Help desk software is essential to modern companies. It powers customer support, answering questions quickly. As firms adapt to remote work and digital interactions in 2024, robust help desk solutions are essential. It improves client happiness and loyalty while streamlining support.
Do you wish to improve your capacity for customer service by 2024? You need only look at the top help desk programs on the market. Any company that wants to survive in this fast-paced digital era depends on offering outstanding customer service.
The right help desk software may simplify your customer care processes, increase response times, and provide your valued clients with a flawless experience. Therefore, let’s investigate how the top help desk software in 2024 can improve your client service.
The correct help desk software can help small firms compete with larger ones. It equips teams of any size to manage consumer concerns. Tickets, knowledge bases, and automated responses cut response times and increase service quality for customer support personnel.
IT professionals benefit from tools that manage internal support requests, system faults, and performance analytics.
Key Features to Consider in Help Desk Software
Consider your business’s needs while choosing support desk software. Be aware of these crucial characteristics and functions:
User-Friendly Interface
Your staff needs a simple interface to utilize the software without training. Choose systems with simple dashboards and navigation to let your support team focus on solving issues rather than using the tool.
Multi-channel Support
Customers expect to contact businesses via email, chat, social media, and phone in 2024. Your help desk software should offer numerous communication methods for seamless support across platforms. This function ensures every client inquiry is answered.
AI and automation
Automation is essential for efficiency and time savings. Find software with ticket routing, scripted responses, and AI-driven chatbots. These tools can answer common questions, freeing up help personnel to handle more difficult situations.
Best Performing Help Desk Software of All Time
It might be difficult to select the appropriate software for a help desk because there is such a wide variety of solutions available. Our goal is to provide you with the information you need to make an educated choice; therefore, we have examined five leading contenders for the year 2024 and highlighted their distinctive selling qualities, cost, convenience of use, and customer support.
Zoho Desk
Because of its excellent features and reasonable pricing, Zoho Desk tops our help desk list. Automatic localization, automated ticket routing, and more social media outlets for ticketing were added in the latest edition.
Zoho Desk is the best help desk software for small businesses since it’s feature-rich and easy to use, and you don’t have to pay for mobile apps or live chat. Since Zoho Desk connects with all of Zoho’s business tools, adding it to your workflow is simple if you currently use Zoho CRM or Projects.
A 15-day free trial, onboarding, and migration are included. It also meets HIPAA, CCPA, and GDPR requirements.
The three major options cost $14 to $40 per user, per month, annually. Monthly rates are $20–$50 per user. Up to five users can use Zoho Desk Express for $7 or $9 per month, payable monthly. Tickets, social media, and analytics are included. The free Zoho Desk plan has restricted functionality.
Freshdesk
Freshdesk is the best help desk software for businesses that need to connect to a lot of different apps, as all of its paid plans let you connect to over 1,000 marketplace apps.
Additionally, Freshdesk is very easy to use, and small businesses with up to ten workers can get a free plan.
It has add-ons and a free sample that lasts for 21 days. Some of these are more bot conversations and managing field service.
Plans that cost money range from $15 per agent per month to $79 per agent per month if paid for all at once. Plans range from $18 per agent per month to $95 per agent per month.
HappyFox
HappyFox is still one of the most extensive and expensive help desk solutions we’ve tested. You get what you paid for with a high-end, super-functional solution.
An integrated Slack allows agents to enter tickets without visiting HappyFox.
Microsoft Teams will also integrate, keeping HappyFox at the top of our Editors’ Choice list with Freshdesk and HaloITSM.
Supporting clients is HappyFox’s best scenario. HappyFox offers holes for IT professionals’ in-office service desks.
HappyFox’s asset management capability has improved since our last evaluation, but it still lags behind Freshservice and ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus. Assets must be created individually or imported from CSV.
HaloITSM
HaloITSM calls its help desk “ITIL aligned.” Similar to Vivantio, this technology helps enterprises construct an ITIL-compliant internal help desk. The company’s Halo Service Desk was not tested this round. That platform is similar to Freshdesk because it targets smaller firms with customer-facing needs.
However, HaloITSM is an excellent enterprise option that meets all ITIL shop needs and adds new user communication channels, app connections, and a competitive price. Vivantio and HaloITSM win our Editors’ Choice for big-company help desk purchasers with all that.
ITIL—formerly the Information Technology Infrastructure Library—is service desk best practices.
It covers service desk methods, asset management, change management, and how to evaluate these support desks. There’s no single group responsible for these guidelines; therefore, ITIL-compatible solutions may have feature discrepancies.
Jira Service Management
As part of every Jira plan, you get tools for managing large groups of services. There are templates for managing HR services, facilities, law services, general services, and customer services.
The software called Jira is good if you need help desk software that can also be used for business service management.
