IT service desk operations. One reviewer noted that Vision Helpdesk's intuitive design made it easy for their team to learn and use the software, saving them valuable time and resources. Additionally, the software's comprehensive reporting features were lauded for providing valuable insights into team performance and customer satisfaction, enabling data-driven decision-making. Compared to similar products, Vision Helpdesk stands out due to its exceptional customization options. Users appreciate the ability to tailor the software to their specific needs, ensuring a seamless fit within their existing workflows. The software's open API also allows for seamless integration with other business applications, further enhancing its versatility and value. Vision Helpdesk is ideally suited for organizations seeking a comprehensive and customizable help desk solution. Its user-centric design, powerful reporting capabilities, and flexible integration options make it a valuable asset for businesses looking to improve their IT service delivery and enhance customer satisfaction.

Vision Helpdesk Reviews Visit Website

Request Demo

Pros & Cons

Easy to use: Intuitive interface and straightforward navigation make it accessible for users of all technical abilities.
Centralized communication: Consolidated platform for all support channels (email, phone, chat) streamlines communication and eliminates ticket duplication.
Automation capabilities: Automates repetitive tasks, such as ticket routing and status updates, freeing up agents to focus on complex issues.
Customizable workflows: Allows businesses to tailor the software to their specific support processes, ensuring efficient ticket handling.
Detailed reporting and analytics: Provides insights into team performance, customer satisfaction, and areas for improvement.

Limited customization: Users have expressed dissatisfaction with the inability to fully customize the software to meet their specific business needs.
Sluggish performance: Several users have reported experiencing slow loading times and occasional glitches, which can hinder productivity.
Insufficient reporting capabilities: The software's reporting features have been criticized for being inadequate, making it challenging to extract meaningful insights and track key metrics.
Lack of integration options: Vision Helpdesk's limited integration capabilities with other business tools have been a pain point for users seeking a more cohesive workflow.
Subpar customer support: Some users have voiced concerns about the responsiveness and effectiveness of Vision Helpdesk's customer support, leading to frustration and unresolved issues.

Key Features

Ticket Management:
- Split Tickets: Split any customer ticket into a new ticket.
- Merge Tickets: Merge many tickets into a single ticket.
- Link Tickets: Integrate different tickets with a link.
- Custom Fields: Create additional fields on client registration forms and ticket creation.
- WYSIWYG HTML Editor: Use a lightweight HTML editor available with inline image support.
- Ban or Mark Spam: Mark a ticket as spam or ban a customer from submitting tickets.
- Inline Image Support: Add inline images to ticket posts.
- Export Ticket: Export CSV or pdf for tickets.
- Reply, Reply All and Forward Tickets: Reply all or forward tickets, just like email.
- Assign Multiple Staff Agents: Assign a single ticket request to multiple agents.
- Private Notes: Add a private note visible only to internal communication staff.
- Staff Comments: Leave comments on tickets for peers.
- Ticket Rating: Allow customers to rate or review tickets from the client portal.
Multichannel Help Desk:
- Email Integration: Create tickets using email parsing and web interface. Fetch emails using POP3, email piping, POP3 SSL, IMAP, IMAP SSL, POP3 TLS and IMAP TLS.
- Chat Integration: Integrate with third-party chat software and convert chats into support tickets.
- Facebook Integration: Convert and engage a brand’s Facebook page posts into tickets.
- Twitter Integration: Host a large community and convert visitor tweaks into tickets.
- Phone Integration: Integrate with third-party phone solutions and VOIP and convert phone calls into tickets.
Blabby Self Collaboration: Engage in a private or group discussion, share files and videos and collaborate on issues. Add hashtags in blab posts to allow everyone to see what’s trending. Get instant new blab notification and help other members to share knowledge.
Ticket Billing: Define and include tax with an invoice. Create a professional invoice and send it to customers. Set up different currencies for different companies and allow clients to purchase billing packages from the portal.
Gamification: Set up customizable achievement levels for agents, add quests with different badges, show achievements and badges on agent profiles and display achievements and staff levels on reports.
Task Management: Assign tasks to peers and get their comments instantly. Let staff update the progress by assigning tickets. Get instant notification if a user creates tasks or adds comments. Assign a start and end date to any task and track its progress.
Knowledge Base and Community Forums: Allow customers to get answers themselves by reading articles and other content on the website. Categorize articles in a structured way, decide whether to allow comments for a unit. Define who can access articles and add files with them.
SLA Rules and Ticket Escalation: Deliver timely responses, resolve issues in minimum turnaround time, monitor staff performance and set up workflow rules to escalate a ticket.
Time Tracking: Record time spent in solving customer queries, send invoices to customers with time tracking entries and integrate the platform with payment getaways to allow customers to pay online.
Reporting: Measure the metrics of an organization, analyze KPIs such as ticketing reports, customer reports and staff performance.

Request Free Trial

Freshdesk

Start Price

^$15

Get the Full in-depth Help Desk Software Report

Analyst Rating

Company Size

Small Medium Large

Deployment

Cloud On-Premise

Platform

Mac Windows Linux Chromebook Android

Request Pricing Request Demo

Why We Picked Freshdesk

Freshdesk garners praise for its user-friendly interface and intuitive design, which minimizes training time for new agents and gets them up to speed faster. This is particularly important for businesses with high agent turnover or seasonal spikes in support requests. When compared to competitors offering a steeper learning curve, Freshdesk allows teams to become productive quicker, leading to faster issue resolution and improved customer satisfaction. However, Freshdesk's free plan, while suitable for small teams or those starting out, can be limiting for businesses requiring advanced features. Features like custom automations, powerful reporting, and integrations are often reserved for paid plans. This can be a dealbreaker for businesses seeking a comprehensive help desk solution without a significant upfront investment. Here, competitors offering more robust functionalities in their free tiers might be more suitable. Overall, Freshdesk shines for its user-friendliness, scalability, and mobile accessibility. The ability to customize the platform to fit specific workflows and the availability of mobile apps for agents and customers are valuable assets. However, its limited free plan functionality and potentially complex reporting can be drawbacks. Freshdesk is best suited for small and medium-sized businesses seeking an easy-to-use and scalable help desk solution, particularly those with limited technical expertise or a mobile workforce. For larger enterprises with complex workflows or multilingual customer bases, competitors offering more powerful reporting capabilities or broader language support might be a better fit.

