WHAT DOES A SERVICE DESK DO?

Published: Dec 16, 2025 - The Service Desk Professional provides front-line technical support to end-users, resolving hardware, software, and network-related issues efficiently through various communication channels. This position is responsible for documenting incidents, escalating unresolved problems, and ensuring timely follow-up to maintain high service levels and user satisfaction. The individual also contributes to knowledge base updates, participates in IT process improvements, and collaborates closely with other technical teams to enhance service delivery.

A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Service Desk

1. Service Desk Analyst Duties

  • Incident Handling: Receive enquiries relating to incidents from end users, resolving these directly or escalating accordingly in line with SLA/SLO.
  • Customer Response: Provide an initial response to the customer detailing the support request number and instigating initial resolution activities.
  • Knowledge Application: Provide initial resolution using KB or additional support materials.
  • Fault Identification: Provide initial identification of reported faults sufficient to enable further investigation of such faults on a second or third-line basis.
  • User Communication: Keep users updated on the incident or request progress.
  • Information Gathering: Ensure that any further information required to resolve issues is gathered and documented.
  • ITSM Operation: Use the ITSM system for the management of support issues and administering Support Services.
  • User Guidance: Provide guidance to end users on product features and use.
  • Ticket Closure: Close tickets on fulfilment/resolution and notify the user.
  • Process Accuracy: Follow support and business processes accurately with attention to detail.
  • Task Execution: Follow instructions and complete tasks provided by the assigned mentor.
  • Shift Flexibility: Work flexible shift patterns depending on business needs.

2. Service Desk Analyst Responsibilities

  • IT Contact: Provide a first contact for all IT issues.
  • Customer Support: Responsive, professional, and customer-oriented manner to support the image of an effective front-line service to the Trust’s client base.
  • Incident Logging: Log faults to the incident management system, maintaining a very high level of data quality, speed, and accuracy.
  • Technical Support: Carry out direct technical support tasks where skill levels and time allow.
  • System Maintenance: Make technical changes to systems to maintain continuity of service.
  • Clinical Knowledge: Acquire knowledge of clinical systems that have a direct impact on patient services.
  • Incident Resolution: Resolve a variety of incidents using software that connects to remote systems, using own initiative whilst considering any Trust-wide implications and the impact their action may have on clinical systems and services.
  • Time Management: Work to meet client time constraints, requiring the post holder to perform rapidly, calmly and confidently, often to convey complicated and complex instructions to the user, so that resolution to certain problems are solved instantly.
  • Documentation Creation: Produce technical documentation for all members of the IT department.
  • Conflict Handling: Remain professional and keep calm when having to defuse situations involving irate, verbally aggressive users who are frustrated with the service provided by technicians and/or service desk staff.
  • Advanced Support: Deal with the more in-depth IT issues that high-end users come across.

3. Service Desk Lead Functions

  • Service Desk Management: Day-to-day management of the Service Desk to ensure response to internal customer incidents, queries via email, phone, and the ITSM system Service Now.
  • Incident Prioritisation: Accurately record and prioritise Incidents and Service Requests against SLAs and resolution targets.
  • First Time Fix: Resolution of first-time fix incidents.
  • Queue Ownership: Own and progress call queues and support tasks, ensuring timely resolution within SLA.
  • Shift Coordination: Service Desk day-to-day management (shifts, resources, phone cover).
  • Call Handling: Answer and respond to all phone calls in a friendly, effective manner.
  • Service Reporting: Ensure service reports are produced for each IT service with associated SLA and that breaches of SLA targets are highlighted, investigated, and action taken to prevent recurrence.
  • Issue Escalation: Escalation point for both staff and customers in relation to process or service failure, and work with internal service and support teams and customers to address such issues promptly.
  • Documentation Management: Manage and maintain an accurate and up-to-date Service Desk documentation, responsible for knowledge management at the Service Desk.
  • User Processing: Manage the processing of Movers, Leavers, and Joiners IT processes, including new user orientation, delivering to SLAs.
  • Process Improvement: Proactively look for ways to improve customer processes or support operations.
  • Project Support: Opportunities to get involved with a range of IT project work.
  • Team Collaboration: Promote teamwork and knowledge sharing.

