In the world of IT service management and enterprise service management, one size does not fit all. That's true of processes, ticket types, supporting asset data, and of course service desk portals. Yet the majority of service management platforms out there don’t provide that much customisation, especially on the portal.
Traditionally, service portals have been built on top of IT-centric service management tools. With interfaces and experiences that cater primarily to IT's needs. But IT teams are not the sole end users of their portals, and service management has long expanded beyond IT into HR, legal, and other departments. Personalisation and customisation are critical to providing a great UX and making adoption simple, but service management vendors have not evolved. We’re stuck with the same old boring, unintuitive portals of 10 years ago.
Until now.
Why personalisation matters for service portals
There is a growing trend of measuring experience level agreements or XLAs in IT service management (you can read more about this in our ITSM trends of 2025 guide). This shows that organisations are waking up to the importance of how their colleagues and customers feel when interacting with service portals.
Of course, the quality of the service, or the tone an agent uses when solving a request, has a big impact on the XLA rating. But at Starhive, we believe personalisation does too.
A personalised experience in an IT service portal can:
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Make stressed employees feel more relaxed
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Increase adoption by making the interface intuitive and aligned with user expectations
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Improve efficiency by surfacing relevant information and services based on who the user is
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Enhance overall satisfaction by ensuring that employees enjoy using their workplace tools
And this is just the IT service desk portal. The same is true for portals for other teams that may need to look entirely different based on the services the team provides and user expectations. A legal team portal should not have to use an IT framework and make it more legal. The legal team should get exactly what they and their customers need.
What does service desk portal personalisation look like?
Personalisation in service portals means giving organisations the ability to adapt the experience to different user groups. This can include:
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Branding and visual customisation: aligning the portal’s look and feel for end users with the company’s branding, including colours, fonts, and logos which helps users feel more comfortable.
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Role-based interfaces: Tailoring the layout, available features, and displayed information based on the user’s role or department.
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Customisable widgets and layout: allowing users to arrange their home screen to prioritise the portal areas they use most frequently.
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Adaptive language and copy: adjusting technical jargon to suit different audiences, ensuring non-technical users can easily understand and interact with the system. And that no IT language is used for another team's portal.
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URL and navigation adjustments: customising navigation structures so that users feel at home in the system.
It might seem like these things aren’t that big or critical on the surface. Why does it matter what shade of blue is used? But people are creatures of habit, and seeing familiar elements helps them subconsciously understand they are somewhere they can get help.
We know of small and large companies who spend vast amounts of time and money creating their own internal tools because they see the value of personalising the look and feel and UX of their portals.
How Starhive is solving the personalisation problem
At Starhive, we believe that service portals should be as intuitive and user-friendly as consumer applications. That’s why we’ve built a platform that prioritises flexibility, allowing organisations to create a service experience that suits their users rather than forcing them into a rigid system.
Our approach includes:
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Fully customisable portals: organisations can brand their portals, adjust UI elements, and configure the experience for different user cohorts.
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Modern, user-friendly design: moving away from outdated, IT-heavy interfaces, we focus on intuitive, beautiful designs that make getting help more efficient and simple.
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Apps and widgets: admins can build custom applications within Starhive to serve specific departmental needs.
Summary
The era of boring, standard, rigid service desk portals is over. As organisations increasingly rely on service management beyond IT, personalisation and customisation become non-negotiable. Starhive leads the way by help organisations to design portal experiences that align with user needs.
Want to see how personalisation can transform your IT service portal?
