20 Best Enterprise Help Desk Software of 2024
10 Best Enterprise Help Desk Software Shortlist
Here's my pick of the 10 best software from the 20 tools reviewed.
With so many different help desk software solutions available, figuring out which is best for you is tough — especially if you're running an enterprise-level organization. You know you want software to help you streamline your customer support and manage queries more efficiently, but you need to figure out which system is best. In this article, I'll help you make your choice easier by sharing my insights on the best enterprise help desk software to manage, track, and resolve high volumes of customer queries quickly.
What is Enterprise Help Desk Software?
Enterprise help desk software is a tool designed specifically for large organizations to help manage and resolve high volumes of support requests. They offer key features like multi-channel support, ticket management, automated responses, and an integrated knowledge base to speed up responses to customer queries and provide consistent service.
By implementing enterprise help desk software, companies can improve operational efficiency, increase customer satisfaction, reduce workloads by automating tasks, and enhance collaboration between support agents. The data collected by these systems also help organizations make better data-driven decisions and scale their service capabilities as their company grows.
Overviews of the 10 Best Enterprise Help Desk Software
Here’s a brief description of each enterprise help desk software that showcases each vendor’s best use case, their noteworthy features, and some pros and cons. I’ve also included screenshots to give you a preview of their user interface too.
Zendesk is a cloud-based, AI-powered help desk software that offers a variety of customer support solutions, including Zendesk Enterprise. Zendesk Enterprise provides advanced features, scalability, and enhanced customization options that help large organizations with more complex support requirements deliver exceptional customer experiences.
Why did I pick Zendesk: Zendesk Suite Enterprise plan offers a full range of customer support features, including ticketing, analytics, and self-service tools. These include Zendesk's Knowledge Base, where businesses can create a centralized repository of information, frequently asked questions (FAQs), tutorials, guides, and other resources. Customers can access these self-service resources, submit support requests, and track their ticket status through Zendesk's Help Center, which offers a customizable and branded customer portal.
For teams, Zendesk Enterprise provides analytics and reporting capabilities to measure the effectiveness of self-service resources. You can uncover insights into customer behavior, popular search queries, article views, and user satisfaction ratings. This data helps organizations identify gaps in their knowledge base, optimize content, and improve the overall self-service experience.
Zendesk Standout Features and Integrations
Features include multi-channel support, which lets you manage customer interactions across multiple channels all from one place. Zendesk Enterprise also supports multilingual self-service content and enterprise-grade security, such as SSO and two-factor authentication.
Integrations include Slack, Mailchimp, Klaus, NiceReply, Dialpad, Kaizo, Zignatures, Textline, Trello, and Zoho CRM.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Designed to scale with growing businesses
- Teams receive dedicated support from a Customer Success Manager (CSM)
- Extensive customization options
Cons:
- Slight learning curve for advanced features
- Limited flexibility in lower-tier plans
Issuetrak is a software tool that provides businesses with a system for tracking and managing issues, offering customizable, omnichannel ticket submission. It is designed to support various functions such as customer support, site management, and trend analysis for businesses of all sizes, including large-scale enterprises.
Why I picked Issuetrak: Issuetrak provides a platform for omnichannel ticket submission, ensuring that all customer interactions are captured and addressed. The software then automates ticket assignment to the appropriate team members, which helps distribute the workload and ensures timely responses. Collaboration on tasks is also facilitated within the system, and a knowledge base is available for storing solutions to common problems, aiding in faster resolution of future inquiries.
Asset management is another key feature of the tool, enabling the tracking of company assets and their associated issues. Issuetrak also offers industry-specific solutions and customizable dashboards to monitor help desk activities.
Issuetrak Standout Features and Integrations
Features include quick notes, which enables users to add pre-written notes to issues quickly, functionalities for managing customer complaints. Issuetrak also offers comprehensive customer support, including a dedicated support department that provides 24/7 technical assistance and in-house services such as site configuration and training for support agents.
