Your clients' supervisors can be allowed to view their own issues, plus those of their subordinates.
Benefits of Web Based Help Desk Software
Completely web based help desk software with a knowledge base, such as the HelpConnection.net solution, can save your IT Techs time and improve efficiency. Our new HC.NET engine has been designed in ASP.NET 2.0, and is intended for use on your own Windows IIS servers or your Windows hosting plan.
Not only can your clients find their own information from the knowledge base (KB) articles, news and alerts... but this is also a ticketing and communication system.
What are the benefits of using an inexpensive web based help desk software in asp.net?
Why not just use some inexpensive knowledge base software or a FAQ list alone, rather than an application that combines both web based help desk software (ticketing program) and web based knowledge base software?
It's true that many support tickets can be answered with well written frequently asked questions within your KB, thus saving support representatives time. But many of today's customers want more! With so many internet businesses working incognito or only part-time, your clients are becoming wary. Some don't have time to 'wait' for responses or search for answers, but how can a small business provide support to so many? Ideally, you can provide both a time saving yet inexpensive knowledge base, and a communications solution at the same time. For example, our HelpConnection.NET asp.net Help Desk Software has full featured knowledge base software already fully integrated. It's double the effect with less effort. Whether you plan to implement it all immediately, or not... getting both a help desk and a knowledge base in one inexpensive solution just makes sense!
Using a well designed web based help desk solution, even very large businesses can keep everyone in the loop thus avoiding redundant work and incorrect responses. This is true for smaller companies, medium sized companies, and even those with thousands of clients and hundreds of customer support representatives. Valuable IT support time will not be wasted duplicating answers because all communications are being tracked; and your support group's professional image will be intact because clients won't be getting reponses from multiple individuals. Even more important with so many communciations coming and going, you can prevent losing a customer communication!
The potential for lost customers or even having angry customers defaming your business is high... this must be avoided. Good web help desk software, with full email support can really help!
Hint: Move your cursor over one of the tabs below to change the text.
Use your web help desk software as a contact medium. HelpConnection.NET allows users to ask questions which will be directed to the appropriate agent(s) automatically. Clients receive an answer in a quick efficient manner (via email and/or online page). This eliminates the frustration felt by customers who are having difficulties, and helps to re-establish good public relations, while there is still an opportunity.
Get Organized.
Knowledge base articles need to be organized, with sub-categories. (Ideally at least 3 category levels.) Hopefully, you can assign a single KB article to multiple categories... because let's face it... sometimes issues overlap! For example the same solution may apply to multiple product lines or multiple departments. In cases such as this, having the article in all applicable categories will help your visitors find info fast. With even an inexpensive knowledge base software solution, your customer service questions / tickets are online, by category and are sortable in many different ways. Organized solutions (answers) are simply easier to find, for your IT techs and for your visitors – increasing the effectiveness of your site and technicians.
Instant Information Sharing
Information can be shared instantly between help desk staff and managers, as well as with other internal and external customers. Using our asp.net help desk software, incoming emails are stored within the web help desk software's database and stored as new tickets or ticket updates. No longer will there be lost emails or duplicate replies... and the info is accessible anytime from any online browser. (No need for Outlook or other PC based emailing software, as all correspondences are handled via this inexpensive help desk software itself.)
More Info to your Customers
Login is not required to read the public FAQ area (also known as Knowledge Base or Knowledge Bank). KB software admin should have ultimate control over which issues can be viewed by the public, and then whether the client needs to be logged in before they can read it. Quality web help desk software allows you to have great public relations with faster more efficient customer service, but still have control over private information.
More Info to Customer Service Management (CSM)
Support managers should have built in summary reports and detailed information about each issue, client, and group of clients, IT tech (or other agent), category/department etc. In addition to reports, quality web help desk software will offer utilities where internal memorandums can be written for agent information. (Whether info is a current situation, new policy or even details about the holiday schedule!) Information should be available from customers who have voted on the usefulness of KB solutions. And managers should be able to download a CSV file to create your own reports on Excel, MS Access, etc. Have tickets been open too long? Then there should be escalations happening and notifications going out to the appropriate managers. Our asp.net help desk software allows managers to do all of this, and more.
More Info to your Help Desk Staff
In addition to previously answered issues, our asp.net help desk software has other built in features such as Memorandum (for sending internal emails), internal sharing of contacts, re-assigning of issues or categories (very useful for long staff absences such as vacations, or training courses), drafts, re-using (applying) already written solutions, HelpConnection.NET generated customer system statistics, customer votes on solution usefulness, assigned categories and priorities, and by examining related issues. All this means that in the best web based help desk software in asp.net (or any programming language), you'll be able to find previously answered KB articles and other applicable information, fast.
