An organisation adds a self-service portal and a chatbot alongside its existing telephone service desk. What is the correct way to describe this?
ITIL 4 Foundation, objective 7. Seven ITIL practices in detail medium
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The options
Correct Additional channels into the same single point of contact, which should offer users a consistent experience whichever route they use
Correct. The service desk is defined by its role as the single point of contact, not by one medium; portals, chat, phone, email and walk-up are all channels serving that role.
Not correct Separate points of contact that replace the service desk's single-point-of-contact role
Wrong. Adding channels does not fragment the point of contact. If each channel behaved as its own desk, users would lose the single, coherent entry point the practice exists to provide.
Not correct Automation that removes the need for empathy and human contact in the service desk
Wrong. Automation shifts simple, high-volume work to self-service, which typically leaves the human staff handling the harder and more emotionally charged contacts — making empathy more important, not less.
Not correct A change of practice, since portal-based support falls under service request management rather than the service desk
Wrong. Channel choice does not reassign a practice. Requests raised through a portal are still captured by the service desk and fulfilled through service request management, exactly as phone-raised ones are.
Why
The service desk is a role and a point of contact, not a phone line. Telephone, service portals and mobile apps, chat, email, walk-in and social channels are all ways to reach it, and increasing automation moves routine contacts to self-service. What must stay constant is that the user experiences one coherent entry point regardless of the channel chosen.
Where this comes from
- Cited
- ITIL 4 syllabus clause 7
- What it says
- Service desks use many channels — phone, portals and mobile apps, chat, email, walk-in — while remaining the single point of contact.
Practise this
Reading one question is not practice. The trainer will draw a set from objective 7 and space the ones you get wrong.