Service Desk Vs Help Desk Itil

The concept of help desk was born of around 1980s whereas the concept of service desk was evolved after the popularity of itil.

Service desk vs help desk itil.

Still many out there say that a help desk and a service desk are not the same so in this article i will explore the differences and similarities between help desks and. Building on what was said previously a help desk is centered around the existing needs of the it team whereas a service desk is built for what itil defines as the service lifecycle consisting of 28 processes. Now i am inclined to say that the distinction is probably more semantics than anything else. Some would argue that help desk and service desk aren t that different and looking into history the terms were often used interchangeably throughout the 2000s.

However thanks to itil it service management itsm best practice in the main most of us working in it support now like to talk about the it service desk rather than the it help desk. Bigger than a help desk manages it as a service. Service desk is an itil espoused approach for delivering it as a service. Below are the key differences between service desk and help desk.

But the important thing to remember is this. In this case our dictionary is the information technology infrastructure library itil. They say a picture speaks a 1000 words. Service desk a primary it service for it service management itsm.

Although i do sometimes wonder whether we talk more about the itsm tool in many ways the desk rather than what we achieve through using the tool. A few years ago the itil purist in me would have argued that help desks and service desks are two completely different beasts. The help desk feeds into the service desk with a tactical day to day role in responding to end user needs. The widespread adoption of itil by large organizations has led to increased popularization of the term service desk to describe an organization s it support capabilities a survey conducted by hdi connect in 2015 found that 36 of companies use the term service desk while just 23 use help desk.

Help desk meant for helping end users in using it services or components. The service desk concept originated from the information technology infrastructure library itil framework. There are definitions that separate the terms service desk and help desk. The itil strategy is to treat the business as a customer and deliver service in a manner that achieves the best outcome.

Service desk focus client strategy as the single point of contact between users and it service management a service desk follows itil v3 best practices that not only deliver services with software and defined processes but that focus. For most a service desk is an evolved version of a help desk created in an itil mold. Itil information technology infrastructure library sets de facto detailed practices for it service management that focuses on aligning it services with the needs of the business. Itil is most widely adopted set of best practices for it service management itsm.