Integrations include Okta, Onelogin, Gmail, Microsoft 365, Salesforce, Google Analytics, and PowerBI.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- User-friendly interface
- Can create custom workflows
- Can track work and projects
Cons:
- Some issues with email ticket generation
- Limited reporting capabilities
Best enterprise help desk software for providing remote access support
Zoho Assist is a customer support software that allows users to provide customer support through remote access sessions. It's compatible with other Zoho products.
Why I picked Zoho Assist: Security is a top priority, and the software is GDPR, HIPAA, PCI, and CJIR compliant and has SSL 256-bit AES encryption. Enterprise businesses can rest assured that they're meeting security parameters while providing support to customers or employees through both on-demand and unattended remote access sessions. Unattended remote access allows for pushing updates, diagnosing issues, and rebooting devices even if a customer or team member isn't at their computer.
Live chat, video, and voice calls are all supported to facilitate communication between support reps and customers. You can exchange files as needed, and remote billing is included. Sessions can be recorded for auditing, record-keeping, and training purposes. Organizational management is also included so the right people have the right access permissions in the platform.
Zoho Assist Standout Features and Integrations
Features include a service queue and session scheduling. This helps you manage incoming support requests and address high-priority needs first. The software helps you automate how you handle issues, speeding up your processes and giving you more time to focus on high-impact work.
Integrations include the Zoho product suite, Zendesk, ServiceNow, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Jira, Freshdesk, Spiceworks, and the Google Suite, among others.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- On-demand and unattended remote access
- Ability to deploy bulk updates
- High-level security (multi-factor authentication, conditional access)
Cons:
- Some features may require coding knowledge
- Might not be ideal for non-Zoho users
Zoho Desk is a cloud-based help desk solution designed to cater to businesses of all sizes, including enterprises. It offers a comprehensive suite of features including customer support ticket management, a customer support portal, contract management, and report creation.
Why I picked Zoho Desk: Zoho Desk offers multichannel support, which allows customer interactions through email, phone, social media, and live chat. Additionally, its robust ticket management system automatically organizes tickets and provides tools to increase efficiency and agent productivity.
The inclusion of an AI tool, Zia, further enhances the platform by automating tasks such as ticket tagging, alerting agents to unusual activity, and even conducting sentiment analysis on customer interactions. This level of automation not only reduces the workload on support agents but also ensures quicker and more accurate responses to customer queries.
Zoho Desk Standout Features and Integrations
Features include extensive customization of the user interface, ticket views, and workflow processes, making it adaptable to the specific needs of any organization. Additionally, the platform's reporting and analytics features offer customizable reports and dashboards that provide valuable insights into support performance and customer satisfaction.
Integrations include Google Workspace, Microsoft Office 365, Slack, Jira, Trello, Asana, Dropbox, OneDrive, Box, GitHub, Bitbucket, Zendesk, Salesforce, HubSpot, Intercom, Freshdesk, and other Zoho apps.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Detailed control over ticket management
- Includes robust automation features
- Allows for extensive customization
Cons:
- The user interface can be overwhelming for some users
- Can be complex to customize its features
Freshdesk is a cloud-based customer support software provided by Freshworks, offering comprehensive help desk support solutions tailored for enterprises seeking to enhance their customer service operations.
Why I picked Freshdesk: As enterprise help desk software, Freshdesk excels in providing scalable, intuitive, and integrated solutions for managing customer inquiries, streamlining support processes, and improving customer satisfaction across various channels. Its advanced analytics offers deep insights into support operations and customer satisfaction. Crucial for continuous improvement and strategic decision-making.
The platform also features a self-service knowledge base and custom widgets to help customers find answers independently, reducing the load on support agents.
Freshdesk Standout Features and Integrations
Features include its AI-powered automation that helps you streamline ticket routing, prioritization, and responses., enhances efficiency and reduces response times. Also, its omnichannel support centralizes support from email, chat, phone, and social media. Ideal for unified customer experiences.
Integrations include Salesforce, Slack, Jira, Office 365, Zapier, Shopify, Magento, WordPress, Mailchimp, and Trello. Additionally, it has a marketplace that includes over 1,000 apps that you can connect to and custom workflows and applications you can create to meet your unique business needs using its Neo Platform.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Powerful analytics and reporting tools for data-driven decisions
- Customizable to fit enterprise-level needs and workflows
- Comprehensive support across multiple channels, improving customer engagement
Cons:
- Pricing may be prohibitive for smaller organizations.
