What Are The Different Types Of Service Desk?

What type of service desk will help serve customers the best? Should I focus on buil24/7 supportding an in-house team? Or should I explore the IT services offered by MSPs?

If you are looking for an answer to these questions, you have come to the right place. Service teams have grown beyond resolving technical user queries. Their scope has evolved to provide business-centric solutions.

For every ticket raised, the team takes complete ownership right from creation to resolution, focusing on customer satisfaction.

This means, depending on your business, the service team may have to be available at every location during office hours. Or they could take requests online. Or the team has to be available 24/7 to serve users across diverse geographical areas. Which practice model do you choose?

The article will look at different types of service desks, how to choose one, and explore the possibility of outsourcing your IT service Desk needs.

Depending on the size and location of your organization, there are four types of desks available. They are:

• Local Service Desk
• Centralized Service Desk
• Virtual Service Desk
• Follow the Sun

Let us look at each desk type in detail.

A local desk will be situated in the same building as your company or nearby premises. The service team will be physically present on the premises and available during office hours.

You could be using channels like a service portal or calls to accept requests. But you could also receive expedited help as the team is present on location.

The local desk will typically tend to issues limited to the company location. This could mean the ticket volume will be on the lower side. The desk type is more suited to small or medium companies.

If you are a company that has several offices spread across cities, having local desks could be expensive. There could be knowledge-sharing issues with fragmented teams and inconsistent quality of service.

You can overcome this challenge with a centralized desk. Any queries, requests, and incidents will pass through a single point of contact. Also, the desk will be housed in a single location; this could be your company premises or a standalone office.

A centralized desk can help streamline the service workflow. You can train the agents to use the company-wide tools and implement processes that ensure a consistent standard of service. It can also contribute to improved collaboration and knowledge sharing among teams.

Technology has made it possible for companies to be spread across diverse geographical locations and still work as a unit.

The same goes for the service team. The desk can be dislocated units across the globe but appear as a centralized team for users. All you would need would be the right technology and internet connectivity.

You can make use of skilled resources worldwide and resolve user issues regardless of where both are located.

The challenge with the process model is that you need to pay extra attention to training so all agents are on the same level.

If you are a global organization, then you will need the service teams to be available around the clock. Apart from availability, you need to be mindful of language, cultural and technological differences.

The implementation of this desk type differs from one organization to another. For example, you could have multiple service teams located at different geographical locations covering specific time zones. Or your team can be located at one location with service agents working in shifts.

The four basic service desks available are local, centralized, virtual, and follow the sun. The type of desk you choose depends on the size, location, cost, and your business need.

You could implement a single desk type or opt for multiple desks. You can also explore the services offered by an MSP for a customized desk-type solution.