TOPdesk is a leading service management solution, popular among organizations for IT service management (ITSM), customer support, and facilities management. TOPdesk becomes even more powerful when integrated with other tools in your IT and business ecosystem.

In this article, we’ll cover the essentials of TOPdesk integrations, explore its native API capabilities, provide a list of common integrations, share examples of popular use cases, and discuss how to create robust bi-directional integrations using integration platforms like ONEiO.

List of Common Integrations with TOPdesk

TOPdesk can be a very powerful IT service management tool - as long as it is deeply integrated into your broader IT ecosystem. The good news is that TOPdesk can be integrated with most popular tools, extending its functionality across different departments and processes. Here are some common integrations:‍

• Jira - Linking TOPdesk with Jira creates a smooth handoff between IT support and development teams, ensuring incidents and issues are properly tracked.
• Microsoft Teams - Integration with Teams allows service desk agents to receive incident notifications and updates directly in their communication tool, streamlining collaboration and resolution.
• Azure DevOps - By connecting TOPdesk with Azure DevOps, development and IT teams can work seamlessly, ensuring bug tracking and resolution are in sync.
• Slack - Service teams can get instant notifications and updates from TOPdesk in Slack channels, reducing response times and enhancing team collaboration.
• Salesforce - Integrating with Salesforce enables customer service teams to sync data about customer issues, bridging the gap between service management and CRM.
• SAP - SAP integration allows for streamlined financial and procurement processes, ensuring that facilities or IT service requests automatically update relevant business records.
• ServiceNow - For organizations using both tools, integrating TOPdesk with ServiceNow improves collaboration between service management teams working on different platforms.

Additionally, TOPdesk can integrate with various IT Asset Management (ITAM) discovery tools for asset tracking and management capabilities. Some notable ITAM discovery tools that work well with TOPdesk include:

• Lansweeper: Offers comprehensive asset discovery and inventory management, integrating seamlessly with TOPdesk to provide up-to-date asset information.
• BiitOps: an IT automation tool that helps manage infrastructure and operations through automated workflows, enhancing efficiency in IT environments.
• ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus: Offers ITAM capabilities that can complement TOPdesk's service management features.
• Device42: an IT asset management and discovery tool that provides detailed insights into infrastructure, enabling centralized tracking and management of IT assets and configurations.

TOPdesk’s API Functionality

If you're looking to build point-to-point integrations, you're likely to explore TOPdesk's API functionality. TOPdesk offers a comprehensive list of different APIs designed to facilitate integration and customization within its platform. These APIs allow you to sync TOPdesk to specific workflows and integrate it with other tools in your IT ecosystem.

Some notable APIs include:

• Incident API
• REST and GraphQL Knowledge Base APIs
• Change Management API
• Asset Management API
• Operations Management API

For detailed information and guidance on implementing these features, refer to the TOPdesk API documentation.

Considerations for Building API Integrations

When building your own API integration between TOPdesk and other systems, you need to factor in a number of key points. One of the foremost considerations is security and data privacy. You need to ensure secure data exchange, requiring the use of HTTPS and encryption to protect sensitive information as it moves between systems. Role-based access control (RBAC) is also crucial, allowing you to determine which users and systems can access specific data.

Another significant factor is the maintenance requirements of custom-built API integrations. Systems like TOPdesk frequently undergo updates, and APIs can change, meaning your integration may break or become outdated if it is not actively maintained. It’s important to plan for development time not only to build the integration but also to handle updates and avoid disruptions.

Synchronization and reliability are also key challenges for any integration. Custom APIs may struggle to maintain reliable bi-directional synchronization, meaning changes in TOPdesk may not always reflect accurately in the connected system and vice versa. This can lead to inefficiencies and data mismatches, which may require frequent manual corrections.

Lastly, it is important to understand the limitations of APIs themselves. Many APIs come with inherent limitations, such as rate limits, restricted endpoints, and throttling, which can restrict the amount of data transferred or the frequency of data synchronization. These limitations can affect the effectiveness of the integration, depending on your needs.

Examples of Popular TOPdesk Integration Endpoints

If you're looking to build more than one integration with TOPdesk, you're likely to consider an iPaaS solution with the ability to manage integrations across multiple endpoints. There are hundreds of different integration platforms in the market, but not all self-service solutions will be configurable to common service management use-cases.

Let's explore some specific examples of TOPdesk integration endpoints to give you a better sense of how integrations can enhance your workflows.

