The functions of help desk is to support a company by providing its customers with information and offering experienced assistance to problems related to a particular product, or products, whether they are hardware or software.

Queries come into the help desk via many avenues.  They can come in via a telephone, through a website or through emails and are not just there to provide help for customers, but provide help for inhouse employees as well.

A help desk can form part of a companies larger service desk which offers a wider range of services.

The typical help desk offers a variety of functions, it provides a central point in which to receive and offer help and it manages these requests by means of specialised software packages which allow tracking of user requests.  This software helps the help desk find, alaysing and correct any problems found within the company’s IT environment.

The first step in a help desk is when a user contacts them in order to discuss their issue.  The help desk issues a ‘ticket’ which lists the problem and assigns the problem with a unique number.  This first level of support may be able to solve the problem, and if so, the ticket is closed and stored. The documentation associated it is updated with the solution which can be used in the future for reference purposes.

If the issue needs to be escalated past this first level, the ticket is updated and is sent to a second level of support.

It is possible to successfully outsource a help desk and works especially well for smaller companies who do not have the means to support the technology essential for this function.