Why do you need dedicated support software, especially if you already have a bug tracker, CRM, and email? It is unlikely that anyone thought about this, because most likely companies with strong technical support have a helpdesk system for a long time, and the rest cope with customer requests and requests “on the knee”, for example, using e-mail. And this is fraught: if there are customer requests, they must be processed and stored in such a way that there is no “application closed and forgotten”, “application forgotten and closed”, “application hangs in the status of clarification of information for 7 months”, “application lost”, “ oh, sorry ”(a universal option for all cases of incorrect work with an appeal - almost a human exception). We turned out to be an IT company that has gone from the need for a ticket system to the production of this very system. In general, we have a story and we will tell it to you.
Shoemaker without shoes
For 13 years we have been developing a CRM system that is literally “our everything”: firstly, it is a flagship development around which the rest of the software revolves, and secondly, it is more than 6000 clients ... Here it is worth stopping the enumeration and realizing that for our not very large support team and engineers 6000 customers, some of whom have problems, questions, requests, requests, etc. is a tsunami. We were saved by a clear response system and our own CRM, in which we conducted customer requests. However, with the release of the RegionSoft CRM 7.0 version, we began to receive peak workloads for employees and we wanted to die a dedicated, simple, reliable solution like AK-47, so that engineers and customer service managers do not get confused under each other's feet in the system, and the customer card did not grow in front of astonished colleagues.
We went through the market, sorted out Russian and import offers with - desk and - support in the names. It was an interesting search, during which we learned 2 things:
- there are no simple solutions in principle, everywhere there are a lot of some gadgets that we already have in CRM, and buying a second CRM for a CRM vendor is at least strange;
- we unexpectedly felt sympathy for non-IT companies: almost all such software is tailored for IT and small companies from other areas need to either overpay for the functionality and not use it, or choose among a very narrow line of software (this is not more than 100 CRM for you On the market!). But most of our clients are like that!
It's time to close browsers and open the IDE. As is often the case in IT, if you want convenient software, do it yourself. We have done: a cloud-based, simple and convenient application that is deployed in any browser in 5 minutes, mastered in half an hour even by an engineer, even a sales girl, even a call-center employee - an employee of any qualification who knows how to work with a browser. This is how we developed .
The technical launch took place a month earlier, and our customers have already appreciated it as a very convenient tool that can replace other channels. But first things first.
What's the software?
Substance as simple and transparent as possible: in a couple of clicks you start a portal for your enterprise, register your operators (support staff) on it, set up a questionnaire (a form that your customers will fill out when creating requests) and ... you're done. You can place a link to the support portal (helpdesk) on your website in the support section, send it to customers, send it in an online chat on the website, indicate it in social networks, etc. When clicking on the link, customers will register and leave their appeal, indicating all the necessary parameters. Operators take the application to work and begin to solve the problem of the client. Operators see all tickets in a single call processing center (in the main table), while customers see only their own.
Also available is the ability to attach the portal directly to your site as a subdomain. For example, if your site is "romashka.ru", then you can configure the entrance to the technical support portal through the url "support.romashka.ru" or "help.romashka.ru". This will be very convenient for your customers, because they will not need to remember about a separate service with the url "support.zedline.ru/romashka".
Let's take a look at the interface
On the ZEDLine Support desktop, there is a table with requests where you can view your requests (for example, a manager can view the work of any operator or all operators at once) and requests with one or another status. For each appeal, a responsible person from among the operators is assigned. In the process of working on a case, operators can delegate work on the case to other operators. The administrator can delete the application, if necessary.
The application form looks like this. The names and types of fields you set yourself in the settings section. In the constructor, you can set up the questionnaire form fields as required by the specific requests of your customers, using typed objects, such as: a string, a multiline text, a date, an integer, a floating point number, a checkbox, etc. For example, if you serve some or equipment, in the questionnaire you can specify the required fields "Type of equipment" and "Serial number" in order to immediately identify the object in relation to which the question is asked.
The completed application contains all the information entered by the client. After the request is received, the administrator assigns a ticket to the operator, who starts processing the request. Or the operator sees the received appeal and, knowing the limits of his competence, accepts it to work on his own.
In the application form, you can attach images and documents that are necessary to solve the client's problem (both the client and the operator can attach them). The maximum number of files in a ticket and the attachment size can be set in the settings, which allows you to control the consumption of disk space, which is one of the parameters of the selected tariff plan.
A simple chat has been implemented inside the application, where status changes are displayed on the application, as well as correspondence between the client and the operator - as experience has shown, sometimes very long. It's good that all the information is saved, you can appeal to it in case of problems, complaints, claims from the manager or transfer of the ticket to another operator.
For operators in the portal 2 types of rights are provided: Administrator and Operator. Administrators can set up the system, assign new and remove retired agents, manage subscriptions, work with the constructor, and so on. Operators can work with cases, while both administrators and operators can view and participate in work on all cases in the system.
