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Automated help desk software

Help desk automation software enables agents to offer top-tier service to customers and employees. Explore options and try the best solution for free.

A guide to help desk automation

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?

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.

Benefits of help desk automation software

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.

Features of automated help desk software

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


The 10 best automated help desk software

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.

1. Zendesk

Best for human-centered AI built for service

Zendesk AI adds automation to help desk interactions.

Starting price

Free trial

Features

$55 per agent/month (billed annually)


Explore more Zendesk pricing plans.

14 days

  • Omnichannel ticket management
  • Internal and external knowledge bases
  • Automated ticket tagging and routing
  • AI-powered workflow automation
  • Real-time reporting
  • 1,800+ apps and integrations
  • Flexible Agent Workspace
  • Industry-leading Agent Workspace
  • Security
  • Flexible ticket assignment options
  • No-code chatbot builder

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.

Pros

Cons

  • Free trial only lasts 14 days

What users are saying:

2. HelpDesk

Best for no-code customer communication workflows

Help desk automation software from HelpDesk.

Starting price

Free trial

Features

$29 per agent/month (billed annually)

14 days

  • Automated workflows
  • No-code setup
  • Analytics
  • LiveChat integration
  • AI text enhancement

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.

Pros

Cons

What users are saying:

3. HappyFox

Best for multi-channel ticketing with SLAs

Help desk automation software from HappyFox.

Starting price

Free trial

Features

$21 per agent/month (billed biennially)

Unavailable

  • Service level agreements (SLAs)
  • Auto ticket assignments
  • Canned actions
  • Reporting and analytics
  • Custom ticket queues

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.

Pros

Cons

What users are saying:

Learn more: Discover how HappyFox integrates with Zendesk.

4. Salesforce Service Cloud

Best for large enterprises with complex needs

Help desk automation software from Salesforce Service Cloud.

Starting price

Free trial

Features

$25 per user/month

30 days

  • Chatbots
  • Lead-contact account management
  • Customer service AI
  • Omnichannel routing
  • Service automation

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.

Pros

Cons

What users are saying:

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

5. Freshdesk

Best for cloud-based multichannel support

Help desk automation software from Freshdesk.

Starting price

Free trial

Features

$15 per agent/month (billed annually)

14 days

  • AI-powered workflows and automation
  • Data and analytics
  • Custom reports and dashboards
  • Skills-based routing
  • Self-service

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.

Pros

Cons

What users are saying:

Learn more: Discover how Zendesk vs. Freshdesk compare.

6. ServiceNow

Best for IT-focused issue resolution automation

Help desk automation software from ServiceNow.

Starting price

Free trial

Features

Contact ServiceNow

Unavailable

  • Agent workspace
  • AI-powered automation
  • Omnichannel capabilities
  • Self-service
  • AI chatbots

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.

Pros

Cons

What users are saying:

Learn more: Discover how Zendesk vs. ServiceNow compare.

7. ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus

Best for combined service and asset management

Help desk automation software from ManageEngine.

Starting price

Free trial

Features

Contact ManageEngine

30 days

  • Zia AI chatbot
  • Incident management
  • Request tracking and automation
  • Multichannel support
  • Account and contact 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.

Pros

Cons

What users are saying:

8. SysAid

Best for IT service workflow automation

Help desk automation software from SysAid.

Starting price

Free trial

Features

Contact SysAid

30 days

  • Self-service automation
  • Analytics and reporting
  • Codeless configuration
  • Remote control capabilities
  • Ticket 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.

Pros

Cons

What users are saying:

9. Zoho Desk

Best for CX optimization

Help desk automation software from Freshdesk.

Starting price

Free trial

Features

$7 per user/month (billed annually)

15 days

  • Automation
  • AI-powered workflows
  • Omnichannel capabilities
  • Self-service
  • Sentiment analysis

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.

Pros

Cons

What users are saying:

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

Help desk automation software from Freshdesk.

Starting price

Free trial

Features

Free

Not applicable

  • Automated ticket routing
  • Automated responses
  • Reporting and analytics
  • Custom ticket views
  • Ticket rules

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.

Pros

Cons

What users are saying:

Learn more: Discover how Zendesk vs. Spiceworks compare.

How to choose the right help desk automation solution for your business

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.

Frequently asked questions

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

Try help desk automation software for free

If you’re ready to try help desk automation software, opt for Zendesk—an industry-leading solution that assists help desks of all sizes streamline their operations and customer or employee support. From advanced ticket routing to advanced AI agents, real-time reporting, and a unified omnichannel Agent Workspace, we have the capabilities your agents need to optimize their workday and spend more time on tasks that require the human touch.

Try a free trial of Zendesk today to experience a flexible solution that supports customers and employees alike.

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