What is a help desk?

A help desk is the team and software that answers customer questions and resolves issues — typically organizing incoming requests into a queue of tickets or conversations that agents work through. It's the operational hub of customer support, bringing every request into one place so nothing gets lost.

What a help desk does

A help desk centralizes incoming requests from email, chat, and other channels into a single queue, then helps a team work them efficiently: assigning ownership, tracking status, applying saved replies, and reporting on volume and performance. The goal is that every request is visible, owned, and resolved — instead of scattered across personal inboxes.

Help desk vs service desk

A help desk focuses on resolving issues and answering questions, often for customers. A service desk is broader and IT-centric, managing the full lifecycle of IT services using ITIL processes, usually for internal employees. For supporting product customers, a help desk is what you want.

Selvo Shared Inbox

Run support from one inbox, not a free-for-all

Selvo's shared inbox turns email into real support: assignments, internal notes, saved replies, SLA tracking, and CSAT — without the duplicate replies and dropped threads a plain distribution list creates.

See how Selvo Shared Inbox works

Questions about Help Desk

What's the difference between a help desk and a service desk?

A help desk resolves issues and answers questions (often customer-facing); a service desk manages IT services end to end with ITIL processes, usually internal. See help desk vs service desk.

Do I need help desk software for a small team?

Once more than one or two people answer support, yes — a shared inbox or help desk adds the ownership and visibility a personal inbox or distribution list can't. See shared inbox vs distribution list.

Related terms

Help Desk vs Service Desk

A help desk resolves individual issues and answers questions — it's reactive, ticket-by-ticket, and often customer-facing. A service desk is broader: it manages IT services end to end (requests, incidents, changes) following ITIL, and is usually internal and IT-centric. Every service desk includes help-desk functions, but not every help desk is a service desk.

Ticketing System vs Shared Inbox

A ticketing system converts every request into a formal ticket with IDs, queues, statuses, and automation — powerful but more rigid and process-heavy. A shared inbox keeps support as natural email-style conversations the whole team can manage together. Ticketing scales structure; shared inboxes keep things personal and low-overhead.

Shared Inbox

A shared inbox is a collaborative workspace where a team manages one email address (like support@) together. On top of plain email it adds assignment, status, internal notes, saved replies, and shared visibility — so everyone sees what's handled, what's waiting, and who owns each conversation.

Browse the full customer support glossary →