With over 100 Support Desk vendors in the market, prices ranging from free to over $5,000 per advanced user (i.e. Technical Support Rep or Customer Support Rep) and a vast list of structures, web services, and features to choose, selecting the right helpdesk software for your business can be a time sucking and frustrating process.
The drafting of this article is to attempt to and make easier the procedure for you. This article will address general issues that everyone in the help desk software market should understand before making the ultimate choice. Considering these issues will help you make a more informed conclusion.
Help Desk Software – Architecture
The issue that tends to generate the most confusion in our industry is client/server web-enabled solutions (C/S) vs. 100% web-based solutions. In general, C/S architected solutions are quickly depreciating. At one point, an great improvement over main frame solutions, C/S technology has been phased out due to the accesability and advantages of web-based solution structures. The main reason some helpdesk software vendors continue to sell C/S solutions is due to the fact that they do not have the development resources to convert their older product to a web-based architecture. Some of the advantages that web-based solutions include over C/S solutions include:
- No client-side software install, updates, or support
- Log in from anywhere on the web, anytime with any web browser
- Full access to all features and functions anytime and from anywhere
When you start to demo different customer support software solutions please take note if you are required to load code on your desktop to starts the demo. If so, you are not doing business with a vendor that gives a web-based solution. True web-based structures need only a URL in order to do a demo.
So, if the vendor emails you a 5 MB exe. file to try their solution, you are not seeing a 100% web based help desk software solution. The file that business is emailing you is either front ending a C/S system or is a complete canned demo on your desktop. Make sure you evaluate the solution you are going to purchase! If you do buya C/S solution, please note that web-enabled add-on modules wont give you full access to all of the features when you are at a remote location.