SysAid vs. Zendesk: 2024 Comparison of Features, Pricing & Integrations

Hundreds of people rely on IT services to do their jobs. They expect it to work the way they need it to around the clock. In this way, there are no delays in the delivery of their outputs or the completion of tasks. But what happens when a cog in the machine inexplicably goes haywire?

End-users turn to the IT team that runs around trying to fix the problem. And it takes them a long time, leading to the dissatisfaction of employees, customers, or business partners. Could this have been avoided, or at least the resolution time shortened? The answer is yes. With the help of reliable IT service management software.

If you want to implement one but have yet to make a decision, this article on SysAid vs. Zendesk can help narrow down your choices. And in the end, you may know which one your organization needs.

There were more than 100 ITSM solutions in the market in 2020. Depending on your viewpoint, it can either be crowded already or a niche that can still accommodate more players. They are all designed to do one thing. And that is to assist organizations in implementing ITSM best practices and maybe even automating various processes.

Companies and non-profit entities around the world are realizing the importance of ITSM platforms. This is no surprise, as they have been proven to reduce IT costs from 25% to as much as 45%. These solutions have contributed to a 45% to 65% increase in operational efficiency as well. Thus, the ITSM software industry value is expected to grow to $4246.82 million by 2026. That is at a CAGR of 7.7%.

The industry value is bolstered, too, by an increase in investment in IT services by organizations worldwide. In fact, global IT spending is expected to hit $4.5 trillion at the end of 2022. The largest market is the Americas.

Many players are at the fore of the battle for dominance in the ITSM sector. Two that stand out are SysAid and Zendesk, familiar names to those who are in the IT profession. We are going to look into the core features, integrations, pricing, and ease of use of the two solutions in this SysAid and Zendesk comparison.

Overview of SysAid and Zendesk

It is easy to get confused about what you need for your organization, especially when there are different types of help desk software. This is an umbrella term that encompasses ITSM and asset management. In some cases, ITSM and help desk are used interchangeably. But what your IT department really needs is an ITSM solution that provides power and control over IT services.

SysAid and Zendesk are two of the leading ITSM platforms around. With these, IT professionals can handle, deliver, and manage everything related to IT in your organization. In this SysAid vs Zendesk comparison, we will look closely at their core features and other functionalities. First, though, let us have an introduction of the two solutions in question.

SysAid

SysAid is a top ITSM platform that offers advanced service desk automation. IT professionals will appreciate this, especially mature IT teams. This is because this will empower them to serve the organization’s IT demands.

With this solution, you can begin handling and managing things immediately. Implementation is quick and painless. Plus, you can configure it exactly the way you need it to work.

Moreover, you can expect boosted productivity. SysAid has more automation controls so there is less repetition of redundant tasks. As a result, the IT team is happy and so are end-users.

Furthermore, SysAid offers the following values:

• Enhanced service management. SysAid’s ITIL package enables users to handle requests and problems with ease. It comes with out-of-the-box templates as well, so you can use it right away.
• Automated workflow. There is no need to overhaul your workflow when implementing SysAid. The software has a workflow automation designer that allows you to configure the system to follow your mode of work.
• Integrated solutions. If you need to connect other platforms with SysAid, the task is going to be easy. There are readily available third-party integrations waiting for you to use them. And fortunately, these come at no extra cost.

You can also take an in-depth look into the pros and cons of SysAid so you can get to know the solution better.

Zendesk

Zendesk is best-known as a customer support software. But do not let this fool you. This robust platform comes with an incident management toolbox that includes ITSM tools.

The platform assists IT professionals in handling IT issues that affect customer experience quickly. In this way, with quick monitoring and resolution, consumers can be satisfied. And because of their happy shopping experiences, they will keep returning to the company for business.

Of course, patrons are not the only ones who can reap benefits from Zendesk. You can use the software internally, too. When employees create tickets, you can handle them more efficiently with this.