4. IT Service Desk Lead Details and Accountabilities

  • Ticket Documentation: Utilize the ticket tracking system to document all support incidents.
  • Documentation Maintenance: Creates and maintains detailed and complete Service Desk documentation.
  • Metrics Reporting: Reporting of metrics and KPIs for the Service Desk.
  • Automation Identification: Identify opportunities for automation and assist with the development of automation systems to address those opportunities.
  • Project Participation: Participation with research, planning, scoping, implementation, and ongoing support for workplace projects.
  • Asset Maintenance: Participation in maintaining the inventory of hardware, software, and support assets.
  • Self-Motivation: The capability to self-motivate, work independently, and take ownership of job responsibilities.
  • Communication Skill: On-point, genuine interpersonal and written communication.
  • Task Prioritization: Balance and prioritize multiple projects and remain calm under pressure.
  • Tiered Support: Work with multi-tiered ticket handling/resolution systems.
  • Local Support: Provide local tier 1 and tier 2 IT support.
  • Standards Enforcement: Enforces IT standards and educates employees about compliance topics.

5. Service Desk Manager Professional Roles

  • Queue Management: Organise, prioritise, and distribute requests and incidents across queues.
  • Team Support: Support and mentor Service Desk Engineers with ticket handling and queries.
  • Team Escalation: Escalation for the Service Desk team.
  • Service Monitoring: Monitor the performance of key services via inbound calls and applications monitoring.
  • Performance Review: Review individual and team performance aligned to SLA’s and internal frameworks.
  • Team Development: Identify development opportunities for all team members, assisting with growth and progression.
  • Issue Review: Regularly meet with development managers to review application performance and critical issues.
  • Infrastructure Support: Work with the IT Infrastructure teams to support queries and escalations.
  • Incident Analysis: Support the analysis and resolution of incidents.
  • Engineer Training: Induction and training of new service desk engineers.
  • Incident Communication: Manage communication to the wider business during incidents aligned to internal frameworks.
  • Resource Management: Be responsible for resource management and team rota.
  • Team Leadership: Manage a large, growing team of service desk engineers.
  • Quality Assurance: Ensure the team delivers quality service and call handling.

6. Service Desk Manager Additional Details

  • Contract Management: Manage contractual relationships with external providers.
  • Agile DevOps Support: Develop activities and processes to support the Agile and DevOps way of working.
  • Business Case Support: Help countries to define Business cases, organize governance, and use the central Service Desk where opportunities exist.
  • Service Improvement: Ensure service improvement and ticket reduction.
  • Incident Management: Establish processes and procedures for the effective management of service-related incidents or issues.
  • SLA Development: Develop Service Level Agreements (SLAs) to establish problem resolution expectations and timeframes.
  • Policy Development: Develop policies and procedures that outline how problems are identified, documented, assigned, and corrected.
  • Performance Analysis: Analyze the performance of Service Desk and Desktop activities and documented resolutions, identify problem areas, and devise and deliver solutions to enhance the quality of service and to prevent future problems.
  • Internal Consultancy: Provide internal consultancy advice to other business areas on service-related issues.
  • Industry Research: Conduct research and attend conferences on emerging products, services, protocols, and standards in support of service desk technology procurement and development efforts.
  • Training Oversight: Oversee the development, implementation, and administration of service desk staff training procedures and policies.
  • Ticket Processing: Manage the processing of incoming tickets to the Service Desk via telephone, e-mail, and online to ensure courteous, timely, and effective resolution of end-user issues.
  • Escalation Policy: Develop and enforce request handling and escalation policies and procedures.
  • Trend Analysis: Track and analyze trends in Service Desk and Desktop requests and generate statistical reports to drive and support continuous improvement.
  • System Assessment: Assess the need for any system reconfigurations based on request trends and make recommendations.

7. Service Desk Specialist Role Purpose

  • Technical Assistance: Provide advanced technical assistance and support for clinical applications and other business applications or systems.
  • Issue Ownership: Take ownership of issues for specific applications or systems before escalating to product teams, and work with the product teams on resolutions.
  • Remote Support: Remote control of customers' machines.
  • Knowledge Creation: Actively create new knowledge content for use by Service Desk support teams.
  • Training Communication: Communicate with SD Managers and Product Team Managers where there are training needs to prevent further escalations, and resolution can occur.
  • Incident Coordination: Stay in communication with Service Desk Managers and SD Team Leads to coordinate efforts for Major Incidents as well as trending issues.
  • Workshop Delivery: Hold workshops where in-house materials are created and training for the SD specialists.
  • Application Awareness: Stay current on application changes and industry trends for support to remain a resource to all Service Desk associates.
  • Trend Reporting: Keep Team LeadManager apprised of trends in tickets that could potentially be a Major Incident.
  • Knowledge Documentation: Document new knowledge content and communicate to customers.

