Channels are multiple ways in which customers try to contact you for support. A helpdesk brings in questions/messages from all channels to one place to make it easy for the agents.
Phone and Email are the traditional channels that are still used widely to provide support. With self-service getting more and more popular, companies let customers raise tickets right from the support portal if they don’t find answers in the kbase and forums. Chat and In-app (web and mobile) channels let customers access support easily from a company’s website and their apps. And of course, brands are now expected to support customers through Facebook and Twitter as well. A truly multi-channel helpdesk will bring everything together and make support really easy for the agents.