One Zendesk instance or several: how to choose

Running two departments from one Zendesk or two separate accounts is a decision that is expensive to reverse. Here is how to weigh it.

Running two departments from one Zendesk or two separate accounts is a decision that is expensive to reverse. Here is how to weigh it.

One account, with brands

Most organisations should start here. One account can carry several brands, each with its own help centre, email addresses and look, while sharing agents, reporting and configuration.

It works well when the teams are different faces of the same operation: two product lines, a company and its subsidiary, or a Dutch and a Belgian identity.

Separate accounts

Worth it when the separation is real rather than cosmetic. The usual reason is that one side handles information the other must not see at all, most commonly an HR or internal IT desk sitting alongside customer service.

Within one account you can restrict access with groups, private groups and ticket access, and for many organisations that is sufficient. When "sufficient" is not the standard you are held to, separate accounts are the cleaner answer.

What separate accounts cost you

• Agents are counted twice if they work in both.
• Reporting does not combine. Two sets of dashboards, no single view.
• Every configuration is built twice, and drifts apart over time.
• Tickets cannot simply be moved between them.

See also

• What multiple brands solve and when to use them
• Private ticket groups
• Your first week as an admin: what to set up