Freshdesk Reviews Visit Website

Request Demo

Pros & Cons

User-Friendly Interface: Freshdesk is praised for its intuitive design and straightforward navigation. This minimizes onboarding time for new agents and reduces the learning curve, allowing them to become productive more quickly. Think of it as a user-friendly smartphone app compared to a clunky, feature-laden desktop program. This ease of use translates into faster issue resolution and improved overall efficiency.
Scalability & Customization: Freshdesk caters to businesses of all sizes, from startups to large enterprises. Its flexible plans and customization options allow businesses to tailor the platform to their specific needs. For instance, a small team might prioritize a simple ticketing system, while a larger organization can leverage features like custom automations or in-depth reporting for more complex workflows.
Mobile Accessibility: Freshdesk offers mobile apps for agents and customers, enabling them to access the platform and manage inquiries on the go. This is particularly valuable for remote teams or situations where agents need to be available outside the office. Imagine a field technician using the mobile app to update a customer ticket while on-site, improving responsiveness and streamlining the resolution process.

Limited Free Plan Functionality: While Freshdesk offers a free plan, it can be restrictive for businesses with growing needs. Features like custom automations, advanced reporting, and integrations are often reserved for paid plans. This can limit its usefulness for businesses seeking a comprehensive help desk solution without upfront investment.
Reporting Complexity: Freshdesk's reporting capabilities, particularly in lower-tier plans, can be cumbersome to navigate and require some technical expertise to generate insightful data. Some users report that creating custom reports or filtering data can be time-consuming, hindering efforts to effectively track key performance indicators (KPIs) and measure support team effectiveness. Imagine sifting through an overflowing email inbox to find a specific message compared to having a well-organized filing system with clear labels.
Limited Multilingual Support: Freshdesk's interface and support resources are primarily available in English. This can be a drawback for businesses operating in international markets or with a multilingual customer base. While some basic translations are available, they might be limited or not comprehensive, potentially hindering effective communication with non-English speaking customers and agents.

Key Features

Ticketing Management: Deliver higher quality customer service with collaborative ticketing. Convert customer issues from different channels into resolvable tickets. Offers:
- Team inbox to prioritize and assign tickets based on keywords.
- AI-supported ticketing to improve agents’ efficiency and save time.
- SLA management to measure agents’ performance and set customer expectations for response times.
Omnichannel: Consolidate various support-related communications channels like email, phone, chat, website, WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter to ensure a seamless customer experience as well as faster query resolution.
Service Management: Create service tasks and field technician groups for tickets on the basis of location, priority and other aspects. To manage field operations, it also includes:
- Scheduling dashboard to keep track of appointments, tasks and field team workloads.
- Mobile field service to keep technicians updated on the fly.
- Automated time-tracking to monitor billable hours.
- Single swipe attachment of customer signatures to the service tasks via the mobile app.
Reporting and Analytics: Schedule reports at regular intervals and customize them according to various requirements. Access actionable insights using data in different chart styles and visualizations.
Customization: Customize workflows, customer portal and agents for optimum productivity based on specific business requirements. Its customization can be leveraged in the following ways:
- Customized ticket forms.
- Custom URL for smooth customer experience.
- Building and integration of customized apps.
- Custom segmentation of customers for personalized support.
Automation: Automate notifications to agents and customers for any updates in their tickets. Automatically execute maintenance activities and implement actions on tickets based on the time lapsed since an event.
Identity and Access Management: Allow and restrict agents as well as customers to log in to their accounts using single sign on script from anywhere using IP whitelisting and a VPN.
Customer Self-Service: Enable efficient customer self-service with automated suggestion pop ups, knowledge base articles and by converting critical issues in the community into resolvable tickets.

Request Free Trial

Jitbit

Start Price

^$15

Monthly

Analyst Rating

Company Size

Small Medium Large

Deployment

Cloud On-Premise

Platform

Mac Windows Linux Chromebook Android

Request Pricing Request Demo

Why We Picked Jitbit

Jitbit, a cloud-based help desk software, has garnered mostly positive user reviews in the past year. Users praise its user-friendly interface, customizable features, and affordable pricing. The software's ticketing system allows users to track and manage customer inquiries efficiently, while its knowledge base and self-service portal empower customers to find solutions independently, reducing support workload. Compared to competitors like Zendesk and Freshdesk, Jitbit stands out with its intuitive design and cost-effectiveness. However, some users have noted occasional glitches and limited reporting capabilities.

Jitbit's differentiating factors include its focus on simplicity and ease of use. The software's intuitive interface makes it accessible to users of all technical backgrounds. Additionally, its customizable features allow businesses to tailor the software to their specific needs. Jitbit's affordability is another key strength, making it a viable option for small businesses and startups with limited budgets. These factors make Jitbit an ideal solution for businesses seeking a user-friendly, cost-effective help desk solution that can streamline their customer support operations.

Jitbit Reviews Visit Website

Request Demo

Pros & Cons

Versatile: Supports a wide range of help desk functions, including ticketing, knowledge base, live chat, and reporting.
User-friendly: Intuitive interface and customizable dashboards make it easy to use for both agents and end-users.
Scalable: Accommodates businesses of all sizes, from startups to large enterprises.
Affordable: Flexible pricing plans tailored to different budgets and usage levels.
Reliable: 99.9% uptime ensures minimal disruptions and uninterrupted service.

Limited customization: Jitbit offers limited customization options, making it difficult to tailor the software to specific business needs.
Lack of advanced reporting: Jitbit's reporting capabilities are basic, lacking advanced features like customizable dashboards and granular data analysis.
Limited integration options: Jitbit has a limited number of pre-built integrations, making it challenging to connect with other business applications.
Steep learning curve: Jitbit's user interface can be complex, with a steep learning curve for new users.
Limited support for mobile devices: Jitbit's mobile app is not as fully featured as the desktop version, making it less convenient for remote work.