- Can be complex to use without proper training
Guru is an AI-powered enterprise search tool that offers company knowledge search, employee intranet, and company wiki. It brings your company's collective intelligence into your existing tools and workflows.
Why I picked Guru: This platform earned its spot on my list not only for its integrated, AI-powered search, but also for its enterprise-grade security. It stands out with its zero-data retention policy, private AI models, and role-based access controls, which make it a strong choice for organizations looking for a secure and customizable enterprise search solution.
The platform also offers a customizable employee engagement hub and an automated, centralized knowledge base. It connects with all your apps, documents, and chats, providing instant answers within the user's workflow. This helps to eliminate knowledge silos and increase team productivity.
Guru Standout Features and Integrations
Features include advanced search capabilities, customizable dashboards, secure data storage, real-time collaboration tools, knowledge management, AI-powered suggestions, robust analytics and reporting, integration with multiple platforms, personalized user experiences, mobile accessibility, document management, workflow automation, social networking features, and multilingual support.
Integrations include Google Chrome, Google Workspace, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Gmail, Outlook, HRIS solutions, Vimeo, Loom, Airtable, Sendesk, Salesforce, Intercom, Freshworks, Confluence, and more. Plus, you can use Zapier, Workato, or the custom API to connect more tools.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- AI-powered helpdesk suggestions
- Tons of integrations with other tools
- Excels in organizing and managing knowledge
Cons:
- Limited offline capabilities
- Comes with a learning curve
Best for creating personalized experiences with AI
Salesforce Service Cloud is a robust, multi-channel helpdesk tool that's well-suited to the needs of enterprise businesses. It helps service teams deliver exceptional experiences with AI-powered personalization.
Why I chose Salesforce Service Cloud: I chose this software because of its AI and automation features that handle repetitive tasks, allowing your agents to focus on providing high-quality support. Its AI chatbots and automatic triaging save time, create consistent experiences, and boost efficiency for your team. The AI ensures that customer queries are directed to the most qualified agents, offering a personalized support experience.
The software's AI can also analyze customer interactions to provide proactive service recommendations, anticipate customer needs, and customize interactions at scale. This makes it particularly good for large businesses and enterprises. The platform also has a drag-and-drop editor to create a self-service center, enabling customers to find solutions independently, further enhancing personalized support.
Salesforce Service Cloud Standout Features and Integrations
Features include a robust knowledge base that helps agents to quickly find information and solutions to common issues, speeding up resolution times. The field service feature supports mobile workforce management, equipping field technicians with the necessary tools and information to deliver outstanding service.
Integrations include Freshdesk, CloudTalk, Twilio, Brandwatch, Paligo, Mailchimp, HubSpot CRM, Trello, TeamViewer, Smartsheet, Klaviyo, Aircall, Gainsight, and Conversocial.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Adaptable to users’ needs
- Multiple pricing tiers to support various stages of growth
- Effectively simplifies support procedures
Cons:
- Comes with a learning curve
- Can be cumbersome to implement
Hiver is a Gmail inbox management tool trusted by 2000+ companies worldwide. It's the best tool for Gmail users as it transforms their inbox into a collaborative workspace, enabling them to share and manage emails, delegate tasks, and track email metrics, all within the familiar Gmail interface.
Why I picked Hiver: I picked Hiver because it not only converts Gmail into a support channel for customer service but also offers various functionalities for various business operations. With Hiver, businesses can manage email, live chat, knowledge base, phone, and WhatsApp support. You can also use Hiver to collaborate on finance operations and manage people and ITSM operations.
Hiver also complies with various data protection laws and regulations, such as GDPR and CCPA. It is ISO 27001:2013 certified, which is a globally recognized standard for information security management. Additionally, Hiver is also SOC 2 Type II compliant, which ensures that the company has appropriate security and privacy controls in place.
