Automated help desk software

The online customer experience (CX) is always evolving, as are customer preferences. Seamless, human-centered, fluid interactions are important to retain and satisfy customers, and help desk automation is integral to that fluidity.

This article will detail how help desk automation software works, its role in a comprehensive customer experience (CX), and how to select the right software for your operations.

More in this guide:

• What is help desk automation?
• Benefits of help desk automation software
• Features of automated help desk software
• The 10 best automated help desk software
• How to choose the right help desk automation solution for your business
• Frequently asked questions
• Try help desk automation software for free

Help desk automation is a technology that uses automation to eliminate repetitive work, create custom workflows, and streamline support. These capabilities are often further enhanced with artificial intelligence (AI).

For help desks, automating repetitive work like ticket routing frees them up to focus on more important tasks. Automation provides a more consistent and impactful CX or EX (employee experience) for those receiving support.

Service desk automation is often included as a feature of larger end-to-end customer service software. When integrated, these tools offer scalable support solutions. IT and HR support teams can also benefit from help desk software.

• Tip: Even a fully-staffed operation won’t always be able to field every incoming ticket.Use artificial intelligence for customer service to give your team an extra boost of support, allowing them to be more productive and help more customers. This results in faster ticket resolution, fewer negative reviews, and a more efficient workflow for your reps.

Here are a few benefits that help desk automation software can bring to your operations.

Improve customer satisfaction

Help desk automation software is an additional pair of hands (or a thousand pairs) that can act with lightning speed and pinpoint accuracy.

Through automated customer service, businesses can answer customer queries instantaneously with AI agents, send automated messages and reminders, and deliver a more holistic CX. The overarching result is more satisfied customers who know they can rely on your business to provide timely, helpful support.

Heighten agent productivity

Much like a line cook supports a Michelin-star chef by doing prep work and basic cooking, automation aids support agents by completing the more trivial day-to-day work. This frees up agents to focus on more nuanced tasks that technology can’t handle on its own.

Whether you have a smaller support team or an enterprise help desk, a partnership between agents and technology means your employees accomplish more while doing less, boosting overall productivity without burning your team out.

Lower support costs

Staying in the kitchen, Michelin-star restaurants have sous chefs, line cooks, and others who all earn a salary. Automation software, however, serves as a “chef” that provides the same level of support for a fraction of the price of employee payroll.

In addition to lowering support costs, the right product can improve ROI and drastically reduce time to value (TTV). At Zendesk, we prioritize agility—meaning you can get up and running in just days and start seeing the value of your investment immediately.

Create consistent customer experiences

If you offer seamless conversational experiences with human-centered, natural language that keeps people engaged, you’re likely to notice an uptick in conversion and retention. Using help desk automation enables teams to develop streamlined workflows—like using AI agents to resolve common customer questions—which results in increased team efficiency and a consistent customer experience.

Collect greater insights

Automation can give organizations a comprehensive view of customer interactions. With advanced analytics related to ticket times and performance, customer feedback, and automated reporting, automation platforms provide important insights for businesses to improve their operations.

Here are a few features a reliable automated help desk software should offer.

Now, let’s jump into an extended breakdown of each software, including its pricing and features, so you can invest in the best one for your business.

• Zendesk: Best for human-centered AI built for service

• HelpDesk: Best for no-code customer communication workflows

• HappyFox: Best for multi-channel ticketing with SLAs

• Salesforce Service Cloud: Best for large enterprises with complex needs

• Freshdesk: Best for cloud-based multichannel support

• ServiceNow: Best for IT-focused issue resolution automation

• ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus: Best for combined service and asset management

• SysAid: Best for IT service workflow automation

• Zoho Desk: Best for CX optimization

• Spiceworks: Best for businesses with limited budgets or basic needs

1. Zendesk

Best for human-centered AI built for service

Any company can claim its product has automation, but for a truly business-altering product, you need an option that brings automation to your entire operation—something only Zendesk can provide.

Zendesk brings a full breadth of automation capabilities to help desk software:

• Human-centric AI built for service:Zendesk AI is built into our help desk solution to increase efficiency, accuracy, and satisfaction at every touch point. AI copilot guides agents with real-time suggestions, and quality assurance (QA) helps spotlight high performers and identify coaching opportunities to help everyone improve.
• Advanced routing: With advanced routing from Zendesk, teams can instantly route queries to the right team member based on intent, sentiment, and language, as well as agent availability, capacity, skills, and ticket priority.
• Triggers and workflow automation: Be it notifying users when you're out of office, sending satisfaction score follow-ups, automated responses to high-volume requests, or more advanced capabilities like bot deflection and 24/7 support, Zendesk can help you automate your most common tasks to save your team time.
• Real-time reporting: Real-time reporting and analytics features can help teams monitor customer trends and improve operational efficiency. This allows you to pivot and adjust to disruption or change in the moment.
• Flexible agent workspace: While automation and AI are becoming increasingly common for support teams, a human touch is needed from time to time. Our software can be a one-stop shop for everything an agent needs to do their job effectively, whether that calls for supporting a user personally or with AI.

