Glossary » help desk

help desk

an organization providing user support for computer and software use, possibly including help with installation, usability difficulties, software bugs, system administration, version and compatibility concerns, and so forth. Help desk software assists people at the help desk in retrieving answers and entering frequently-asked questions. Sometimes called a “call center”, “tech support center”, “computer support center”, and various other permutations of “computer”, “customer”, “help”, “IT”, “technical”, “resource”, “support”, and “center”. Help desks measure their performance by the number of calls they take, the average number of calls kept waiting, the average length of calls, and their ability to resolve the user’s problems.