8. Service Desk Specialist General Responsibilities

  • Ticket Processing: Be responsible for processing all incoming tickets in the service desk system (daily task) and answering support calls from customers.
  • Ticket Review: Review customer-provided support tickets.
  • Ticket Triage: Triage the ticket to ensure it was sent to the correct team and redirect it to the relevant group.
  • Information Validation: Validate ticket content and gather from the caller all required information and artifacts (steps to reproduce, logs, screenshots, etc) if missing.
  • L1 L2 Troubleshooting: Perform L1/L2 troubleshooting using knowledge base (KB) articles and scripts.
  • Issue Escalation: Escalate to L3 and work with L3 to resolve the issue.
  • Lifecycle Ownership: Own the full life cycle of the ticket, including closing and resolution.
  • SLA Compliance: Achieve measured success in assistance given to the client by ensuring all tickets are resolved within the appropriate SLA.
  • KPI Reporting: KPI reporting track/follow-up on open L1/L2 items.
  • L3 Support: Support L3 by learning to understand software solutions and troubleshooting basic issues.
  • Lab Support: Support the Fujitsu Labs and Customer environments.
  • Deployment Support: Support customer software deployment, generate deployment reports, and track progress.
  • KB Creation: Create and distribute appropriate knowledge base (KB) articles to Fujitsu teams and customer L1/L2 teams.
  • Policy Adherence: Adhere to company policies, ISO requirements, safety, and quality workmanship.
  • Improvement Support: Support continual improvement efforts.

9. Service Desk Team Leader Key Accountabilities

  • Continuous Improvement: Initiate and foster a continuous improvement process (root cause/problem solving)
  • Compliance Management: Prioritize, respond, and maintain the compliance management process
  • Hiring Support: Participate in new hire interviews and the candidate selection process
  • Performance Monitoring: Monitor and measure the performance of the team and individuals, and provide performance feedback, as laid down in the project guidelines
  • Scorecard Management: Prepare, maintain, and communicate team scorecards, as per the project requirements
  • Team Communication: Maintain team communication, conduct team meetings, and huddles to discuss key updates/issues
  • Policy Adherence: Adherence to Cognizant policies and procedures
  • Floor Management: Manage the floor based on floor management guidelines and requirements
  • Staffing Planning: Inform the line of management on potential attrition/absences promptly and plan for backfill staffing
  • BCP Adherence: Adherence to project requirements during a Business Continuity situation
  • Policy Compliance: Ensure compliance by self and team for all policies and procedures
  • Project Education: Educate the team and management on project progress, performance, and potential risks/issues
  • Training Coordination: Ensure that necessary technical and process-related training and conducted by the SMEs promptly
  • Report Preparation: Prepare consolidated weekly/monthly reports
  • Quality Management: Quality management (prepare for audits and/or Operations Maturity standards)
  • Process Documentation: Process documentation and knowledge base maintenance

10. Service Desk Team Leader Roles and Details

  • Staff Leadership: Motivation and leadership of Service Desk staff, promoting hard work, a “no blame” attitude, and a positive message
  • Application Knowledge: Maintain an up-to-date knowledge of supported applications and developments.
  • Industry Awareness: Keep abreast of industry standards and implement them to develop service
  • Service Improvement: Work with other areas of business to improve holistic service delivery
  • Self-Development: Develop oneself to keep the service and department up to date with the external market
  • Role Modelling: Provide a role-model/aspirational figure within the team, delivering daily examples of expected levels of performance, self-development, and “can-do” attitude
  • Continuous Improvement: Identify and lead on tangible continuous improvement to better serve the customers
  • Strategy Input: Provide input into department strategy and lead on strategy implementation
  • Queue Monitoring: Monitor the daily support ticket queue and ensure timely resolution through established ticket workflows
  • Issue Resolution: Resolve issues utilising excellent customer service skills, problem-solving skills, technical thinking, and reasoning skills
  • Data Tracking: Track and monitor data proactively to ensure compliance with standard operating procedures around issue resolution, incident management, and escalation management
  • SLA Compliance: Ensure compliance with defined SLAs and key performance indicators
  • Documentation Maintenance: Develop and maintain internal and customer-facing documentation
  • Training Undertaking: Undertake such training appropriate to the post held

11. Service Desk Technician Responsibilities and Key Tasks

  • User Response: Respond to user inquiries by following service desk procedures.
  • Technical Support: Provision of support across a range of hardware and software, at level 1 and level 2.
  • Request Logging: Ensure all user requests are logged in Jira.
  • Service Coordination: Coordinate the timely provision of service desk support services.
  • User Communication: Communication to users as to the progress of their inquiries from receipt to closure of the call.
  • User Guidance: Advise users about service desk and operational support facilities and procedures.
  • Issue Identification: Identify and advise the Service Delivery Manager/National Service Desk Team Leader of recurrent user inquiries.
  • Call Logging: Update and maintain the call log to ensure accurate recording of all calls received
  • User Feedback: Encourage user feedback.
  • Access Management: Ensure systems and user access changes are made for employee transfers and departures.
  • Equipment Preparation: Ensure the new starter’s IT equipment is in working order.