When you're managing a growing IT service operation, it can be challenging to support the increasing internal customer issues. As more customers seek help with problems, wait times will increase, and cases may get lost between support teams. This situation creates the demand for a comprehensive solution, like cloud-based helpdesk software.

Below is a review of the top ten IT service/help desk solutions in 2024.

Like many other workflow optimization tools, having access to qualified resources or partnering with a managed provider like Hypershift is essential for organizations to maximize their investment in service/helpdesk tools.

What Solutions Should Organizations Evaluate?

Before your organization purchases a service/helpdesk solution, we highly encourage you to assess the need for service desk tools and define success factors ahead of time. Like any IT-related project, poor planning and execution often lead to costly overruns and frustration for all parties involved—that includes the customers, IT staff, and accountants.

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ClickUp is a comprehensive project management and productivity platform that can also provide a flexible and practical customer service experience and help desk solution. Its powerful features offer a wide range of flexibility for managing customer support processes, while also ensuring your IT and support teams stay on top of their tasks.

Features:

ClickUp offers a variety of viewing options, including List and Kanban views, to help you organize your tasks effectively. The List view provides a detailed list of functions, while the Kanban view shows task progress through column movement.

• ClickUp offers custom fields that can gather details such as incident type, description, severity, and even files like screenshots for additional context.
• ClickUp has dashboards with customizable widgets to track current tickets, team workload, and business goals metrics.

Challenges:

• Initially, users should access ClickUp's video tutorial to familiarize themselves with all its features. Most of the workflows are less intuitive than they could be.
• Some features are missing from the mobile app compared to the web and desktop versions.

Pricing Structure:

• Free Forever.
• Unlimited: $7/month per user
• Business: $12/month per user
  

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Zoho Desk is a customer service software that emphasizes user satisfaction by streamlining the support process for agents and customers. Zoho offers a wide range of business applications, with Zoho Desk being a standout option. It has a robust feature set and is competitively priced compared to other systems we evaluated. Besides its workflow designer, AI chatbot, and mobile apps, it offers a range of other functional capabilities that make it stand out from the competition.

Features:

• A multi-channel ticketing system allows customers to reach out through various mediums, including email, phone, chat, social media, and self-service portals.
• Agent productivity features include ticket sharing, collision detection, and automation to optimize support processes.
• Detailed analytics and reporting are used to monitor support team performance and identify areas for improvement.
• Integrations with other Zoho products and third-party apps improve communication and workflow.

Challenges:

• Some advanced features are only available at higher pricing tiers.
• There is a significant learning curve when initially using the software.
• Restrictions on ticket views in the free plan may affect the software's effectiveness.

Pricing Structure:

• Standard: $20/month per user
• Professional: $35/month per user
• Enterprise: $50/month per user

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Atlassian developed Jira Service Management as a specialized tool for IT teams to handle tasks like incidents, service requests, and change management more efficiently. It is built upon the success of Jira Software and is preferred by CIOs and CDOs for its comprehensive features and emphasis on agile methodologies.

The decision to include this tool was based on its track record of supporting agile frameworks and its capability to integrate IT service projects with agile practices. The reputation and feedback gathered from the community show that Jira Service Management is well-suited for agile IT service projects.

Features:

• Customers can customize their self-service portal to find answers or request help from our support team.
• Set up and track service level agreements (SLAs) in real time to ensure consistent delivery.
• It quickly links with Confluence to make a knowledge base for users to find solutions independently.
• Jira provides ITIL-certified service desk processes to align with international IT service management standards.

Challenges:

• Jira is far more complex than most other solutions.
• New users should watch YouTube videos before accessing the various tools.
• The solution could be faster and smoother with the latest release
• The UI could be more straightforward for users and administrators.

Pricing Structure:

• Free plan.
• Premium: Starts at $47/month per agent
• Enterprise: All enterprise licenses must be quoted from Jira sales and partners.

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SolarWinds Web Help Desk is an IT service management (ITSM) solution designed to automate ticket processes and streamline service requests. It's known for reducing manual intervention and is ideal for organizations looking for efficient and automated ticket workflows.

SolarWinds’ systematic approach to managing service requests and ability to send relevant notifications is efficient and unique. SolarWinds is a strong option for businesses looking to enhance ITSM ticket automation.

Features:

• Multi-channel ticketing system.
• Easy to use reporting and analytics.
• AI-powered knowledge base.
• Easy to build workflows and automation scripts.

Challenges:

• The response times on SolarWinds instances slow periodically.
• Managing the software portion of this solution can take time, especially regarding software licenses and user consumption reporting.
• During high ticket volumes, there is no support for 10- or 15-minute warnings before SLA breaches.

Pricing Structure:

• Essentials: $39 per technician/month
• Advanced: $79 per technician/month
• Premier: $99 per technician/month

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Zendesk is one of the enterprise market's top service/helpdesk solutions. It offers multi-channel support, features like a shared inbox, knowledge base, live chat tools, and over 1000 integrations with other tools. Zendesk also provides advanced AI-based solutions for chatbots and autoresponders, which are included in their higher-tiered plans.

Features:

• Asset management is highly customizable.
• SDKs, APIs, and native integrations with over 1000 ecosystem partners.
• Agent collaboration for asset management and device assessment.
• SLA management for internal and external stakeholders.
• Real-time updates with chatbot support and custom reporting.

Challenges:

• The solution is costly for most smaller clients. The pricing scheme is designed for large enterprise clients.
• Long ramp uptimes.
• Customized reporting and dashboards are only available with the Suite Professional Plan license.

