Help Desks in organisations are very important to the running of organisations.  Over the last decade or so we have seen the model for the Help Desk change from being a basic IT Help Desk that solves users problems to a more business orientated support centre Thomas (1996). The Help Desk has emerged as very important part of organisations and has been recognised as a place where organisation can gain competitive advantage.

We have seen the proliferation of organisations providing support for Help Desk managers such as the Help Desk.com, The Help Desk institute Help Desk Online and others.  These provide the latest information on Help Desk organisation. These magazines have established the Help Desk an important element within organisations.  In 1999, the costs worldwide Help Desks were approximately 23 billion dollars and are set grow for at next several years according to the International Data Corporation. (Monaghan 1999)

There is some research available that has been done in Academia that have tried to identify successful implementations in Help Desk though they have not focused on the Software used in Help Desk Marcella and Middleton(1996). The Internet provides a good source with information available Organizations like the Help Desk Online, Help Desk institute, and others. The information is somewhat generalized and scattered; this dissertation will be looking using software to make the Help Desk more effective and efficient. This paper cannot give a software strategy for every Help Desk but some of criteria that can be applied to most Help Desks. The paper discusses different definitions of a Help Desk and has come up with a definition that is most appropriate to large organizations and well organized Help Desks.