It’s amazing how quick software developers copy their competitors concepts – good and bad. Obviously monopolies aren’t good, and competition – even among web apps – drive development and lower prices, so all in all a good deal for the customers. However, it also clutters the marketplace and makes it increasingly difficult to evaluate and choose the right product for your needs.
Say you have a web development project and want to use a support system with a knowledgebase, forums, idea suggestions and a ticket system. You have multiple options, some of the larger players are described below:
“OneDesk is social software that connects employees, partners and customers to the product or service development process. It consists of a unified suite of applications that incorporates social media monitoring, feedback management, innovation and ideas management, customer service, requirements management, project portfolio management, product planning and issue tracking. With OneDesk, you will build the right product or service faster and more efficiently.”
Unfortunately OneDesk provides a flash interface, which disqualified it for many users right away.
“Thousands of fast-growing companies, including Spotify, Klout and Bonobos, are wowing their customers with Desk.com. Find out how your business can deliver customer service that is social, mobile, easy to use, and affordable.”
Unfortunately PlusDesk doesn’t really add an advantage to the game, because it’s features are not special, and pricing is quite high.
“Freshdesk was built ground-up to make your agents’ lives better. That is why you will find intelligent capabilities out-of-the-box, that automatically categorize, prioritize and dispatch your tickets, and even suggest the best solutions when you get one.”
Freshdesk does add a breath of fresh air to the ticket systems. Advanced features are included in low-cost packages, and this really is an alternative to the support desk champion Zendesk.
“Zendesk is ready to use as soon as you create an account. You don’t need to worry about servers or software updates. And because it’s web-based, you can access Zendesk anywhere, from any device.”
Zendesk is the pioneer and also really the best support desk out there. Unfortunately they have very expensive packages, and cheaper versions miss out on important features.
Conclusion
It’s hard to conclude which desk software is best. Actually, you might find different results, depending on which requirements you measure up against. In general Zendesk is a winner, but both Freshdesk and PlusDesk are highly competitive alternatives. OneDesk doesn’t really cut it, mainly due to an overloaded and confusing interface. However, again this is personal preference. Pricing and features are quite complex for all products, so depending on your needs, you might come to another conclusion. Fact is, that a good support app really can help you grow your business in a good way.
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