Mobilize Help Desk's IT Personnel.
IT support techs can work anytime, anywhere there is internet access without specialized software – even without access to their email accounts! Web help desk software may have tools such as Contacts Book, To-Do list, mass email (or individual email on specific issues) and previously written solutions, are all available online - anytime. Great working conditions – you may even get volunteers! Work via mobile pdf devices. The text editor is amazing and works well with Safari (iPhone), MS Internet Explorer, Firefox, Netscape and Opera. Everything you need should be found within your inexpensive
web based help desk software. So even if you purchase the web help desk and host it yourself itself, no specialized local software is required to use it.
Increase Efficiency, and Solution consistency.
By re-applying previously written answers (also known as solutions, templates, drafts or canned answers), there will be consistency... and it's faster. (No need to reinvent the wheel. If someone else has already written a solution, why not use it again?) Efficient ticket solutions will save time and money, increasing your total cost of ownership.
Save Time and Money
A well-built asp.net help desk software app means you don't need to program anything yourself. If it's easy to use, then you can also reduce the expense of extensive training for your admin agents. (HelpConnection is a user friendly, menu driven, customer support system – Users’ Guide included.) The result should be reduced TCO If it's quick to implement and reasonably priced, that should result in a quick return on investment.
Spread the Workload!
Allow junior agents to respond to repetitive questions by applying previously written answers and drafts. The web help desk and knowledge base software of your choice should be that flexible. Canned answers will save the time of your senior staff (less burn-out), and ultimately save you money. (Not only does it take less time to use canned answers, but junior staff members are typically paid less.) Based on different pre-established rules, tickets should be sent to different agents.
Keep IT Management Up-to-Date
Managers are busy people. Get information at your convenience. Help desk reports and graphs are included in this inexpensive web help desk software. Administrators may login anytime to see summary reports of system statistics & agents’ statistics, or view details of current issues, agents’ solutions, etc. Or, arrange email notifications when certain ticket criteria has been reached... it's up to you. (More information, when you need it!)
Give IT Staff a Voice
Managers can view and change the priority of issues. Administrators and lower level agents can write internal memos or draft solutions that other agents can use in their correspondences. All this information can be kept for internal use only! Customer support techs can even send notes to each other behind the scenes. This internal info is not visible to the end users. Using good web based help desk software, everyone in the support group really can pass along information and everyone can know what's going on!
Maintain Security
With truly great web help desks, administrators can set up custom security levels, not just a few predetermined function sets! You should be in exact control of who can perform which functions. Sensitive information can be kept internal to the secure login area of administration. Secure the admin and client areas with encrypted username and passwords, and limit functions to only certain customer support agents or clients.
Customizable
Sure you want to save money by buying a pre-built solution. But your company is not like any other... so neither should your web help desk be like everyone elses. You will have need of your own custom fields for both ticket and client records, you may have unique server settings to accomodate, and equally important... you want your own inexpensive web based help desk software to look like the rest of your site! Our asp.net help desk software is known for it's flexibility. And, if you want that extra piece of mind, you can always buy the source code, though it should not be required.
Support for your Web Help Desk
You will be counting on your web based HD software. So you need to be able to count on support for the software itself! HelpConnection purchases comes with 3 months of exceptional customer support included. (Plus free support during your 30 day free trial, which is when you will have any installation and early implementation questions.)
Web Help Desk Software vs. Live Support (Chat)
Of course, it depends on your company's role, and what is best for each business or department may vary. But in general we have found the following to be true in the majority of cases.
IN FAVOR OF INEXPENSIVE WEB BASED HELP DESK SOFTWARE
Accurate Contact Information
If your web help desk software has captured an email submission, and replies are going back out via email through your help desk software... then you will have a confirmed email address with which to communicate with this visitor again at a later date. If using our asp.net help desk software you can also use the mass client emailing utility, or email groups of clients, or send pre-written memos, all within the system and via your browser. (All the info and tools you need are already online. Work from anywhere that has internet access and a working browser.)
Inexpensive Knowledge Base Software
Some web based help desk software has knowledge base software already built-in for no additional cost. This provides valuable internal information, as well as helping the visitors who would otherwise have asked a question. With HelpConnection, the KB can be searched automatically during the ticket submission process. (Your visitors will be presented with a list of potential answers before they ask the question.)