Hiver Standout Features and Integrations
Features include shared inbox management functionality, which allows teams to work together on shared inboxes like customer support, sales, and HR, without switching between multiple tools. It also offers a range of collaboration features, including shared labels, internal notes, and reminders, that enable users to delegate tasks, track progress, and communicate with team members in real time.
Integrations are available with Aircall, Asana, Jira, Okta, QuickBooks, Salesforce, Slack, WhatsApp, and Zapier.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Easy-to-navigate
- Advanced security and compliance features
- Good collaboration features
Cons:
- Limited features in the mobile app
- Limited integrations
LiveChat
Best enterprise help desk software for engaging customers in real time
LiveChat is a cloud-based live chat software used by 37,000+ customers worldwide. Its advanced ticketing and live chat functionalities make it an ideal solution for large companies.
Why I picked LiveChat: If you want to engage your customers in real-time and provide personalized assistance, then Live Chat may be for you. With LiveChat, you can assist customers in real-time and send personalized messages to customers based on their behavior and actions on the website. The targeted messages feature helps users create customized messages triggered by specific events, such as when a customer adds a product to their cart.
In addition, users get access to a wide range of chat widget customizations, such as white labeling and changing the widget's location on the website. Also, it supports more than 50 languages, including English, Spanish, French, German, Chinese, Japanese, and many others.
LiveChat Standout Features and Integrations
Features include easy integration with popular third-party tools like CRM and email marketing platforms, advanced reporting and analytics capabilities, customizable chatbots for automating customer interactions, and team management tools for monitoring performance and managing agent roles and permissions.
Integrations include Twitter, WhatsApp Business, Message Translator, Zoom, Clearbit, Super Agent, Stripe, Facebook Messenger, Google Analytics, and Mailchimp. You can also connect LiveChat to a paid Zapier account to unlock additional integrations.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- 200+ integrations
- Allows direct canned response creation
- Advanced reporting features
Cons:
- Limited security features
- No free plan
Help Scout is a cloud-based service desk software with a centralized platform to manage customer conversations. It has an intuitive and easy-to-navigate interface, which makes it one of the easiest to use help desk software.
Why I picked Help Scout: The feature I liked the most is the shared inbox, a collaborative workspace that allows teams to manage customer support inquiries from a single inbox. All support agents can access customers' email, chat, and phone conversations in the shared inbox.
The collision detector feature prevents confusion and chaos. It alerts team members when someone else is viewing or replying to a customer request, preventing multiple agents from responding to the same customer at the same time. Team members can also collaborate on customer requests by adding notes, comments, or assigning tasks.
Another great thing is that the shared inbox provides detailed reporting and analytics, which enables managers to track performance metrics such as response time, resolution time, etc.
Help Scout Standout Features and Integrations
Features include its focus on simplicity and ease of use. The intuitive interface and workflows make it easy for teams to get up and running quickly without requiring extensive training or technical expertise.
Integrations are available with 100+ tools, such as HubSpot, Jira, Salesforce, Slack, Shopify, Google Apps, Pipedrive, WooCommerce, KISSmetrics, and Zapier.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Live and archived webinars
- Good reporting features
- Easy to learn and use
Cons:
- No Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) compliance
- No SLA management
The Best Enterprise Help Desk Software Comparison Chart
This comparison chart summarizes basic details about each of my top enterprise help desk software selections. You can view pricing details and the availability of free trials or demos side-by-side to help you find the best software for your budget and business needs.
| Tools | Price | |
|---|---|---|
| Zendesk | From $49/user/month. | Website |
| Issuetrak | From $26/agent/month | Website |
| Zoho Assist | From $12/month | Website |
| Zoho Desk | From $14/user/month (billed annually) | Website |
| Freshdesk | From $15/user/month (billed annually) | Website |
| Guru | From $10/user/month | Website |
| Salesforce Service Cloud | From $25/user/month (billed annually) | Website |
| Hiver | From $15/user/month (billed annually) | Website |
| LiveChat | From $49/agent/month | Website |
| Help Scout | From $22/user/month (billed annually) | Website |
Compare Software Specs Side by Side
Use our comparison chart to review and evaluate software specs side-by-side.
