IT Help Desk · Canada
Service group: Managed ITAn IT help desk your staff know how to reach, and trust to follow through
A single front door for every password reset, broken printer, Outlook error and new-starter request, with tickets that are triaged by business impact, worked by technicians who know your environment, and closed with a written record.
At a glance
- Service
- User-facing IT help desk for staff requests and incidents, delivered by Podium Catchers technicians
- Best suited to
- Canadian organizations of roughly 5 to 200 employees that need dependable day-to-day help for their people
- Ways to request help
- Phone, email and a support request channel, with every request logged as a ticket
- Coverage hours
- Agreed business hours set out in your written scope; extended hours only when written into the proposal
- Not included by default
- Hardware and licence purchases, projects, and in-depth support for line-of-business software beyond vendor coordination
- Pricing basis
- Usually part of a per-user monthly support plan; proposed figures are confirmed in a written quotation
- How to start
- Book a consultation, review a written scope, then onboard users to the help desk
What our IT help desk does
The help desk is the part of IT your employees actually experience. It is where someone goes when they cannot sign in, when Teams will not share their screen, when a shared mailbox has disappeared from Outlook, or when a new hire starts on Monday and needs a laptop, an account and access to the right folders. Our job is to make that experience predictable: one way to ask, a quick acknowledgement, and a technician who works the issue to a documented close.
A help desk is different from broader managed IT. Managed IT covers the maintenance, security and planning that happen behind the scenes; the help desk is the request-and-resolution service that sits in front of it. Both can be included in one plan, but the help desk has its own rules, which we write down with you: who may raise tickets, who may approve access changes, how priorities are set, and when an issue is escalated to a senior technician, a vendor, or an on-site visit.
Help desk problems we hear about most
The symptoms differ, but the root cause is usually the same: requests have nowhere reliable to go.
Requests lost in inboxes and hallways
Staff text a colleague, email a former contractor, or mention a problem in passing. Nothing is tracked, so the same issue is reported three times and fixed once, if at all.
Everything is treated as urgent
Without triage, a request for a second monitor competes with a locked-out controller on payroll day. The loudest request wins instead of the most important one.
Unsafe access changes
Password resets and permission changes are made for whoever asks, with no identity check and no approver, which is exactly what attackers posing as staff rely on.
The same problems keep returning
Nobody reviews why a printer driver or VPN client fails every few weeks, so the business pays for the same fix again and again.
Help desk capabilities
Ticket intake and acknowledgement
Every phone call, email or portal request becomes a ticket with the user, device, symptom and business impact recorded, and the requester is told it has been received.
Impact-based triage
Tickets are prioritized by how many people are affected and what work is blocked, using priority definitions agreed in your scope rather than first come, first served.
Identity verification for sensitive requests
Password resets, MFA re-registration and access changes follow a verification step and, where required, approval from a named manager.
Remote troubleshooting
Technicians connect to the user’s device with permission to diagnose Windows, macOS, Microsoft 365, printing, VPN and common business application issues.
Service requests and user lifecycle
New-starter accounts, leaver offboarding, shared mailbox access, Teams and SharePoint permissions and software installs handled from standard checklists.
Escalation and vendor handoff
Issues that need a senior technician, a software vendor, your internet provider or an on-site visit are escalated with the ticket history attached, so nobody starts from zero.
Help desk scope at a glance
Your proposal sets the exact list. This is how help desk scope typically starts.
Typically included
- Ticketed support for covered users during agreed business hours
- Password resets, account lockouts and MFA re-registration with identity checks
- Microsoft 365 how-to and troubleshooting: Outlook, Teams, OneDrive and SharePoint
- Remote diagnosis of covered Windows and macOS computers
- Printer, scanner and peripheral troubleshooting on covered devices
- Onboarding and offboarding requests following your approval rules
- Escalation to vendors with ticket history and follow-up
- Ticket reporting reviewed with you on an agreed schedule
Requires separate scope or quotation
- Purchasing hardware, software or Microsoft licences
- Projects such as migrations, office moves or new system rollouts
- Coverage outside agreed business hours unless written into your plan
- Configuration or data work inside line-of-business applications beyond vendor coordination
- Personal devices and home equipment not listed in your scope
- On-site visits outside the confirmed service area or allowance
Systems our help desk works with every day
The help desk depends on the right tooling and on knowing the platforms your staff use. Specific tools are confirmed during onboarding.