Key Features

Categorizing and Tagging Tickets: Assign tickets and default agents to different categories.
File Attachments: Attach screenshots, documents and PDFs to knowledge base articles and tickets.
Screen Capture: Record screens (a screenshot or a video) from the web app and upload it to the support request without any additional software.
Live Chat: Allow customers to connect with agents directly on the website right inside the "contact us" widget.
Asset Management: Track assets, assign them to tickets and users, track incident history and quickly find the asset owner.
Email Integration: Monitor the support mailbox and convert emails to tickets. Send email replies and notifications easily and quickly.
Time Tracking: Track billable hours automatically and know the amount of work done by the team.
Reports: Track different customer support metrics such as resolution time, response speed, time of day distribution and more and measure agent performance. Export performance reports to Excel and CSV.
User/Company History: See previous requests before a call.
User Permissions: Set up customized password complexity policies and security permissions to prevent customers from seeing anyone else's data.
Automated Email Assignment: Detect users emailing from the same non-free domain name and assign them to the same department.
Single Sign-On: Integrate help desk software with other apps via SAML providers such as Google Apps, ADFS and Azure AD or use simple and easy Authentication API or the built-in Google login.
Automation/Macros Engine: Set up complicated workflows with a, "if this - do that," engine and enhance the team’s efficiency.
Customizable Design: Add a personalized logo, change fonts and colors, add custom CSS and adjust how emails look by adding custom JavaScript
Custom Domain: Switch the help desk app to a personalized domain name with out-of-the-box SSL.
iOS, Android and Mobile Web UI: Use a free mobile app plus the mobile-optimized web-UI to work on screen through a mobile browser.
Search Engine: Find tickets by date, keywords, users, custom, tags and companies quickly and easily.
Integration: Integrate help desk software with 3rd-party apps, including JIRA, Slack, Dropbox, Github, Hipchat, Zapier, Harvest, SurveyMonkey, Google Drive and Asana.
Web-Based: Access the help desk system from anywhere and any device with just a browser.
Hosted or Self-Hosted: Use ticketing software online after integrating with a mailbox or server.

Request Free Trial

HubSpot Service Hub

Start Price

^$90

Per Seat, Monthly

Analyst Rating

Company Size

Small Medium Large

Deployment

Cloud On-Premise

Platform

Mac Windows Linux Chromebook Android

Request Pricing Request Demo

Why We Picked HubSpot Service Hub

HubSpot Service Hub continues to be a popular help desk software, with many users praising its ease of use, comprehensive features, and strong customer support. However, some users have noted that the software can be expensive and may not be the best fit for small businesses with limited budgets.

HubSpot Service Hub's strengths include its user-friendly interface, which makes it easy for even non-technical users to navigate and use. The software also offers a wide range of features, including ticketing, live chat, knowledge base, and reporting. HubSpot Service Hub's customer support is also highly rated by users, with many praising the team's responsiveness and helpfulness.

One of the main weaknesses of HubSpot Service Hub is its cost. The software is more expensive than some of its competitors, and this can be a deterrent for small businesses with limited budgets. Additionally, some users have noted that the software can be complex to set up and configure, which can be a challenge for businesses with limited IT resources.

HubSpot Service Hub differentiates itself from other help desk software products by its focus on customer relationship management (CRM). The software integrates with HubSpot's CRM, which allows businesses to track customer interactions across all channels, including sales, marketing, and support. This can be a valuable feature for businesses that want to get a complete view of their customers and provide a more personalized experience.

HubSpot Service Hub is most suited for businesses that are looking for a comprehensive help desk software solution that integrates with their CRM. The software is also a good fit for businesses that are looking for a user-friendly and easy-to-use solution. However, businesses with limited budgets may want to consider other options, as HubSpot Service Hub can be expensive.

HubSpot Service Hub Reviews Visit Website

Request Demo

Pros & Cons

Seamless CRM Integration: HubSpot Service Hub effortlessly integrates with HubSpot's CRM, providing a comprehensive view of customer interactions and enabling seamless ticket management.
Automated Workflows: The software automates routine tasks such as ticket assignment, email notifications, and follow-ups, freeing up agents to focus on complex issues.
Knowledge Base Functionality: HubSpot Service Hub includes a built-in knowledge base, allowing businesses to create and manage self-service resources for customers, reducing the number of support tickets.
Conversational Ticketing: Agents can communicate with customers directly through email, live chat, and social media, providing a more personalized and efficient support experience.
Reporting and Analytics: HubSpot Service Hub provides robust reporting and analytics capabilities, enabling businesses to track key metrics, identify areas for improvement, and measure the effectiveness of their support operations.

Lack of Customization: Users have limited options for customizing the interface, workflows, and reporting capabilities to meet their specific needs.
Integration Challenges: HubSpot Service Hub can be challenging to integrate with other business systems, leading to data silos and inefficiencies.
Limited Reporting Capabilities: Users have expressed concerns about the lack of robust reporting features, making it difficult to track and analyze key performance metrics.
Steep Learning Curve: The platform can be complex to navigate and requires a significant investment in training for users to become proficient.
Pricing Concerns: Some users have reported that HubSpot Service Hub's pricing plans can be expensive for small businesses or those with limited budgets.

Key Features

Live Chat: Help customers on websites in real-time by routing them automatically to the right people on the services team. Build better relationships through detailed and contextual conversations.
Customer Portal: Empower clients to gain ownership over experiences with a safe and secure portal. Keep ticket conversations going with agents and customers to resolve issues faster.
VOIP Calling: Call customers directly from the service hub platform to HubSpot's VoIP software. Take advantage of crystal-clear call quality along with analytics and call logging.
Video Messaging: Build stronger relationships with customers through video chats. Create personalized videos to help customers and seamlessly add them to emails or tickets.
Shared Inbox: Connect team live chat, email, Facebook Messenger and more to a single, universal inbox, so everyone has visibility to reply to and manage conversations in one place.
Team Management: Keep the team productive and organized by ensuring every user has access to suitable applications and assets. Quickly manage and view agent status, permissions and availability across the group.
CRM Integration: Get the required context to help customers succeed. Track client interactions and details automatically with business in a single source accessible to the entire team.
Customer Feedback Surveys: Deploy NPS, CES, CSAT and custom surveys to get a pulse on customer needs and happiness and gather feedback to build better experiences.
Conversation Intelligence: Capture details from every call automatically and analyze team performance and productivity. Unlock coaching and learning opportunities with AI-powered insights.
Forecasting: Make more data-driven decisions with comprehensive forecasts. Create pipelines to monitor upgrades and renewals and better visualize projected performance.
Contact Scoring: Assign scores to contacts to prioritize outreach and track customer health. Use scores to trigger automation, segment lists and more.

Request Free Trial

Intercom

Start Price

^$39

Per Seat, Monthly

Analyst Rating

Company Size

Small Medium Large

Deployment

Cloud On-Premise

Platform

Mac Windows Linux Chromebook Android

Request Pricing Request Demo

Why We Picked Intercom

Intercom offers a comprehensive platform to manage communications and increase engagement, via chatbots, product tours, email campaigns, automated answers and more. Based on user reviews, the product offers an intuitive interface, excellent customer support and useful onboarding resources. Users appreciated that they can customize automated tasks and in-app messages.

