Shared mailbox or IT ticketing system?
A shared mailbox such as it@company is enough as long as one person reads everything and remembers what is open. With two people in IT, or around a dozen requests a day, emails get lost, are answered twice, and nobody knows how long something has been waiting. That is when a ticketing system pays off, one that keeps your IT address.
At a glance
In Microsoft 365 a shared mailbox usually costs nothing extra, and everyone knows it. But it does not know who has taken something on, how old a request is or whether it is resolved. With a ticketing system your IT address stays: you forward it to 404desk, and new emails become tickets. Automatic replies are filtered out, and unclear emails wait for review. Connecting your Microsoft 365 mailbox directly is in development.
When a shared mailbox is enough
A shared mailbox in Microsoft 365 is quick to set up, several people can read and answer emails from it under one address, and everyone knows Outlook. For one person who does IT on the side, with a few requests a week, that is perfectly fine. A ticketing system would be more admin than help there.
The mailbox is also enough if your IT is requested almost only by email, answers rarely need follow-up questions and nobody wants to know later how long something took.
Five signs it is no longer enough
- Duplicate replies. Two people answer the same email, or nobody does because everyone thought the other would.
- Flags as a system. Flags, colours and a “Done” folder are supposed to show who has what. After three months nobody remembers what yellow means.
- Chasing. People phone to ask whether their email arrived.
- No figures. Management asks how much work IT has, and the answer is a gut feeling.
- Holidays. Whoever covers has to read through weeks of email to understand what is open.
Shared mailbox and ticketing system side by side
| Question | Shared mailbox | 404desk |
|---|---|---|
| Who has taken this on? | Agreement, flag | Assignment in the ticket |
| How long has it been waiting? | Date of the email | Deadline in business hours, visible before it expires |
| Is it resolved? | Folder or gut feeling | Status, history for the requester |
| Internal question | Forward, CC, Teams | Internal note with @mention |
| Which device? | Ask | From the inventory or the QR label |
| Figures for management | None | Monthly IT service report |
| Cost | Up to 50 GB without a licence of its own for the mailbox | From €29 a month |
404desk: No VAT is charged under the small business scheme (§ 19 UStG).
An intermediate step: rules in the mailbox
Before you introduce a ticketing system, you can organise a mailbox better with rules and categories: colour categories for ownership, a folder per status, and one fixed person who sorts in the morning. That helps for a while. But it stays manual work, and there are no deadlines, no status for the requester and no figures.
How to switch without changing the address
Switching works through forwarding: your IT address forwards to your company’s inbound address in 404desk. New emails become tickets, and a reply to a ticket email lands in the same ticket as long as it is open. Unclear replies and emails about closed tickets wait for review. For people in the company the address does not change. They get a reply with a ticket number and can check the status.
IT replies go out through 404desk, not from your mailbox. Coming soon The direct connection of a Microsoft 365 mailbox, where replies are read and sent from your own mailbox, is in development.
Set up forwarding
Your company’s inbound address is in the setup, under email intake. Check with a test email that it arrives.
Leave old work in the mailbox
You work through open emails from before the switch there. From the cut-off date, everything new arrives as a ticket.
Announce the portal
Anyone who wants to can now report in the portal, with a device and a screen recording. Anyone who prefers email keeps emailing.
Sources
- Microsoft Learn: shared mailboxes in Microsoft 365, https://learn.microsoft.com/de-de/microsoft-365/admin/email/about-shared-mailboxes, accessed 11 November 2026
- Microsoft Learn: shared mailboxes in Exchange Online, https://learn.microsoft.com/de-de/exchange/collaboration-exo/shared-mailboxes, accessed 11 November 2026
Frequently asked questions
Do we need a new email address?
No. Your IT address stays and forwards to your company’s inbound address in 404desk. Reading and replying directly from your Microsoft 365 mailbox is in development.
Does a Microsoft 365 shared mailbox cost extra?
According to Microsoft, a shared mailbox can store up to 50 GB without a licence assigned to it. Anyone who accesses it needs their own licensed mailbox. The exact conditions are in the linked source, accessed 11 November 2026.
Is this comparison independent?
No. It is written by the provider of 404desk. We still try to be honest about when a mailbox is enough.
Further reading
- Email to ticketForward your IT mailbox to create tickets with attachments. Replies stay with the open ticket. Monitoring emails can open and resolve alert incidents.
- What is an IT ticketing system, and when do you need one?How IT tickets work, what a help desk does and when a shared inbox stops being enough. A practical guide for small businesses.
- Compare ticketing systemsCompare Zammad, Freshservice, Jira Service Management, osTicket, OTOBO, Znuny and shared mailboxes. Pricing examples, sources and clear product limits.