Service Desk Market Definition

Service desk software provides a ticketing platform for internal IT service management, serving as the single point of contact (SPOC) for employees to submit IT inquiries and receive support from the IT department, while offering tools for asset management, knowledge management, and change management.

Core Capabilities of Service Desk Software

To qualify for inclusion in the Service Desk category, a product must:

• Provide an internal ticketing system for IT department inquiries
• Utilize a portal for employees to submit questions, issues, or requests
• Offer a knowledge base for employee self-service
• Record the IT assets in use by a company and any changes in asset status that occur

Common Use Cases for Service Desk Software

IT departments use service desk software to stay organized and efficiently respond to employee technology needs. Common use cases include:

• Managing incident and service request workflows from submission through resolution
• Providing employees with self-service access to a knowledge base to resolve common IT issues independently
• Tracking hardware and software assets and logging changes throughout the IT asset lifecycle

How Service Desk Software Differs from Other Tools

Service desk software is purpose-built for internal IT service management, distinguishing it from help desk software, which organizes ticket requests from external customers seeking product or service support. While both use ticketing systems, service desk tools are employee-facing and focused on IT operations, whereas help desk platforms are customer-facing and support-oriented.

Insights from G2 on Service Desk Software

Based on category trends on G2, the internal ticketing system and self-service knowledge base stand out as the most valued features. These platforms deliver improvements in response time and employee satisfaction with IT support as primary outcomes of adoption.

Implementation Index Description

A product's Implementation score is calculated by a proprietary algorithm that factors in real-user satisfaction ratings for a number of implementation-related review questions. Software buyers can compare products in the Service Desk category according to their Implementation scores to streamline the buying process and quickly identify the most easily implemented products based on the experiences of their peers. For sellers, media, investors, and analysts, the Index provides benchmarks for product comparison and market trend analysis.

Badges are awarded to products for: Most Implementable (highest implementation score), Highest User Adoption (highest overall user adoption score), Fastest Implementation (shortest go-live time), and Easiest Setup (highest ease of setup score).

Products included in the Small-Business Implementation Index for Service Desk | Summer 2023 have received both a minimum of 10 reviews and 5 responses from real users for each of the implementation-related questions featured in our review form by May 23, 2023. These ratings may change as the products are further developed, the sellers grow, and as additional opinions are shared by users, and a new Implementation Index report will be issued for this category as significant data is collected.