Many reviewers also liked that they can assign conversations, use add-ons, send emails, send attachments and handle all customer outreach from a single platform. However, some users mentioned that the product is expensive and has limited reporting capabilities. All things considered, Intercom is a great solution for businesses in need of a complete communications platform.

Intercom Reviews Visit Website

Request Demo

Pros & Cons

Usability: The platform is easy to use, straightforward and intuitive, according to 94% of users who commented on this aspect.
Customer Support: According to 74% of users who mentioned this, support reps are knowledgeable and helpful.
Training: Of the total users who commented on this feature, 90% liked the onboarding resources, training guides and simplicity of navigation.
Communication: 90% of users who commented on this appreciated being able to answer a high volume of questions, customize bots, automate responses and organize conversations.

Value for Money: The pricing is hard to understand and skews expensive, according to 100% of users who mentioned this.
Reporting: According to 67% of users who reviewed this feature, internal reports are limited and inaccurate.

Key Features

Mobile Carousels: Manage communication with a customizable, code-free interface on a single or multiple screens. Request device permissions, add deep links, send dynamic carousel messages, open URLs, start conversations in the messenger and give users the option to chat with support.
Team Messaging: Organize and respond to conversations on web, mobile and email and social channels from a central location. Create separate inboxes for support and sales, set permissions and use notes to collaborate on difficult questions.
Product Tours: Create customizable interactive guides to orient new customers and explain products.
Series Visual Campaign Builder: Use a drag-and-drop visual campaign builder to create behavior-based customer messaging campaigns. Send in-app and in-product messages and make feature announcements. Adjust paths for wait time, message type and unique tags.
Conversational Support: Manage, route and prioritize conversations. Automate answers to common questions with the Resolution Bot. Customize user experience with intelligent chatbots based on customer behavior.
Customer Data: Track unique business and customer data, like business type, location, pricing plan, product type and spend. Integrate data from a tech stack to personalize interactions and keep information up to date.

Request Free Trial

LiveAgent

Start Price

^$9

Per Agent, Monthly

Analyst Rating

Company Size

Small Medium Large

Deployment

Cloud On-Premise

Platform

Mac Windows Linux Chromebook Android

Request Pricing Request Demo

Why We Picked LiveAgent

LiveAgent offers live chat and helpdesk capabilities, including advanced ticketing. Users can access and update all aspects of a given customer account. Interactive tools, automated behavior reply terminology, live queries management and intuitive onboarding are some aspects of the software that users appreciate. However, some users noted that the software is pricey and the UI is dated. They also reported issues with the payment gateway, mobile app design, service experience feedback and somewhat limited integration options, in terms of other social media and chat platforms. All things considered, LiveAgent is a decent live chat software suitable for businesses of all sizes.

LiveAgent Reviews Visit Website

Request Demo

Pros & Cons

Usability: 77% of users who reviewed this aspect said the software is easy to use and navigate.
Pricing: According to 82% of reviews on this element, the software offers many features at a great price.
Customer Service: The customer support channels are responsive and useful, according to 91% of users reviewing support.
Integration: 86% of users who mentioned this aspect said that the software offers multiple integrations.

Mobile Application: 84% of users who reviewed the mobile app stated that the notifications, features and design could be improved.

Key Features

Ticketing System: Provide customer service with a centralized response system. Address inquiries from one inbox, update ticket status, gather customer data to identify and solve problems and distribute cases automatically to ensure fast resolution of queries.
Call Center: Organize sales and provide support by managing customer calls on a unified platform. Connect devices, add agent phone numbers, place a call button on the website and make calls from the computer. Automate responses with IVR, route conversations to skip unnecessary waiting times, track missed calls using the callback feature and record talks without size limitations.
Analytics and Reports: Get insights into the team performance, agent rankings, usage statistics, customer satisfaction ratings, SLA metrics, support channels and other key benchmarks to improve business practices, products and services. Access tag, SLA compliance, channel, department time reports.
Data Protection: Enhance safety standards with help desk features to protect customer data and company practices. Ban IP addresses to limit irrelevant inquiries, enable secure login with 2-step verification, protect data between the browser and software using HTTPS encryption and store information in the data center for effective management.
Gamification: Take advantage of innovative elements to increase engagement and customer retention. Use customizable badges based on the worker’s performance and benchmarks and leaderboards to showcase achievements.
Customer Portal: Create product and brand-specific categories to help customers with self-service content and onboarding. Build knowledge bases using articles, guides, screenshots, videos, search widgets, suggestion forums and other problem-solving information to provide 24/7 customer support and boost website traffic.
Automated Replies: Create automation rules to manage the high volume of tickets with predefined actions. Transfer tickets to departments, add tags, mark and resolve tickets with system actions and minimal guided intervention. Manage rules to organize tickets effectively, improve response time and reduce support costs.

Request Free Trial

TeamSupport

Start Price

^$49

Per Agent, Monthly

Analyst Rating

Company Size

Small Medium Large

Deployment

Cloud On-Premise

Platform

Mac Windows Linux Chromebook Android

Request Pricing Request Demo

Why We Picked TeamSupport

TeamSupport is a top-rated help desk software solution praised for its user-friendly interface, robust automation capabilities, and comprehensive reporting features. Many users find it superior to competitors due to its intuitive design, which streamlines workflows and reduces training time. Additionally, its advanced automation capabilities, such as ticket routing and escalation rules, free up agents to focus on more complex tasks. TeamSupport's reporting functionality provides valuable insights into team performance and customer satisfaction, enabling data-driven decision-making.

TeamSupport's strengths include its ease of use, powerful automation, and in-depth reporting. These features make it an excellent choice for organizations looking to improve their customer support operations. However, it may not be the most suitable option for smaller teams or those with limited budgets due to its higher pricing compared to some competitors. Overall, TeamSupport is a feature-rich and user-friendly help desk software that can significantly enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of customer support teams.