Zendesk

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Additionally, Zendesk has the following benefits:

• Simplified internal support. Extend the same support to employees that you offer to customers with Zendesk. The solution will allow users to prioritize and organize tickets to ensure that high-priority concerns are addressed at once.
• Reduced tickets. Zendesk can help you create a knowledge base. When employees know that they can find solutions there for their problems, they can reduce the tickets IT has to deal with.
• Support trends and analytics. You can use Zendesk to uncover support trends. Once you identify the problems, you can work on reducing their recurrence.

You can get to know the software better when you read this analysis of Zendesk pros and cons.

Comparison of SysAid vs. Zendesk

The above overview of SysAid and Zendesk has given you an idea of what the two software have to offer. You have a glimpse of the unique things they can do and what they have in common. The following sections of SysAid vs Zendesk will take a closer look at their core features, ease of use and getting started, integrations, pricing, and use cases.

Core Features

General Features

Among the leading IT service management platforms, SysAid and Zendesk have similar functionalities. As mentioned earlier, SysAid is more concerned with handling, delivering, and managing IT services for all end-users. On the other hand, Zendesk is widely known to be more of a customer-focused platform. However, it does have internal tools to handle employees’ IT issues.

Service Automation

SysAid

The two software have great self-service functions, too. SysAid has a self-service automation function and a portal. It empowers employees to resolve common IT problems and reduce the tickets they send to IT.

Zendesk

On the other hand, Zendesk enables organizations to build their own knowledge base. Since employees have access to such, they can check for solutions to their concerns first before contacting the IT department.

Asset Management

SysAid

How do they fare when it comes to asset management? With SysAid, users can manage IT assets directly from the service desk. The interface will show dropdown menus for smartphones, printers, routers, and servers. From there, you can resolve whatever issues there are while accessing information regarding each asset.

Zendesk

Users of Zendesk have something similar. For example, when they are onboarding new employees, they create a request or ticket. From there, members of the IT team can link an asset to an employee. In that way, they can track assets while checking who is using them.

Reporting

SysAid

What about when it comes to reporting? This comparison of SysAid and Zendesk shows that the former lets you see essential data sets at a glance. You can see how well your IT service is performing with a quick look. If you want to delve into something deeper, you can generate holistic reports, too. When you do, you have access to all the KPIs and statistics that allow you to determine whether you are hitting your goals. Plus, you can use the numbers to guide business decisions.

Zendesk

As for Zendesk, it enables users to discover customer or employee insights. You can see which channels are the most popular among end-users. There are customizable charts, graphs, and tables, too, which are also available on SysAid.

SysAid has a neat digital workspace for users where they can manage all IT services requests.

Integrations

SysAid has a wide array of integrations available on its apps marketplace. Everything can work out of the box. Therefore, very little tweaking is needed. Its most popular integrations are those with Zapier, Microsoft Teams, Nagios, Microsoft Office 365, TeamViewer Embedded Service, Jira, and Google Apps. If the integration you need is not available, you can connect with the developers to request it.

The app marketplace of Zendesk has more choices when it comes to out-of-the-box integrations. It can connect with Jira as well as Office 365. Zapier is also available. Plus, there are certain Google Apps you can connect with, too.

Pricing

While some software providers offer pricing upfront, the same cannot be said for SysAid. However, organizations can rest assured that implementation is already part and parcel of what they are paying for. That said, SysAid has three plans though only two are ITSM packages. These are what we will discuss here.

• ITSM – This plan is great for medium-sized teams and IT departments that have already matured. It includes tools you would usually find in help desk solutions plus, an ITIL package and more.
• ITSM+ – This plan includes everything in the ITSM tier. On top of those, organizations get to enjoy BI analytics, task automation, and a Business Value Dashboard.

Meanwhile, Zendesk has “plans for everyone” and “plans for enterprise.” For the former, you can choose among three plans. While for the latter, you have two plans to choose from.