Additionally, all our capabilities come with no-code implementation, so you and your team can get up and running quickly. With over 1,800 different apps and integrations that allow for customization, Zendesk is the ideal solution for customer service help desks, HR help desks, or IT help desks.

What users are saying:

• “Zendesk offers a lot of great automations and integrations that are essential to running a successful support desk.”
• “Good for building a knowledge base that’s user-friendly and simple to set up.”
• “Easy to use with very customizable dashboards.”

2. HelpDesk

Best for no-code customer communication workflows

HelpDesk is an automation platform that provides no-code workflows for businesses to address customer issues. This browser-based product allows users to set up condition- and action-based workflows to automate daily customer communications.

The platform also helps users assign tickets to agents based on skills or availability, identify VIP customers, and categorize customers and tickets. Other predictive features include email templates, custom fields, ticket summaries, and text enhancements.

What users are saying:

• “Easy to use, not complicated.”
• “Not a perfect fit for my use case, but could be good for others.”
• “Not many improvements from the old ticketing system.”

3. HappyFox

Best for multi-channel ticketing with SLAs

HappyFox is a customer service platform with automated help desk capabilities that businesses of all sizes can use. It’s a ticketing system that lets users convert requests into tickets from multiple channels, including email, chat, social media, and the phone.

The platform also has features like smart rules, SLAs, and auto ticket assignments for automation. Furthermore, the platform has canned responses to help agents respond to customer inquiries, as well as reporting and analytics features.

What users are saying:

• “Our task management became very easy after installation.”
• “Okay ticketing; horrible knowledge base user interface.”
• “The reporting is very challenging. I wish they had better reporting capabilities.”

Learn more: Discover how HappyFox integrates with Zendesk.

4. Salesforce Service Cloud

Best for large enterprises with complex needs

Salesforce Service Cloud is a customer service platform that offers AI-powered workflows and automation. This product lets businesses connect customers with knowledge base articles, automate business processes, and route cases.

The platform also has chatbots that can handle common requests. Additionally, it integrates with other systems, such as Zendesk. However, while Salesforce Service Cloud is highly customizable, it tends to have a high total cost of ownership because it often requires expensive technical resources and partnerships.

What users are saying:

• “I enjoy using the product. Think it streamlines your work by having everything in one app.”
• “It can be a bit complicated to personalize the workspaces and workflows of the agents.”
• “It is highly complex and it doesn't come with out-of-the-box customization.”

Learn more: Discover how Salesforce integrates with Zendesk and how Zendesk vs. Salesforce compare.

5. Freshdesk

Best for cloud-based multichannel support

Freshdesk by Freshworks is a cloud-based automated service desk platform. It offers a ticketing system and multichannel support capabilities over channels like email, phone, and chat.

Teams can automate ticket assignments and set automatic email notifications to notify customers of changes to their requests. Its features include agent routing, AI-powered workflows, and self-service software, such as customer portals. That said, Freshdesk does have limitations to its reporting capabilities, and its agent interface is disconnected, forcing users to go into different screens for detailed information on individual channels like phone or chat.

What users are saying:

• “Smooth controls and operations. Works quickly.”
• “While Freshdesk gets the job done, their knowledge base is not very polished and looks antiquated.”
• “The customization in Freshdesk is very minimal when compared to Zendesk, specifically.”

Learn more: Discover how Zendesk vs. Freshdesk compare.

6. ServiceNow

Best for IT-focused issue resolution automation

ServiceNow offers help desk software that specializes in IT service management. It also has a customer service management (CSM) tool that focuses on automated issue resolution and self-service capabilities. Automated service desk features include intelligent routing, tracking tickets throughout the resolution process, an AI-powered chatbot, and automated self-service.

Teams can also engage in omnichannel support and communicate with each other through agent workspaces. Furthermore, the platform also attempts to assist agents with customer service management playbooks that can alert them to trending problems. These dedicated workspaces offer a unified CSM view and automated task abilities.

What users are saying:

• “Robust capabilities around IT workflow management, particularly in IT service management.”
• “Mobile app does the basics, but lacks [the] wanted functionality.”
• “Building a new workflow is very intensive and has limitations with customizations.”