- Professional service desk ticketing with request history and reporting
- Secure, permission-based remote access tools for user sessions
- Microsoft 365 admin centres, Exchange Online, Teams, OneDrive and SharePoint
- Microsoft Entra ID for sign-in, MFA and self-service password reset
- Windows 10 and 11 and macOS business computers
- Business printers, multifunction devices and scanning workflows
- VPN clients and remote desktop connections to office resources
- A password manager or vault for shared administrative credentials
Who gets the most from a dedicated help desk
Teams without an IT person
Businesses of 5 to 50 people where the office manager has become the accidental help desk and wants to hand it off.
Busy multi-site organizations
Firms with staff in several offices, on job sites or working from home who need one consistent place to ask for help.
Internal IT that needs front-line relief
Organizations whose IT lead wants routine tickets handled so they can focus on projects. See co-managed IT for shared arrangements.
What a working help desk changes
- Staff know exactly how to ask for help and get an acknowledgement
- Urgent, business-blocking issues are worked ahead of routine requests
- Sensitive account changes follow a verification and approval step
- Recurring problems surface in ticket reports and get fixed at the root
- New starters and leavers are handled the same way every time
- Managers see what IT time is spent on, instead of guessing
How we set up and run your help desk
Consultation
We talk through your users, locations, current request habits, the issues that interrupt work most, and who should approve access changes.
Scope and priority rules
We agree coverage hours, covered users and devices, priority definitions, response targets and escalation contacts in a written proposal.
Onboarding users and devices
Remote access tooling is installed, administrative access is transferred securely, and staff receive a short guide on how to reach the help desk.
Build the knowledge base
We document your printers, shared drives, vendors and standard requests so any technician can resolve issues consistently.
Operate and report
Tickets are worked under the agreed priorities, and we review volumes, recurring issues and open items with you on the agreed schedule.
Ways to buy help desk support
Help desk support is usually bought as part of a recurring plan. Every plan is confirmed in a written quotation before billing begins.
Managed IT Support subscription
Per-user monthly support that includes the help desk for your covered users, scoped during onboarding.
Managed IT packages
Essential and Business packages pair the help desk with Microsoft 365 administration and security services, priced from your quantities.
IT Onboarding Package
A one-time setup to document your environment and enrol users and devices before recurring help desk support begins.
Frequently asked questions
How do my employees contact the help desk?
By phone, email or the support request channel set up during onboarding. Each request becomes a ticket so it can be tracked, prioritized and reported on.
What hours is the help desk available?
Coverage hours are agreed in your written scope, normally your business hours. Extended or after-hours arrangements are only available when they are written into the proposal.
Is the help desk the same as remote IT support?
They overlap. The help desk is the request-and-resolution service for your staff, covering intake, triage, approvals and follow-up. Remote support describes how most of that work is delivered: by connecting securely to devices and systems without a site visit.
Will you reset a password for anyone who calls?
No. Password resets, MFA changes and access requests follow an identity verification step, and changes to sensitive access can require approval from a named manager you choose.
Can you support our accounting or practice management software?
We help with the computer, sign-in, network and printing side and coordinate with the software vendor for application issues. In-depth configuration of line-of-business software is scoped separately.
How is help desk support priced?
Usually per covered user per month as part of a support plan. The calculator shows proposed figures, and your written quotation confirms the final price after discovery.
Related services
Products and packages
Industries we support
Service areas
Give your staff one dependable place to ask for IT help
Book a consultation to discuss your users, request volume and approval rules. You will receive a written help desk scope before any recurring commitment.