A Service Desk or ServiceDesk is a primary IT service called for in IT service management (ITSM) as defined by the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL). It is intended to provide a Single Point of Contact ("SPOC") to meet the communication needs of both Users and IT employees. But also to satisfy both Customer and IT Provider objectives. "User" refers to the actual user of the service, while "Customer" refers to the entity that is paying for service. ServiceDesk can also be used for all kinds of questions in an organisation

Mission of Service Desk is to be a central point of contact between the User and IT Service Provider. Service Desk shouldn't be considered as an ITIL process. In ITIL Foundation Service Desk is considered as function not a process. This may be confusing for candidates trying to get ITIL Certification, however the difference between Service Desk and ITIL processes is easier to understand when we look at the main objectives of the Service Desk.

The main objectives of Service Desk are

- to act as a single point of contact (SPOC) for all IT Customers
- to maximize service availability
- to restore service whenever possible
- to provide business systems support

To meet both Customer and business objectives many organizations have implemented a central point of contact for handling Customer and User related issues. This function is know under several titles e.g:

1. Call Centre - the main purpose is to handle large volumes of telephone based transactions like telesales or order processing
2. Help Desk - the main purpose is to manage and resolve incidents quickly and effectively, and to make sure that all requests are followed up
3. Service Desk - extends the range of services offered by the Help Desk and allows business processes to be integrated into the Service Management infrastructure.