Help desk software guide

Help Desk Software Comparison

The table contains side by side comparison of three popular customer service software packages.

. It is a very simple and free help desk software that provides two major functions every customer service system must support: service ticket tracking and operator assignment. This CGI script is written in Perl and is intended for those, who prefer corresponding with customers using their favorite email program rather than through completely web based help desk. This open source customer service software enhances email based workflow via customizable mail forms, ticket tracking and operator assignment.

The Help Desk Lite does not require permanent connection to the Internet in order to compose an answer. The service workflow is as follows: an operator logs into the web based help desk, selects the inquiry from the list of pending service tickets and claims responsibility over it. The help desk software immediately removes taken ticket from the pending queue and a copy of the message is being emailed to the operator as if it was sent directly from the customer's computer. At this point operator may start composing a response using his or her favorite mailer program with a single click on "reply" button.

To put it simple, the Help Desk Lite captures a customer inquiry and releases it to the operator, which was the first to claim an ownership over the ticket.


. Completely web based help desk software featuring unlimited operators, bulletin board correspondence tracking, unlimited customer service forms and email alerts.

Work from anywhere, whether you are at your desk, on the road, or working from home, the trouble ticket software has the tools you need to access your customer service database. All of Trouble Ticket Express features can be accessed though a web browser on virtually any operating system.

The bulletin board correspondence tracking displays every trouble ticket as a sequence of messages. The status attribute shows whether the ticket is new, open, resolved or waiting for more input from the requestor.



Remotely hosted feature packed customer service solution with embedded customer database and FAQ builder, support for file attachments and automated ticket escalation.

Each trouble ticket may consist of unlimited number of messages arranged in a bulletin board fashion. Simplified markup tags allow to control text appearance (bold, italic, underline, code) and to insert html links and images. Any message may be marked as hidden to facilitate internal communications and notes. Registration is optional, as anonymous (guest) visitors may access their tickets using unique access keys.

Using an integrated FAQ Builder the solution may be published in a searchable knowledge database the very moment a problem is solved.

Both ticket and customer databases support up to 10 user definable fields to keep additional information. Each custom field may be configured as a text, select menu or checkbox. Supported attributes: hidden, read-only, mandatory.

The system features automated language detection using encoding info captured from email headers and supports direct urls to access your customer service web site using different languages.




Side by side help desk software comparison

 
Ticket tracking (unique id) Yes Yes Yes
Ticket states Pending / Open Pending / Open / Responded / Solved Pending / Open / Responded / Closing / Solved
Correspondence tracking Local email program Web based, bulletin board style Web based, bulletin board style
Customizable service request forms Yes, html templates Yes, html templates Yes, web based custom fields manager
File attachments No Yes* Yes
Email piping
(email based submission)
No Yes* Yes
Email notifications Yes Yes Yes
Customer database No No Yes
Ticket escalation No No Yes
Customizable layout Yes, via script source code Yes, via html templates Yes, via web based layout manager
Database Flat file Flat file or MySQL* or Microsoft SQL Server* MySQL
Price Free Free $19.95/mo per operator seat

* - Requires purchase of an add-on module.

For more information pertaining to help desk vendors, support solutions, industry publications, help desk research, call center software, industry events, visit the HelpDesk.Com and searchCRM.Com.

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