Learn more: Discover how Zendesk vs. ServiceNow compare.

7. ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus

Best for combined service and asset management

ManageEngine is an IT service management platform that aims to supplement help desk capabilities. Overall, the product combines service management, asset management, HR, finances, and more to deliver workflows that help the customer service experience.

The product offers no-code ticket automation, reporting functions, and customization to address tickets in all stages of the ticket lifecycle. ManageEngine also partners with Zoho to utilize Zia, a conversational AI chatbot. This bot acts as a virtual assistant and first point of contact, providing customers with an alternative avenue for assistance.

What users are saying:

• “Good system for managing our devices.”
• “It has some customization limitations.”
• “It often feels like I'm hitting a brick wall when trying to resolve basic issues.”

8. SysAid

Best for IT service workflow automation

SysAid is an IT service automation platform that focuses on creating workflows for service desks. Businesses can automate tasks related to customer support tickets, daily tasks, and general workflow through its no-code software.

The software also features self-service automation to assist support agents in finding resolutions to common problems like password resets, ticket automation, and asset management. Additionally, reporting features can help businesses monitor the status of active and archived support tickets.

What users are saying:

• “Smooth ticket management and automation.”
• “While it is very customizable, this also makes it very time-consuming to set up every aspect of the helpdesk system.”
• “The reporting functionality needs improvement—it should be easier to create ad hoc reports.”

9. Zoho Desk

Best for CX optimization

Zoho Desk by Zoho is a help desk software that helps users create automated resolutions for customers. The platform has three main objectives: optimize the customer experience, assist support agents, and increase long-term retention. Zoho attempts to help businesses with these goals by offering omnichannel capabilities, AI workflows, analytics, and other workflow-related features.

Other capabilities include self-service features that enable customers to find answers on their own, ticket organization and accessibility to help support agents keep track of open tickets, and time tracking so managers can keep an eye on employees' productivity. Additionally, integration features allow businesses to use Zoho alongside many of the other tools they use daily.

What users are saying:

• “It's feature-rich and integrates well with the other Zoho products.”
• “Ticket statuses in the mobile app are sometimes slow to update.”
• “I am used to working with simpler applications, and Zoho was a bit of a learning curve for me.”

Learn more: Discover how Zoho integrates with Zendesk and how Zendesk vs. Zoho compare.

10. Spiceworks

Best for businesses with limited budgets or basic needs

Spiceworks is a free cloud help desk focused on automation and efficiency for help desks. This product is designed for businesses with tight budgets and helps to automate daily projects and user requests. From there, teams can create reports to help keep an eye on their trending performance.

The platform features automated ticket routing and responses, knowledge base creation, and advanced reporting. Spiceworks seems to offer fewer capabilities than the other options on our list, but it does include the basics to get businesses up and running.

What users are saying:

• “It's cheap and relatively easy to use—good community around it, also.”
• “With Zendesk, we could customize our ticket number sequence…This made it easier for both our employees and IT department to track and manage tickets efficiently. Unfortunately, we found that Spiceworks doesn't offer the same flexibility.”
• “The adverts are sometimes annoying, and also, the mobile app is very buggy.”

Learn more: Discover how Zendesk vs. Spiceworks compare.

Not every solution will be suitable for every team. Here are some tips and questions to ask when choosing help desk software:

• Make sure it’s easy to use: If a product is too complicated for your team, you won’t see any value from it. Prioritize ease of use so your support agents can get up to speed quickly and realize the product's full value.
• Test drive the software: Does the software have a free trial? Take advantage of it to get a sense of a product’s feel and capabilities before committing to a purchase. Pay close attention to the look and function of the user interface, and ensure the platform can meet all of your needs.
• Consider time to value and ease of implementation: Be sure the product you select is simple to set up and allows your organization to get value from it quickly. Zendesk is a top vendor when it comes to low total cost of ownership (TCO), resulting in a rapid time to value—like its AI agents that are pre-trained on billions of service interactions so they can take on your toughest service automation challenges on day one.
• Select a solution with a dedicated customer success team and built-in best practices: Can your team receive support easily? Look for vendors that offer robust support options, training opportunities, and easily digestible online resources to help you use your automated help desk effectively.

If you’re looking for a help desk automation solution that checks all the boxes above—and offers world-class features like an industry-leading omnichannel agent workspace, robust reporting, and 1,800+ apps and integrations—look no further than Zendesk.

Zendesk is an all-in-one cloud solution that offers a wide range of powerful automation features to empower your customers and optimize your support team. Try us out for free for 14 days.

Here are a few frequently asked questions about help desk automation software.