Plans for Everyone

• Suite Team – This pricing tier is ideal for a small business that wants to enhance its support. It costs $49 per agent per month. Zendesk bills this annually.
• Suite Growth – This tier is for mid-sized organizations that require multiple help centers. The plan also gives you the capability to create up to 100 AI-powered automated answers. It will set you back $79 per agent per month.
• Suite Professional – This tier is best for large businesses. It offers more customization options when it comes to dashboards. Plus, it guarantees HIPAA compliance.

Plans for Enterprise

• Suite Enterprise – This top-tier plan is best suited for enterprises that require more customizations. It can provide that for team roles and permissions, agent workspaces, and branding for web conversations.
• Additional enterprise-ready plans – This plan, billed annually starting at $215 per agent per month, is a comprehensive solution for large enterprises. Multi-national companies can appreciate this with the plan’s granular controls.

Ease of Use

It is not easy to find an IT-related software that is easy to use. But SysAid breaks away from that perception. Organizations have noted how easy it is to use its interface. Agents and end-users alike can get around it without much difficulty. Moreover, because of how accessible things are on the interface, agents can deal with requests readily and quickly.

Zendesk does a good job when it comes to ease of use as well. It has been known to focus on that, which has allowed it to drive growth. Because of that, customers get the result they want rapidly. And, of course, it has allowed users to get on board and become familiar with the platform and its tools faster. If you are looking for an easy-to-use help desk, you will not go wrong with Zendesk.

Zendesk ticket management is helpful in prioritizing tickets and ensuring that each one gets a response.

Getting Started

Setting up SysAid is a breeze. As mentioned earlier, the developers have included implementation in their pricing. Therefore, you can expect to have only a few (or no) problems getting started. Even first-time users will find that it is easy to get onboard the platform. Additionally, it only takes two months for the platform to go live.

Zendesk does not make it difficult for its users to get started either. Signing in is a quick affair. From there, users can set up their accounts and their workspaces. However, in terms of going live, Zendesk takes a month more compared to SysAid.

Use Cases

There are three types of users who utilize SysAid. One is the end-users who look for help desk assistance. The other is the administrators who oversee the help desk and ITSM. Then there are the managers who oversee activities and review, generate, and disseminate reports. But where is SysAid deployed usually? Organizations that want to systematize IT services and support implement the software. A particular example is that they use its ticket automation capability. With this, they can make certain that tickets are routed to the right team or individual to handle them. Thus, they can resolve issues 10% to 15% faster than they used to.

In the case of Zendesk, it has a wide array of use cases as well. Organizations can deploy it to manage assets and devices as well as users and accounts. Troubleshooting is another thing that users adopt Zendesk for. And to some extent, they can use it for customer interactions and for managing products and orders. One organization has used the platform to communicate with multiple clients in a day. They became better at explaining issues and they have become faster at resolving them as well.

SysAid has more than 70 reports you can generate to understand your ITSM and help desk performance.

SysAid vs. Zendesk Comparison Table

SysAid vs. Zendesk–Which Is Better?

Choosing what would work best for your organization highly depends on your company’s size. You also have to consider the tools you require. It might be a great idea to go for a plan with all the bells and whistles. On the other hand, you may not need all of those. Thus, before making a choice, take stock first of your organization’s ITSM needs. Your IT team would know best but you can also do a survey to include end-users.

By comparing SysAid vs Zendesk, you can have an overview of what the two are capable of. And in some sense, you can see whether one is better than the other in some cases. Nevertheless, if you are looking for additional options, you can check SysAid alternatives as well.

By Nestor Gilbert

Nestor Gilbert is a senior B2B and SaaS analyst and a core contributor at FinancesOnline for over 5 years. With his experience in software development and extensive knowledge of SaaS management, he writes mostly about emerging B2B technologies and their impact on the current business landscape. However, he also provides in-depth reviews on a wide range of software solutions to help businesses find suitable options for them. Through his work, he aims to help companies develop a more tech-forward approach to their operations and overcome their SaaS-related challenges.