Jira has four plans. There is one free plan and three paid plans that begin at $22.05 per person per month. You pay between $650 and $1,500 a year for up to three managers if you pay yearly.
You can get an Enterprise plan if you have 201 or more agents. This plan is said to cost $134,500 a year for up to 300 agents. But you need to get in touch with sales to get a personalized price.
Zendesk for Service
With Zendesk for Service, your workers can talk to customers, keep track of conversations, and set priorities all from a single agent workspace.
It has advanced routing and intelligence, as well as tools for working together that let teams inside and outside the company meet. With its API, you can also make your own connections.
Zendesk for Service has free trials and plans that start at $55 per worker per month, paid for in advance. You could choose a foundational support plan, which starts at $19 per agent per month and is billed annually, if all you need is basic support like ticketing, business rules, analytics, and contact history.
Vivantio
The Vivantio (previously Vivantio Pro) help desk service has improved each time we’ve evaluated it. The Flex interface is the same, but it now supports integration, management, and global service desk operations.
With competitive pricing, Vivantio is a top ITIL-compatible business service desk that deserves our Editors’ Choice along with HaloITSM. For smaller companies with more customer-facing needs, check out Freshdesk and Zoho Desk, two other Editors’ Choice designees.
For those unfamiliar, ITIL is the Information Technology Infrastructure Library. This is basically service desk best practices for building and managing a full-service IT help desk.
Standard frameworks like ITIL help scope performance and extend to related disciplines like asset and change management. There’s no single group responsible for these guidelines; therefore, ITIL-compatible solutions may have feature discrepancies.
Freshservice
Freshservice is Freshdesk’s big brother. While both Freshworks products have modern UI and good self-service and ticket-management tools, they are in distinct classifications.
Freshdesk’s pricing and feature set suit small, customer-facing helpdesk teams. Freshservice is better at supporting internal customers, especially those with ITIL techniques like change, problem, and release management, but it costs more. Freshservice also helps managed service companies meet SLAs.
Freshdesk and HappyFox are helpdesk software that process external customer care tickets and provide agents with rapid, easy-to-find information and resources. Freshservice, ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus, and Vivantio Pro enable IT organizations to manage internal initiatives like diagnosing technological issues, storing and managing tech assets, and building new products. Freshservice is worth considering if this second category meets your business needs, even though it costs more.
Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk
In the event that you are seeking a free help desk solution, Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk is a wonderful alternative to consider.
A number of fundamental features are included, such as ticket management, remote support sessions, alerts, ticket rules, monitors, push notifications, reports, customization, tasks, active directory integration, user self-service, multi-site support, ticket collaboration, and team management. These features are all included in the package.
The setup takes only a few minutes, and there is hardly any learning curve involved. There is no restriction on the number of tickets or administrators, and it will continue to be free.
It is able to accomplish this through collaborations with software that is complementary. If you want to further expand your toolset without breaking your budget, you may take advantage of the discounts that many of these merchants offer directly within Spiceworks.
What’s the Difference Between a Help Desk and a Service Desk?
A lot of people think that “service desk” and “help desk” mean the same thing, but there are some important differences. While a help desk is usually there to help with incident management or fix problems.
The IT service management (ITSM) service desk can also help with service requests, information requests, and other ITSM tasks. A service desk is more focused on the customer and aims to provide quick, high-quality care.
ITSM is the bigger idea that includes all the tasks and steps that are used to provide IT services to customers.
ITSM teams are in charge of the whole process of offering IT services, from planning and designing them to delivering them and providing support for them.
Service request management, knowledge management, IT asset management, issue management, problem management, and change management are some of the core processes that make up ITSM.
Benefits of Help Desk Software
Help desk software has many benefits for corporations and organizations:
Efficient ticket management: Help desk software makes it easy to create and manage support tickets, ensuring that all client inquiries and issues are dealt with quickly and efficiently.
Better communication: Help desk software helps increase communication between support professionals and clients, speeding up resolutions and improving satisfaction.
Enhanced productivity: Automating ticket assignment and response frees up support professionals to work on more difficult issues and boosts productivity.
Better tracking and reporting: Help desk software can track and publish support metrics like response times and ticket volume, helping firms improve and measure success.
Increased collaboration: Help desk software’s internal notes and ticket sharing functionality encourages support personnel to collaborate and share expertise, improving efficiency and issue resolution.
Improved customer experience: Help desk software can improve customer experience by streamlining support operations and enabling faster resolutions, helping organizations develop stronger customer relationships.
Conclusion
Help desk software improves customer support, efficiency, and competitiveness in 2024. Small businesses, customer service teams, and IT experts can improve customer happiness, optimize procedures, and succeed with the proper platform.
Remember that the ideal help desk software for your organization relies on your objectives and goals. Assess your needs, examine solutions, and involve your team in decision-making. With the correct tools, you can provide excellent assistance and build client loyalty.