Web Content and Traffic
Your knowledge base will add valuable content to your site, which will not only help your visitors, but drive further traffic to your site! Knowledge base articles are searched by spiders and search engines. The more content you have in your knowledge base, the greater your traffic will be.
Agent Mobility
Good web help desk & knowledge base software will not have additional PC components required in order to administer it. (What kind of mobility would that be if the hotel PC has to have special software installed before you can answer a question!) That means that an agent can work from literally anywhere that has an online browser, or in the case of HC, solutions can be provided via email! Internet cafe, hotel room, school, library, the mall! It really doesn't matter 'where' you are. The text editor even works on an iPhone! Not even a headset is required since communications are typed.
Getting the Answer
Questions can be asked anytime, 24/7. Whether a support person is available at-the-time, or not. Many Live Support applications don't have a place where customers can ask a question when live support is offline, and that is clearly visible to the customer.
Aggression vs. Passive Availability.
Visitors may view live support as being 'watched' while visiting. When approached by support personnel, they may feel as though they are being sold to or stalked. While your visitor is surfing the web at home in their pyjamas, they feel secure looking around your site. Suddenly, they feel as though someone is watching them, or trying to sell something to them! This can be worse than no support, since it can make them anxious to leave the site.
Positive Image
If your company is using a 'live support' system, and doesn't have a representative shown as online during most business hours, it can be damaging to the company's reputation. (It seems like advertising that support isn't available, whether or not there is an alternate method of support.)
Best Answer, for Lowest Cost
With good web based help desk software, tickets are fanned out to all appropriate support personnel. So, the best available person will be the one to answer the question, and it will still be as quick as possible.
Tracking
All correspondences are tracked regardless of which agent answered which portion of the ticket. Read correspondences per ticket, by agent, by category, by client name or client group. Whether the issue was emailed in or submitted by online form; it's all there.
The best web help desk software applications will also have view of the entire ticket "conversation", in a question/answer/question/answer format. That way supervisors can later read the chain of events, easily following the sequential responses.
Further, an uneditable history (audit trail) will facilitate information such as, which agents are most productive, who exactly deleted which issues, etc.
IN FAVOR OF ONLINE CHAT
Speed of Answer
This is sometimes where a chat based customer support tool can be useful, if customer support is currently online. However, if customer support representatives are online anyway, they will likely answer a ticket that they have been immediately notified about quickly anyway. (In either case, typing is involved and speed of answer is dependent on an agent being available.)
Personal Touch
There is often a feeling of a personal touch when someone can quickly start a chat with a support rep. Of course, this all depends on the personality of the responding customer support associate. A friendly nature will come across in almost any medium. In the case of a help desk, watch for a signature feature to help your agents remember to thank their clients, and offer their continued assistance.
Comfort Level
Some people may feel more comfortable asking questions without providing any contact information. Most chat software applications do not require an email address, at least initially. If you support unregisterd / unpaid clients, this may be a benefit to attract these visitors. The negative side of this is the potential for more spam submissions and time wasting questions that will never lead to a sale or happy client.
HelpConnection.NET can be added to your existing site; but, best of all, you aren't tied to one specific host - because you buy the software outright. So, you make your purchase one-time only, and use it on any one Windows IIS server installation, for as long as you want, without recurring fees.
Or, let us host it for you:
With our SaaS (Software as a Service) option, we can look after all the technical stuff. You don't have to care whether it's asp.net help desk software (which it is) or some older language, you'll just know it works! You'll have a working web based help desk and knowledge based software implementation of your own... customized to look like your site. And it will be up and running in a few days. This option does involve monthly recurring charges, until you cancel. (We know you'll love it, and since it's so easy to use most of our clients buy it outright at some point. :)
Secure & completely web-based information sharing:
» Answer customers' questions individually & privately, then store selected common questions in an organized fashion via FAQs - for public or internal only viewing. Before submitting a new ticket, customers can have a list of possible solutions presented to them; therefore reducing duplicate questions.
» Prioritize tickets, maximize customer support efficiency, and speed up issue resolution.
» Provide secure internal information and tools to staff anytime/anywhere without specialized training or additional software. (Using any PC with internet access!)
» Provide summarized customer service management/supervisory information.
Our scripts are being used around the globe by small, medium and large companies. The program is very inexpensive considering its functionality (price of only $800). Particularly for a truly exceptional asp.net help desk software solution from a company with a proven track record.
We provide excellence in customer support ourselves, using our own HC.NET Web HD Software. Read customer testimonials.
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