With over 100 Support Desk vendors in the market, prices ranging from free to over $5,000 for every advanced user (i.e. Technical Support Rep or Customer Support Rep) and a vast list of structures, internet services, and features to choose, choosing the right IT help desk software for your business can be a time sucking and frustrating process.
The purpose of this document is to attempt to and simplify the procedure for you. This industry brief will deal with common issues that everyone in the help desk software market should understand prior to making the ultimate selection. Understanding these issues will help you make a more educated conclusion.
Customer Service Software – Architecture
The issue that tends to cause the most uncertainty in our industry is server/client 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 architectures. The main reason some helpdesk software businesses continue to sell C/S solutions is due to the conclusion that they do not have the expansion resources to convert their elder product to a web-based architecture. Some of the rewards that web-based solutions include over C/S solutions include:
- No client-side software set up, updates, or support
- Log in from anywhere, anytime with any browser
- Full access to all features and functions anytime and from any place
When you start to try different customer support software solutions please take note if you are required to load code on your computer to begin the demo. If so, you are not doing business with a vendor that gives a web-based solution. True web-based architectures need only a URL in order to try a demo.
So, if the vendor sends you a 5 MB exe. file to try their solution, you are not seeing a 100% web based issue tracking software solution. The file that business is sending you is either front ending a C/S system or is a entire canned demo on your desktop. Make sure you evaluate the solution you are going to buy! If you do buya C/S solution, please note that web-enabled add-on modules will not give you full access to all of the features when you are at a remote location.