Pricing Structure:

• Suite Team plan: $55/month per agent
• Suite Growth plan: $89/month per agent
• Suite Professional plan: $115/month per agent

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Spiceworks Cloud Help Desk is a web-based ticketing system built to help IT professionals manage and track support requests. Users can create, prioritize, and assign tickets, set alerts, and customize ticket attributes and rules for ticket activity and status notifications.

This solution offers email integration, which converts incoming customer emails into tickets. All reporting tools come included for tracking ticket metrics, response times, and overall support performance. Users can customize ticket categories, create knowledge base articles, and provide self-service resources for common issues.

Features:

• A comprehensive help desk software solution includes ticketing, inventory management, and a user portal to address IT support requirements effectively.
• Practical network monitoring tools track the status of servers, printers, routers, and switches.
• An accessible learning platform with instructional content lets IT professionals stay updated on the latest trends and technologies.
• An online community forum for IT professionals to exchange advice, troubleshoot issues, and discuss current IT developments.

Challenges:

• The reporting system for IT issues could be improved by providing more detailed analytics.
• There are occasional performance issues with the software.

Pricing Structure:

• Free forever for all users.

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LiveAgent is a customer support platform that integrates multiple channels to streamline business communication. It includes a helpdesk solution to improve efficiency in customer support, offering a universal inbox for all customer queries from channels such as email, social media, chat, and phone calls.

Features:

• Advanced automation tools that streamline support processes.
• The support ticketing system includes a built-in CRM for comprehensive help.
• The customer portal provides self-help options such as a knowledge base, forums, and a feedback system.

Challenges:

• The software's interface is highly complex.
• Additionally, there are reports of difficulties with the software's mobile responsiveness.

Pricing Structure:

• Small: $9/month per agent (billed annually)
• Medium: $29/month per agent (billed annually)
• Large: $49/month per agent (billed annually)
• Enterprise: $69/month per agent (billed annually)

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Freshservice is a cloud-based IT service management solution that offers incident, problem, and change management features to help businesses efficiently manage and resolve IT issues. Its workflow automation feature allows for assigning tickets to appropriate team members based on predefined criteria, thus improving response time in customer support and service requests.

Features:

• The interface and ticket management system are user-friendly and compatible with Android and iOS mobile apps.
• The solution enables the creation of a customer database containing helpful articles and solutions to common issues for easy access by users.
• This solution offers comprehensive analytics and reports to assist teams in analyzing service desk productivity and monitoring IT performance.

Challenges:

• No free plan is available for education and the SMB market.
• The service can be slow, buggy, and lacks timely software feature updates.
• Freshservice has minimal project management functionality and SLA customizations.

Pricing Structure:

• Starter: $29/month per agent
• Growth: $59/month per agent
• Pro: $115/month per agent
• Enterprise: $145/month per agent

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Slack is a cloud-based communication and enterprise collaboration tool that support teams can use to manage internal information flows. It uses chat rooms known as "channels" for real-time communication and file sharing, which can be organized based on various criteria, such as teams, projects, and clients.

Features:

• Support teams can collaborate simultaneously through web, desktop, and mobile devices.
• Channels facilitate communication and collaboration among individuals from various departments to address tickets requiring cross-functional teamwork.
• Many integrations are available to connect seamlessly with other programs in your tech stack.
• The Huddle feature enables video calling and screen-sharing capabilities for your team.
• Team members can update their status to keep others informed, whether in a meeting, out for lunch, or on vacation.

Challenges:

• The search functionality is limited while accessing older conversations and files.
• The pricing plan may be expensive for small teams on a budget.
• The huddle feature lacks advanced features like virtual backgrounds and breakout rooms in dedicated video conferencing tools.

Pricing Structure:

• Free plan.
• Pro: $7.25/month per user
• Business+: $12.50/month per user
• Enterprise Grid: Contact the Slack sales team for a quote.

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ServiceNow is an IT help desk solution specifically tailored for large enterprises. It provides a wide range of features such as incident management, proactive issue management, and alignment of IT services with business objectives. Additionally, the software includes customer service management features to improve customer-agent interactions.

Features:

• An issue and incident management system enables efficient task assignment and real-time progress tracking.
• The IT Asset Management module enables users to monitor inventory, streamline asset requests, and conduct asset audits.
• The platform offers fully customizable forms, workflows, dashboards, and reports that meet your business needs.
• Integrated AI technology enables features like search functionality, virtual chatbot help, predictive analytics, and automation of routine tasks.
• The help desk software has seamless integration capabilities with external applications.

Challenges:

• No free plan or trial.
• Hidden pricing plans often must be clarified for the buyer, especially post-deployment.
• This solution for help desk software for administrators and end users has a steep learning curve.
• The solution has slow load speeds with every version.

Pricing Structure:

• • All prospective clients must contact the ServiceNow team for pricing.

Is It Time to Explore Outsourcing IT Services?

Deploying an IT service/helpdesk requires access to experienced administrators to effectively maintain the entire solution, including the custom workflows, analytics tools, and internal knowledge base. To get the most out of these tools, organizations should outsource their service desk management to qualified managed services providers or managed security service providers.

Here are some critical indicators for deciding if outsourcing makes sense for your organization—

• If more in-house IT resources are needed to manage the service desk platform.
• If the organization requires a 24x7x365 coverage.
• If outsourcing the service/helpdesk is more cost-efficient than staffing internal resources.
• If the organization has resources with experience in leveraging AI-based analytics and customer relationship management.

Working with Hypershift

Hypershift delivers IT services with decades of collective expertise, knowledge management, and solutions tailored to your company's unique needs. Our passionate team is dedicated to creating real value, blending deep industry knowledge with the latest IT trends for cutting-edge, reliable solutions. While our innovative methods strengthen with the industry, they're grounded in solid enterprise IT principles.

Our experts will guide your organization to finding better financial, operational, and management footing.

Schedule a call with us today to discuss your project!