TeamSupport Reviews Visit Website

Request Demo

Pros & Cons

Seamless Omnichannel Support: TeamSupport unifies all customer interactions from various channels, such as email, phone, chat, and social media, into a single, centralized platform, providing a comprehensive view of customer communications.
Automated Workflows: Its powerful automation capabilities streamline repetitive tasks, such as ticket assignment, status updates, and follow-ups, freeing up agents to focus on more complex issues and enhance productivity.
Robust Knowledge Base: TeamSupport allows businesses to create and maintain a comprehensive knowledge base that empowers customers to find answers to common questions independently, reducing support volume and improving customer satisfaction.
Detailed Reporting and Analytics: The platform provides insightful reports and analytics that enable businesses to track key performance indicators, identify areas for improvement, and make data-driven decisions to optimize their support operations.
Customizable Interface: TeamSupport offers a highly customizable interface that allows businesses to tailor the platform to their specific needs and branding, ensuring a seamless and consistent user experience for both agents and customers.

Insufficient Automation: TeamSupport lacks robust automation features, making it difficult to streamline workflows and reduce manual tasks.
Limited Reporting and Analytics: The reporting and analytics capabilities are basic, hindering users from gaining insights into team performance and customer behavior.
Lack of Customization: TeamSupport offers limited customization options, restricting users from tailoring the software to meet their specific business needs.
Cluttered Interface: The user interface can be overwhelming and cluttered, making it challenging to navigate and find essential features.
Slow Response Times: Users have reported experiencing slow response times and technical issues, which can hinder productivity and customer satisfaction.

Key Features

Integrations: Multiply efficiency with native help desk integrations. Integrate the product with solutions such as Microsoft Teams, Salesforce, Jira, Microsoft Dynamics, ServiceNow, Slack, Hubspot CRM, Ringcentral and more to minimize headaches and optimize workflows.
Customer Management: Track all customer information and consolidate requests accordingly. Keep an eye on all the tickets and issues from a single view, run reports to identify which client is demanding the most. Add notes to a customer record to give everyone access to the same information.
Customer Sentiment: Get real-time sentiment analysis through AI-powered technology and instantly gauge customer tone. Prioritize tickets according to customer response and create proactive support opportunities.
Service Contacts/SLA’s: Define service agreement, block portal access and track support hours. Assign SLAs to customer product or product level. Pause, clone or attach SLA’s to products to limit customer downloads on the portal.
Agent Rating: Allow customers to rate experiences with agents and get real-time insights into satisfaction levels. Spot trends and service issues, get immediate feedback, identify training or product development areas and get real-time metrics to enhance customer experience.
Ticket Management: Link a support email address with the product and let the automated help desk take charge. Talk with customers via the conversation feature through the main interface without dealing with the email inbox again. Ensure tickets are routed or escalated to the right person or group and closed with completely flexible and customizable rules.
Ticket Collision Prevention: Observe when someone else is watching the same ticket. Chat with other users over a case by clicking on the name. Update tickets automatically for everyone on the team.
Visual Support Suite: Allow agents to upload images, share a webcam video recording and embed a screencast directly into a ticket so they can guide customers through performing tasks and fix a problem.
Products and Inventory: Combine physical and digital inventory and product information with streamlining support and reduce duplicated effort. See which products customers have and track why they’re using it. Define all products and versions, consolidate the information required to provide exceptional customer service and associate products to tickets for easy product reporting and tracking.
Customer Hub: Allow customers to create and view ticket statuses, read knowledge base content, chat with agents and search for answers to simple questions without bothering agents.
Reporting and Analytics: Add a help desk report and move items to appear in the preferred order with simple drag-and-drop functionality. Hide/unhide series from the display and access listed tickets easily by clicking on the ticket link.
Omnichannel Support: Boost customer satisfaction and first-time issue resolution rates by connecting with customers across any channel of their preference. Integrate all channels for a single view of customer records and interactions at one place, so client history is already on hand during the next call.

Request Free Trial

Buyer's Guide

Help Desk Software Is All About Streamlining Customer Support

By Kriti Sahay, Technical Content Writer at SelectHub

Help Desk Software BG Header

Whether it’s returning a new dress, booking a vacation or troubleshooting wi-fi issues, we’ve all used customer support services at some point. But, as communication technologies continue to advance, so do customer service needs. People have started asking businesses for help everywhere, from traditional methods like phone calls and emails to modern channels like instant messengers and social media.

With so many channels to manage and monitor, how do you ensure no customer goes unanswered? That’s where help desk software comes in. It automates an organization's external and internal service management, ensuring that your agents have the support they need to resolve issues and your customers are satisfied.

Positive customer experiences lead to brand loyalty and word of mouth marketing, which, in turn, create growth opportunities. Investing in your customer service teams by improving infrastructure with tools like help desk solutions can be the key to unlocking customer service-led growth.

Curious to see how help desk solutions could benefit your business? Let’s dive in!

Executive Summary

Help desk software is a tool that streamlines day to day operations and improves workflows by minimizing downtime, boosting agent productivity and encouraging customer self-service with tools like knowledge bases.
Help desk systems can help in boosting customer satisfaction, increasing efficiency and improving customer retention.
Help desk solutions can also help improve agent productivity by providing agents the right tools to automate repetitive tasks, optimize workflows, track performance and enhance the quality of customer service they provide.
Omnichannel support and cloud-computing are some major upcoming trends in customer service and help desk systems can help you keep up.
Before making a final decision on which help desk system to deploy, it’s important to thoroughly compare all of your options, based on how well they match your organizational needs, and talk to vendors to figure out which tool best suits your budget and requirements.

What This Guide Covers:

What Is Help Desk Software?
Deployment Methods
Primary Benefits
Implementation Goals
Basic Features & Functionality
Advanced Features to Consider
Current and Upcoming Trends
Software Comparison Strategy
Cost & Pricing Considerations
Questions To Ask Yourself
Questions To Ask Vendors
FAQs
Next Steps
Product Comparisons
Additional Resources

See how the Help Desk solutions leaders fare against the most common key requirements

Get your free Report

What Is Help Desk Software?

Help desk software is a virtual customer support platform and service desk. It enables businesses to receive and resolve customer complaints through various channels, and facilitates immediate responses to customer support requests and other queries.

Help desk solutions allow customers to contact companies in the form of tickets. Tickets can be submitted through a dedicated portal, email, SMS, live chat or a whole host of other channels. These tickets are then routed to a support agent who can address the customers’ concerns.

These tools simplify ticket management and streamline a company’s customer service process, helping ensure a positive customer experience. The quality of customer experience does influence purchasing decisions, possibly even more than advertising or branding do.

For example, for one fourth of consumers surveyed by PWC in 2022, having just one low-quality customer service experience with a company caused them to switch brands. This tells us how important it is to invest in your help desk system and take steps to improve customer service.