Compare SoftwareOther Help Desk Options
Here are a few more options that didn’t make the best enterprise help desk software list but are still worth considering:
How I Selected the Best Enterprise Help Desk Software
I've personally tested and extensively researched various enterprise help desk software tools, considering specific criteria to determine the best options. After evaluating numerous tools, these are my top recommendations based on their performance, features, and suitability for enterprise use.
Here's a summary of the selection criteria I used:
Core Functionality
When selecting the best enterprise help desk tools, I considered the following core functionalities that the tools should enable you to perform:
- Efficiently manage and track support tickets throughout their lifecycle.
- Build a knowledge base to provide self-service options for users.
- Offer support across multiple communication channels.
- Automate repetitive tasks and establish workflows.
Key Features
Here are the key features that enterprise help desk software should offer:
- Ticket management: This feature helps users efficiently create, assign, and track support tickets throughout their lifecycle, ensuring timely resolution and smooth ticket handling.
- Multi-channel support: Since enterprises typically provide multi-channel support, the best help desk software should offer support across various communication channels such as email, phone, live chat, and social media, providing an omnichannel experience for customers.
- Automation and workflow: The software should be able to automate repetitive tasks, establish workflows, and trigger actions based on predefined rules, improving efficiency and reducing manual effort.
- Reporting and analytics: It should generate reports that will help you gain insights into support team performance, customer satisfaction, and ticket resolution times, enabling data-driven decision-making and process improvements.
Usability
A user-friendly interface reduces the learning curve and enables users to quickly find the desired features and functionalities. Hence, I prioritized tools with a clean, well-organized interface that is easy to navigate, with intuitive menus, buttons, and controls.
The enterprise help desk software should also provide interactive ticket management features, such as drag-and-drop capabilities for quick ticket assignment and prioritization. It should enable users to easily update ticket status, add comments, and view ticket history.
Integrations
I prefer enterprise help desk software that integrates with Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems, communication and collaboration tools, social media platforms, and ecommerce platforms.
Pricing
The pricing of enterprise help desk software can vary depending on various factors, such as the features, functionality, scalability, and the vendor itself. Enterprise help desk software is typically priced on a per-agent or per-user basis.
When considering the pricing, I chose software that provided the most value for money. When choosing the software, you should carefully evaluate the features, scalability, support, and overall value offered by the software, ensuring it aligns with your organization's requirements and budget.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Here are answers to some frequently asked questions about enterprise help desk software:
What is enterprise help desk software?
Enterprise help desk software is a centralized platform that enterprises use to manage their customer support requirements. They are used to provide support to both customers and employees of the organization. Typically, enterprises use them to manage high volumes of support tickets, consolidate customer data, improve communication and collaboration among support agents, and offer self-service tools.
What are the benefits of enterprise help desk software?
Enterprise help desk software provides numerous benefits to organizations. With efficient ticket management and tracking, it helps support teams handle a higher volume of tickets while maintaining organization and accountability. The software facilitates communication and collaboration among team members, enhancing productivity and problem-solving capabilities. Additionally, by offering self-service capabilities and integration with other business systems, enterprise help desk software promotes self-help options for customers and ensures flow of information across different departments.
Other Help Desk Software Reviews
Are you looking for a different type of help desk software? You may want to check out these other top 10 lists as well:
- Help Desk Software: Reviewed & Compared
- Help Desk Software for Small Businesses
- Help Desk Knowledge Bases for Customer Service
- Online Help Desk Software
- Simple Help Desk Software for Ease of Use
- Internal Help Desk Software
- Email Help Desk Software
- Cloud Help Desk Software
- Best Free Help Desk Software
If you need a little more help refining your selection process, we have several tips to help you choose help desk software as well.
Final Thoughts
An enterprise help desk is a unified platform for all support requests and needs. It encourages collaboration among service representatives and aids in timely response to support inquiries. In fact, according to the HubSpot Annual State of Service Report, 60% of high-growth customer support teams use help desk software.
I hope this article helped you in your search for the best enterprise help desk software. If you’d like to receive the latest insights from top thinkers in customer experience, remember to subscribe to The CX Lead Newsletter.