Each registered user on the portal has a personal account. Consider the administrator's personal account, since it includes all functions and has the maximum configuration.
By default, the questionnaire has two fields, you add the rest by choosing the field type from the list. Form fields can be made mandatory and optional for the client to fill out. In the future, we plan to expand the number of field types, including based on the wishes of users of the ZEDLine Support portal.
It should be noted that the questionnaire constructor is present only in paid plans. Users of the "Free" tariff (and this one is also available) can only use a standard questionnaire with fields to indicate the topic and describe the problem that prompted them to contact technical support.
So far, in the statistics, you can view the only diagram of the dynamics of the number of hits, but in the future we plan to significantly expand this dashboard, saturating it with analytical capabilities.
Billing functions are available in the "Subscription" section. It contains a unique personal account, tariff and the number of operators on it (), subscription end date, the current balance is displayed. At any time, from this interface, you can change the tariff, change the number of operators, extend the use of the service, replenish the balance. In the "Transactions" section, administrators can view all transactions that have occurred: payments, tariff changes, changes in the number of operators, payment adjustments.
In the settings, it is possible to specify an email for automatic notifications. Although this is not required. By default, the uniform service address will be used for notifications. However, if you want your customers to receive notifications on your behalf, you must set up an email account. It is from this address that notifications on the status of solving the problem will be sent to your clients - so they will not pull operators and support employees, but wait for notifications (well, or view the status of their task in the portal interface ). The user and responsible operators can be notified of new messages within the ticket and the change in the status of the ticket, or disable such notifications.
Also in the settings you can control the amount of available disk space, the current database, set the maximum size of the database and the maximum number of files in the ticket. This is necessary in order to provide for the consumption of the storage volume provided under the tariff.
You can also customize the preamble of the questionnaire, which will be displayed at the top of the questionnaire when creating a ticket. In the preamble, you can specify the rules for creating a ticket, specify the support work time or the approximate time for the operator to respond to the ticket, thank the user for the request, or announce a marketing campaign. In general, whatever you want.
Services for integration with RegionSoft CRM are provided to all clients free of charge and are performed by our company's specialists on a turnkey basis (for the "VIP" tariff). Also, work is currently underway to develop an API for integration with any other services and applications.
We are constantly updating our , we have an extensive backlog and we will be glad to see your suggestions, wishes and even criticism.
We understand that at the startup stage there can be many critical comments from potential users and passers-by, but we promise that each of your comments will be considered with special attention.
How much?
As for the tariff policy, this is a typical SaaS scheme, three paid tariffs depending on the number of operators, disk space and software options (from 850 rubles per operator per month) + there is a free tariff for one operator (suitable for freelancers, individual entrepreneurs and etc.).
We announce the action of the promotion from August 1 to September 30, 2019: upon the first payment to your personal account, 150% of the paid amount will be credited to your balance. To receive a bonus in the payment order, you must specify the promotional code "Startup" in the following way: "Payment for the services of the ZEDLine Support service (promo code <Startup>)" Those. when paying 1000 rubles. 1500 rubles will be credited to the balance, which you can use to activate any services of the service.
How is the helpdesk system better than other options?
Experience shows that for many small and medium-sized businesses, the only way to process customer requests is via email. Even if the business has implemented a CRM system, the mail still forms huge chains of letters with the solution of customer problems. Chains are broken, lost, deleted, out of sequence with a single send error, and so on. But the habit is given to us from above ...
What is a good system for accounting and managing customer requests?
- It is simple in terms of interface and contains only those fields and content that you need. It will not include advertising of your client, congratulations on holidays, extraneous questions, and so on. Only information on the essence of the ticket, not even branded signatures.
- The system for processing user requests has more flexible task prioritization: instead of folders and labels, there are convenient and understandable statuses by which you can filter the entire pool of requests. Thanks to this, tasks are solved by priority level and there will be no situation when 10 small problems are solved, and a critical task gets lost in the queue.
- All applications are collected in a single call center, and employees do not need to rush between interfaces and accounts. All you have to do is provide a link to your ZEDLine Support portal at all customer touchpoints.
- It is easy to change the operator, who will be able to see the entire history of correspondence from the moment the task was assigned. In addition, it is easy to solve customer problems that require the advice of colleagues. The chain and terms of delegation are greatly reduced.
- Using a customer referral system is more professional than using email or social media posts. Clients have the ability to control the progress of the task, and there is no worry about how quickly their email will be opened. The psychological factor also works: the company is so cool that it offers a whole separate tool for user support.
Customers don't care at all about what's going on inside your company. They are concerned only with their own problems, and they need quality and fast support. And if not fast, then controlled - you need a complete feeling that the support service operators did not go to drink tea, but are working on a problem. The system for working with customer requests helps a lot with this. And with a simple and intelligible software, the number of processed requests is growing, operator fatigue is reduced, and the company looks more modern.
Source: habr.com