Types of Help Desk Software

There are three different kinds of help desk systems that cater to various types of customer queries:

IT Support: This category addresses problems the internal users from the organization encounter - for instance, workers who need assistance with resetting their password or server maintenance.
Customer Service: These solutions assist customers with difficult questions and company products or services.
Other Functions: Employees may have issues and questions throughout the workplace. Help desk solutions can serve departments such as legal, finance, HR and marketing.

Deployment Methods

Help desk vendors offer various deployment methods that cater to the diverse needs of today’s market. Businesses can choose between cloud-based deployment or on-premise installation depending on their specific needs.

Cloud-based

Cloud-based platforms generally follow a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model which is subscription-based and requires a recurring payment. Cloud-based tools have many advantages. They require less maintenance, have fewer upfront costs and can be easily scaled and upgraded.

Mid-sized or small businesses, lacking in-house technical expertise and IT resources, tend to prefer cloud-based help desk systems because they are cost-effective and easy to implement. However, this mode of deployment has also gained popularity among larger companies because of benefits like remote work support, lower cost of installation and more scalability.

On-premise

For on-premise deployment, the system needs to be installed locally on your office computers and internal servers. The benefit of this model is that it doesn't require a connection to third-party servers which makes it easier to fix bugs and provides better data security. It also allows you to customize the system to your company’s specific needs.

Although cloud deployment has become quite popular in recent years, on-premise deployment is still preferred by some companies because of the flexibility and security it offers. Additionally, while the upfront cost of installation is higher, it’s a one-time payment and not a recurring charge which is a disadvantage of subscription-based systems.

Primary Benefits

Let’s look at some of the benefits of help desk software and how it can help your organization.

Help Desk Software Benefits

Customer Satisfaction

Positive customer experiences lead to brand loyalty. One study by Qualtrics found that 41% of companies with higher customer experience scores reported improvement in customer retention rates compared to just 29% of companies with lower scores. Help desk solutions can help agents respond to customers better and resolve queries faster, improving customer experience.

Help desk solutions allow agents to prioritize customer issues and assign urgency to incoming tickets. The prioritization helps the team to concentrate on the most time-sensitive problems and critical support cases. Help desk software also comes with sentiment analysis tools to allow agents to figure out the customer’s conversational tone and respond appropriately.

Better Service Options

A 2021 report by Gladly found that 60% consumers today prefer to resolve their issues on their own instead of contacting customer support. Keeping a comprehensive knowledge base helps customers easily get answers to common issues through various articles, documentation, how-to guides, blogs, FAQs and troubleshooting instructions. This allows customers to resolve their issues on their own and reduces the load on your agents.

This feature also allows businesses to store crucial expertise in a useful form that both agents and customers can refer to if the need arises. Agents can refer customers to the knowledge base and, if the issue reoccurs, customers can go back to these resources instead of having to go through a live agent again.

Better Performance Management

Managers can analyze their team’s performance and where inefficiencies lie with the help of reporting tools. Help desk systems help generate reports highlighting recurring client issues and performance statistics to address concerns and make the entire day-to-day operations more efficient.

By measuring team productivity through various KPIs, you can design a productivity program to focus your team’s efforts on where they need to improve, helping them deliver world-class customer service.

Accessibility

According to a Gartner study, around 70% of customer service employees would prefer to continue working from home even after the pandemic. Most help desk solutions provide remote work and virtual call center support which allows employers to provide more flexible remote work options.

Ensuring accessibility and flexibility for employees also improves employee satisfaction — and more satisfied employees are usually more productive. The Qualtrics study mentioned above found that 34% of companies with high customer experience scores also note improvements in employee experience over the past year, compared to just 14% of companies with low CX scores.

Expert recommendations and analysis on the top Help Desk solutions

Improve Customer Retention

Implementation Goals

Goal 1 Boost Customer Satisfaction	The primary aim of help desk solutions is improving and streamlining a customer’s relationship with the business. From ticket management capabilities that target problems effectively to maintaining customer databases and providing personalized service these systems cover everything.
Goal 2 Increase Efficiency	Help desk software enables agents to do more in less time. They centralize all data and activities, streamline workflows and enable collaboration across teams. Moreover, AI integration and automation significantly reduce manual efforts for data entry, pipeline management and more.
Goal 3 Improve Customer Retention	Agents can offer support to customers from their mobile phones even when they are not on other workstations. This means there are fewer chances of missed calls. Additionally, tools like customer sentiment analysis, customized customer databases and ticket prioritization are aimed at improving customer experiences and boosting retention.
Goal 4 Drive Profits and Revenue	Help desk systems drive revenue and profit by improving customer experiences and boosting brand loyalty. Salesforce found that 89% of business buyers and 92% of retail consumers prefer to spend more time with companies that have provided them a positive customer service experience.
Goal 5 Stay Ahead of Competition	With prescriptive and predictive analysis, AI and machine learning influenced techniques, organizations stay ahead of competitors. Reporting and analytics tools also allow companies to understand their shortcomings and work on improving their operations.

Goal 1

Boost Customer Satisfaction

The primary aim of help desk solutions is improving and streamlining a customer’s relationship with the business. From ticket management capabilities that target problems effectively to maintaining customer databases and providing personalized service these systems cover everything.

Goal 2

Increase Efficiency

Help desk software enables agents to do more in less time. They centralize all data and activities, streamline workflows and enable collaboration across teams. Moreover, AI integration and automation significantly reduce manual efforts for data entry, pipeline management and more.

Goal 3

Agents can offer support to customers from their mobile phones even when they are not on other workstations. This means there are fewer chances of missed calls.

Additionally, tools like customer sentiment analysis, customized customer databases and ticket prioritization are aimed at improving customer experiences and boosting retention.

Goal 4

Drive Profits and Revenue

Help desk systems drive revenue and profit by improving customer experiences and boosting brand loyalty. Salesforce found that 89% of business buyers and 92% of retail consumers prefer to spend more time with companies that have provided them a positive customer service experience.

Goal 5

Stay Ahead of Competition

With prescriptive and predictive analysis, AI and machine learning influenced techniques, organizations stay ahead of competitors. Reporting and analytics tools also allow companies to understand their shortcomings and work on improving their operations.

Expert recommendations and analysis on the top Help Desk systems

Basic Features & Functionality

Let’s look at some of the basic functionalities and must-have features of help desk solutions.