TOPdesk and Jira Integration

Connecting TOPdesk and Jira allows IT service management and development teams to work in sync. For example, incidents raised in TOPdesk can be automatically converted into Jira issues, allowing developers to work on fixes while providing status updates back to TOPdesk.

• Use Case:
  A service desk agent creates an incident for a recurring software issue. The integration automatically generates a Jira ticket, allowing developers to investigate and fix the bug while the service desk keeps the end-user informed.
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• Key Benefit:
  Streamlined communication between support and development teams, reducing time to resolution for technical issues.

TOPdesk and Microsoft Teams Integration

TOPdesk's integration with Microsoft Teams helps improve collaboration across IT teams. Notifications from TOPdesk incidents can be delivered directly into relevant Teams channels, keeping everyone informed in real-time.

• Use Case:
  An incident is raised for a critical system outage. The integration posts a notification in the relevant Teams channel, allowing IT members to discuss and collaborate immediately.
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• Key Benefit:
  Faster response times during incidents, improving the overall efficiency of the IT support team.

TOPdesk and Salesforce Integration

By integrating TOPdesk with Salesforce, customer issues and feedback can be logged directly with IT. This helps break down silos between customer-facing teams and IT operations.

• Use Case:
  A sales representative logs a customer complaint in Salesforce, which automatically creates an incident in TOPdesk, enabling the IT team to resolve the issue promptly.
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• Key Benefit:
  Enhanced visibility between sales and support teams, leading to better customer service.

Setting Up TOPdesk Integrations with ONEiO

One of the most popular integration platforms that simplifies connecting TOPdesk is ONEiO. It offers bi-directional sync without the need for complex code or manual management.

ONEiO is one of the few integration platforms that focuses on service integrations. It can offer more advanced configurability and pre-built connectors to TOPdesk than most iPaaS solutions in the market today.

Here is how you can set up an integration with TOPdesk in a few simple steps:

1.Preparation

1. Define Requirements:
   Determine the type of data that needs to be synchronized, such as incidents, changes, or assets.
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2. Permissions:
   Ensure you have the necessary permissions in both TOPdesk and the target system to configure integrations.
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2. Configuring TOPdesk for ONEiO Integration

1. Create an Integration User:
   In TOPdesk, create an operator user dedicated to the integration. Assign this user to a permission group, such as "IT-Support," and grant the "Use application passwords" permission.
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2. Generate an Application Password:
   While logged in as the integration user, navigate to the Operator menu in the top right corner of TOPdesk and select "My Settings." In the "Application passwords" section, click "Add" to create a new application password. Note the username and application password, as they will be required in ONEiO.
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3. Setting Up an Action Sequence in TOPdesk

1. Navigate to Modules > Action Management > Action Sequence in TOPdesk.
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2. Create a new action sequence or import a provided template (e.g., ONEiO_action_sequence.json).
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3. Set the action sequence as active and enable the "Apply in the Operator Section" option.
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4. Modify the variables within the action sequence:
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   • ONEiO URL: Use the appropriate ONEiO endpoint URL. For production environments, remove any "-test" suffix.
   • username: Enter your ONEiO username, available from the endpoint configuration.
   • token: Use the password generated in the ONEiO endpoint configuration.
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5. Save the action sequence.
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4. Setting Up Events in TOPdesk

1. Navigate to Modules > Action Management > New Event.
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2. Select the appropriate service, such as "Incident Management."
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3. Create events for at least two types: "New card" and "Edit card."
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4. Link each event to the action sequence created earlier.
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5. Add conditions to prevent the event from triggering when the integration user makes changes.
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6. Save the events.

5. Configuring the TOPdesk Endpoint in ONEiO

Once you are successful in creating an integration user, action sequence and events the configuration in TOPdesk is complete and is ready to be tested.

For more detailed instructions and more details of what you can do with Topdesk integrations see our Topdesk Endpoint Tutorial.

Final Thoughts on TOPdesk Integrations

With the right integrations, TOPdesk can be transformative in helping improve IT service efficiency, eliminate silos, and deliver better customer and employee experiences. Whether you're integrating with tools like Jira, Teams, Salesforce, you need to pick the right integration tool or platform for your needs. An experienced integration partner can help you avoid common pitfalls, and help you build a more resilient and scalable ITSM data ecosystem.

Ready to explore TOPdesk integrations for your team? Reach out to the experts at ONEiO or your preferred integration platform to get started with connecting TOPdesk to all your critical enterprise tools.