A Comparison Between Legacy and Modern ITSM Help Desks

With the evolving technological landscape, companies are increasingly choosing to shift their help desk choices from the legacy ITSM helpdesk, the older, more traditional helpdesk for IT support, to the modern ITSM help desk, the helpdesk that incorporates more new technologies and methodologies. Both types of help desks have positives and negatives; this article aims to sift through the many aspects of each and present a holistic overview of the pros and cons of each type of help desk. This holistic review will be based on the reviews of several users/clients of various companies. For the purposes of this article, the company reviews analyzed for the legacy help desks are BMC Helix, Solarwinds, Freshdesk, and ServiceNow, and for the modern help desks are Moveworks, Expressive, Zendesk, and Ivanti. Without further ado, let’s get started.

Let’s begin with the legacy help desks.

‍

One significant advantage of the legacy help desk is that most users are already familiar with the technology, resulting in an initially easier-to-use help desk. Many users commented on this phenomenon (the simplicity of use):

‍

Source: G2, BMC Helix, Link

‍

Source: G2, SolarWinds Service Desk, Link

‍

Source: G2, FreshDesk, Link

On the other hand, a common downside in modern ITSM help desks is its initial learning curve.

As companies transition from legacy to modern help desks, the abundance of newer and more efficient features may require some adjustment to get used to fully.

Below are a few examples of reviews from companies using modern ITSM help desks (as the one listed in the introduction):

Source: G2, Moveworks, Link

‍

Source: G2, Zendesk, Link

‍

Source: G2, Ivanti, Link

‍

Source: G2, Expressive, Link

Conversely, a significant advantage of modern ITSM help desks is their level of technology.

This level of advanced technology can significantly improve a user’s workflow and productivity. Compared to traditional help desks, which typically use outdated technology like VB6, VB.NET, and others, a modern ITSM help desk using cutting-edge technology can improve productivity, efficiency, and scalability, and even offer more customization options.

Below are a few comments from users of modern help desks:

Source: G2, Expressive, Link

‍

Source: G2, Ivanti, Link

‍

Source: G2, Moveworks, Link

Nevertheless, its price is a considerable advantage of the legacy help desk.

Due to less advanced features, legacy ITSM help desks are less costly than modern ones. If cost is a significant factor in your organization’s decision-making, a legacy help desk may work for you.

Below are the reported prices of each of the modern and legacy ITSM help desks considered in this article:

Note: If a company from the initial list considered is not below, their pricing was unavailable.

Legacy:

Solarwinds:

Source: G2, SolarWinds, Link

FreshDesk:

Source: G2, FreshDesk, Link

‍

Modern:

Zendesk:

Source: G2, Zendesk, Link

Although not all prices were available, Zendesk’s pricing (a modern help desk) was clearly more significant than legacy help desks.

However, while legacy help desks may seem cheaper initially, they may be costlier in the long run due to maintenance costs and external tech support, which may be another factor to consider.

The Final Consensus?

Ultimately, it is up to your organization to decide what is best for you. The advantages of legacy help desks were their pricing and familiarity, while the advantages of modern help desks were their technological and productivity advantages and long-term pricing.

Despite the positives and negatives, we recommend the modern help desk for the above reasons. In the long run, continuing with the outdated, clunky, legacy helpdesk will be very difficult.

The next-generation service desks powered by GenAI

A great example of a GenAI helpdesk is Rezolve.ai. Rezolve.ai is a GenAI helpdesk that supports employees by automating simple tasks, such as technology support, onboarding, and general queries. Additionally, it has a large knowledge base and uses state-of-the-art large language models. It can also be used in 50+ languages and can be integrated in numerous (100+) other apps.