Ticket Management	Assign tickets automatically or manually based on need, agent skills, availability and timezone. View, sort, categorize and filter tickets. Track open complaints, view ticket histories and monitor trends in requests.
Knowledge Base Management	Enable organizations to create a storehouse of common problems and a record of solutions that can be helpful in the future. By making this information easily accessible and searchable, businesses facilitate DIY and self-service options for customers and cut down on ticket volume.
Reporting and Analytics	According to reports by Zendesk, companies that make use of reports and analytics to measure team metrics can reduce their customer query resolution time by 16%. Organizations can aggregate and track data to analyze a team’s productivity and performance and identify trends. Using tools such as data visualization, managers can export this information to share with others in the form of an easy-to-read report.
Automated Workflows	Help desk software is equipped with efficient automated workflow features that automatically direct inquiries to the right channels without manual intervention. They can also use automated responses for common customer queries.
Alerts/Escalation	Keep agents updated about ticket progress and accelerate the resolution of specific tickets to a higher priority based on predetermined criteria. This also allows managers to supervise the flow of tasks and monitor service quality and efficiency.
Collaboration Tools	Help desk systems let workers collaborate on three levels. First, between departments and teams so agents can use the company's other resources. Second, among agents to help them work on a complex ticket. And third, between customers and agents and customers to solve end-user queries and attain feedback.
Database Capacity	A robust help desk system can store historical interactions between customers and agents for future reference. They can also host content for the knowledge base, depending on the company’s server capacity.
Scalability	Help desk solutions also allow the use of third-party plugins and offer API access to help organizations expand the platform’s functionality in response to increases in ticket volume.
Omnichannel Ticketing Support	Help desk solutions let agents interact with customers across multiple channels such as messaging, SMS, social media, community, voice calls and video calls to boost customer satisfaction rates and queries faster. It also offers email ticketing support and call center management tools.

Expert recommendations and analysis on the top Help Desk systems

Advanced Features to Consider

Now that we’ve covered the must-haves, let’s look at some more advanced features that might not be necessary for your help desk system to function but could enhance your operations.

Communication Channel Integration	Integrating help desk software with social media and email marketing reduces duplicate data entry and fills out customer profiles. This creates a detailed view of customer interactions with organizations and allows callers to connect through their preferred channels.
CRM Integration	Connecting with a CRM can help organizations maintain and implement customer-centric plans and strategies that boost revenue, profitability and customer satisfaction. CRM software also stores important customer data that informs agents as they deal with customer complaints.
Native Mobile App	A lot of help desk systems come with native mobile apps for Android and iOS. This allows agents to work on the go and resolve issues even when they are away from their workstations.
Bug Tracking	Bug tracking software can help IT teams in prioritizing patches depending on the extent of user impact. It also identifies problems quickly and updates support staff about the known issues.

Help Desk Systems Report

Expert recommendations and analysis on the top Help Desk solutions

Help Desk Solutions Report

Current & Upcoming Trends

Keeping up with the trends is necessary if you want to provide the best service for your customers and top-of-the-line training to your agents. Let’s look at some upcoming trends in the realm of customer service and help desk.

Help Desk Upcoming Trends

Cloud Computing

According to a survey conducted by Statista, cloud computing is forecasted to generate over 440 billion USD in revenue in 2023. Global spending on software-as-a-service (SaaS) products amounted to 249 billion USD in 2021. Cloud computing has been growing in popularity across all sectors, and help desk solutions are no different.

Since cloud-based systems can be deployed online without any physical infrastructure, it can help organizations save effort and money on IT resources and infrastructure. This is a bonus in an era where companies are increasingly moving towards remote work and virtual call centers are becoming more common. In fact, studies have found that the prices of US office buildings might plummet as much as 39% in coming years in response to less demand for office spaces.

Remote and hybrid environments have also led to an improvement in employee productivity. Working remotely gives agents more control over their workflows and allows them to resolve tickets from anywhere through cloud access to features like ticket management, workflow management, training resources and omnichannel ticketing support. It also allows companies to hire workers from around the world and widens the scope for talent hunting and recruitment.

24/7 support

Gone are the days when the help desk was active only between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. These days, customers expect access to world-class support 24/7 via multiple channels, including social media, chat, call, video call, email, live chat and knowledge bases.

Customers today have higher standards and expectations for support. According to the Salesforce report referenced before, 83% of customers expect to engage with someone immediately after contacting customer service.

In 2022, Zendesk also found that 60% of consumers have higher customer service standards as compared to 2021. As such, the ability to provide 24/7 service has become increasingly important to match rising customer expectations.

As we saw in the previous trend, the growth of technologies like cloud computing have also played a role in making 24/7 support possible. Companies are now able to hire people from different time zones and can automatically assign them shifts using help desk software.

Self-Service

The Zendesk report also found that 89% of consumers would spend more time with companies that allow them to find solutions for their problems online. This indicates a rising trend of customers choosing to empower themselves rather than rely on support agents. The popularity of self-service is good news for businesses, because it can increase customer satisfaction while reducing ticket volume and freeing up resources.

Self-service tools allow customers to resolve common or simpler queries on their own without connecting with an agent. This helps boost team productivity as agents can concentrate on more complex issues and resolve queries more quickly. It’s no wonder that, in 2023, Gartner found that self-service adoption and knowledge management were among the top five priorities for customer service leaders.

Tools like tutorials, documents, videos and articles empower customers and reduce agent workloads. Customers can also eliminate the need to wait in the call queue to connect with agents and resolve the problem by exploring knowledge base content. This improves both customer experience and employee experience.

Along with self-service, we’re also seeing a rise in the use of user-led forums for troubleshooting and support. Help desk systems come with specific tools for setting up such user communities and for moderating them.

These communities allow customers to connect with their peers and discuss issues and solutions through integrated discussion forums and user communities. They can also participate in group chats, discussion boards and FAQ forums to get a sense of the pros and cons of the product and gain valuable insights through other customers’ experiences.

Omnichannel Support

Customers today interact with companies on a wide array of different channels, and they expect to receive help and support on the channel of their choice.

Salesforce found that 76% of customers prefer different channels depending on context. Email, phone and in-person support were the top three most preferred channels. 93% of people surveyed by Zendesk also said that they would spend more time with companies that offered support through their preferred communication channel. All this data points to the idea that meeting customers on the platforms they like to use correlates to increased satisfaction.

Outsourcing

An increasing number of companies worldwide are looking to outsource their essential business functions to third-party organizations to streamline their workflow and save on costs. According to a 2022 study by Deloitte, around 76% of IT companies outsource their operations. Additionally, the customer care outsourcing market is expected to reach USD 34.57 billion, globally, by 2028. So why is outsourcing booming at this rate?

Outsourcing is widely seen as a cost-cutting measure, but it’s more than that. It’s a way of expanding the potential talent pool to workers who wouldn’t otherwise be available. Companies are also looking at newer forms of outsourcing, like managed services, which involves outsourcing more complex business functions and management responsibilities for a whole range of processes.

Cloud computing and the popularity of remote work have also contributed to the rise of outsourcing. Hiring employees in different countries and having them work remotely has become much easier in recent years.

AI

Zendesk found that AI had become the top trend in 2023. With the growth of technologies like generative AI and advanced machine learning, AI has not just become better — it has actually improved beyond expectations.

AI improves customer-agent interactions by helping companies understand customer behavior by analyzing and gathering historical, behavioral and social data. This allows companies to increase sales opportunities, provide highly relevant content and enhance customer journeys.

AI can help companies connect with their customers on a more personal level and improve agent productivity through tools like predictive analysis, real-time decisioning and conversational bot assistants. In fact, according to McKinsey, empowering agents through technology and AI could help you create the superhuman agent.

Expert recommendations and analysis on the top Help Desk systems

Software Comparison Strategy

Although there are dozens of lists with best and worst help desk solutions in the market, every company has different requirements and customer support needs. What’s best for others may not be the best for you. It’s important to do your research to figure out the most appropriate system for your organization.

To begin you can use our requirements template to rank and prioritize your most important needs. Analyze and compare systems to find out which platforms most closely meet your requirements.

Next, read the basic and advanced features listed above and analyze what your business needs to stand out among competitors. Once you have the answer, look for a software platform that provides those extra capabilities.

Cost & Pricing Considerations

How you deploy the system will significantly impact how much you pay both as an upfront fee and in the long run. With a cloud product, you generally have to pay an ongoing subscription fee based on the number of users.

On-premise systems usually involves a one-time or recurring license purchase, depending on the provider. However, some require separate licenses for individual users, so the number of users could be a factor in determining cost.

Beyond that, you must also consider expenses incurred in operating a help desk software and the total cost of ownership. Version upgrades, add-on features and plug-ins, maintenance and data migration are some common additional expenses that you may run into.

Questions To Ask Yourself

These questions can help organizations streamline their selection process:

Does this tool meet your organization’s needs?
Do you need to integrate your help desk solution with other software, like an ERP tool?
What’s the long-term viability of your help desk provider?
What’s the turnaround time for support of the provider in case there is an emergency in the system?
Do you have industry-specific requirements and does the system meet them?
Which is better: cloud or on-premise deployment?
Who are the consistent users of help desk solutions in the organization (managers, sales reps, marketers, etc.) and what gaps must the system fill?
What channels does this system support?
How will this system maximize organization’s productivity?
Do your agents require remote support?

Questions To Ask Vendors

Help Desk Software Questions to Ask

Use these questions as a starting point for conversations with vendors:

About the Software

How often are updates offered, and do they occur automatically?
Do the updates impact the software's accessibility?
How well does the system integrate with other BI tools?
What features cost extra?
Is there training to support user adoption?
What level of customization is available?
How much time will onboarding and implementation take?
How does the ticket workflow work?
How many contact profiles can be stored?

About the Vendor

What support options do you offer? What do they cost?
What do you specialize in? Can you serve organizations of all sizes?
Do you offer setup and migration services?
How’s your customer success track record?
What kind of redundancy and security protocols are followed to protect data?

FAQs

What is help desk software?

Help desk software is a category of tools designed to streamline, simplify and manage the operations of a customer support and service desk. These tools gather customer complaints and queries in the form of tickets, route them to agents for resolution. Help desk systems also makes it easy to view, track, summarize, and audit tickets and ticket histories.

What are the features of help desk systems?

Ticket management, knowledge base management, workflow automation, call center management and bug tracking are some of the features of help desk solutions. Check out our article on the features of help desk software for more detailed insights.

What is a ticketing system?

A ticketing software is a specialized category of help desk solutions that helps with ticket management and tracking. Check out our ticketing systems buyer’s guide for more detailed insights.

What is the best help desk system?

Freshdesk, Salesforce Service Cloud and Zendesk for Service are some of the best help desk solutions, according to SelectHub research and data.

Expert recommendations and analysis on the top Help Desk systems

Next Steps

Help desk software streamlines critical parts of your customer support process, enabling you to service your customers better and create long-term relationships with them. It offers modern and robust tools to improve communication, team workflows and collaboration.

Before making a final decision on which help desk system is best for you, it’s important to conduct an extensive and thorough research and ensure that the platform you choose matches your specific needs and requirements. Our free comparison report can give you a headstart in helping you figure out the right tool for your needs. We wish you luck on your software selection journey!

Product Comparisons

Additional Resources

About The Contributors

The following expert team members are responsible for creating, reviewing, and fact checking the accuracy of this content.

By Kriti Sahay

Technical Content Writer

Kriti Sahay is a Technical Content Writer at SelectHub, writing content for Help Desk and Call Center Software. Kriti is based out of New Delhi, India. When she's not handling Buyer's Guides and other informational articles, she can be found experimenting in her kitchen, street shopping, or painting!

Technical Research By Joan Akash

Senior Analyst

Joan Akash, a Senior Research Analyst at SelectHub, holds a Post-Graduate Diploma in Management with a specialization in Marketing. Her expertise as a researcher and reviewer spans diverse software categories, including Project Management, Customer Relationship Management, Live Chat, and Help Desk. Beyond her professional pursuits, Joan is spiritually driven, with a passion for teaching children and a penchant for reading biblical blogs and crafting poetry.

Technical Review By Manan Roy

Principal Analyst

Manan is a native of Tezpur, Assam (India), who currently lives in Kolkata, West Bengal (India). At SelectHub, he works on categories like CRM, HR, PPM, BI, and EHR. He has a Bachelor of Technology in CSE from The Gandhi Institute of Engineering and Technology, a Master of Technology from The Institute of Engineering and Management IT, and an MBA in Finance from St. Xavier's College. He's published two research papers, one in a conference and the other in a journal, during his Master of Technology.

Edited By Dianna Dragonetti

Content Editor

As an editor, Dianna Dragonetti leads a team of five writers in writing about a variety of software, with an emphasis on how these tools empower businesses. Categories include accounting, learning management systems, content management systems, supply chain management, and electronic data interchange.