Web Help Desk offers now a free version of its help desk software
Dec 12, 2008 by Mircea Goia MyTestBox News
WebHelpDesk is known for its Java help desk software. The lite and full version is not free (between $180 and $900).
But now they are offering a free version of their software for small business, K-12 institutions, and small government organizations.
The Free Edition has no trial period or expiration date, is completely free from ads, and includes one full year of help desk software upgrades.
It’s a good move because they know there are some good free help desk software outhere like osTicket (more software here) and also paid software.
Thus, they try to get more users of their product which in time might become paying customers. In these times you need to do everything to acquire new customers and if that means giving away software so be it.
The FREE version of Web Help Desk is a one technician seat version of the Web Help Desk Lite edition, with an unlimited number of endusers. There are NO functionality restrictions with this free version.
Key benefits of this free help desk software edition include:
- * Cross-Platform Technology – Server-side installers are available for Mac OS X, Linux, and Windows Server; while all endusers access the help desk from virtually any internet browser.
* Web Portal – A full customer support web portal for endusers to submit service requests, view ticket updates, and seek self help or view auto-suggested solutions from the knowledge base.
* Email-to-Ticket Conversion – Automatic email-to-ticket conversion ensures that service requests submitted via email do not fall through the cracks and breach SLA.
* Ticket History and Audit Trails – Support staff may add notes (and hidden notes) to each ticket, from the web app or via email. Every update to a ticket is recorded by username and time date stamp.
* Knowledge Base – The mentioned customer service Knowledge Base also allows article visibility to support staff only; building an extensible and searchable internal knowledge base.
* LDAP and Active Directory Integration – Utilize your current LDAP or AD directory for login authentication and to schedule imports of customer data.
* SLA Email Alerts and Reminders – Configure various Service Level Agreements for email alerts and reminders to be sent to support staff.
* Graphical Performance Reports – Run a variety of help desk reports to increase productivity and create new efficiencies. Reports may be run real-time, exported to spreadsheets, or through automated email delivery.
For more details check their website or download it from here (well, I have an advice for them: please don’t ask the users of the free software to fill out that form! I know you might need those data for marketing purposes – you are a commercial company after all, but users are not seeing it like that: if it’s free why would I need to register?)
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Tags: customer support, email support, free version, java servlet, management software, mysql, open-source, software, tomcat, web help desk
Web Help Desk software integrates with LANrev client management solution
Nov 11, 2008 by Mircea Goia MyTestBox News
Web Help Desk, a pioneering web-based help desk software solution, announced integration with LANrev Client Manager, a leading cross-platform client and patch management software suite. Imported LANrev asset discovery data and instant access to LANrev client management tools from within Web Help Desk promotes immediate and quantifiable technician efficiencies.
Automated imports of LANrev’s reliable asset discovery data into the Web Help Desk provide support personnel with up-to-date hardware and software details for the computer identified in the service desk ticket. If additional software license management analysis is required or software patches need to be deployed, Web Help Desk provides instant, asset-specific accessibility to the the LANrev Admin application.
Web Help Desk’s integration with LANrev Client Manager makes initiating an LANrev desktop control session a simple mouse click away. From within a Web Help Desk ticket or asset search, support professionals can instantly access all of LANrev’s features and benefits.
About MacsDesign Studio
Founded in 1998, MacsDesign Studio LLC is a global provider of the Web Help Desk software suite, the leading cross-platform service desk management solution for help desk and customer support professionals who seek to simplify and control their increasingly complex service environments. The extensive feature set of the Web Help Desk software addresses critical IT and support areas, including: Incident and Problem Management, Asset and Desktop Management, Knowledge Management, and Approval Workflow.
Tags: customer support, email support, java servlet, lanrev, management software, mysql, open-source, software, tomcat, web help desk
Web Help Desk software is integrated now with Apple Remote Desktop
Sep 17, 2008 by Mircea Goia MyTestBox News
MacsDesign Studio LLC, the developers the Web Help Desk (the leading cross-platform help desk software solution), announced today the integration with Apple Remote Desktop 3, Apple’s award-winning desktop management system for Mac OS X.
The easy access to ARD information and instant remote control connectivity from within the Web Help Desk promises to boost technician productivity and raise the bar on customer satisfaction.
A scheduled or on-demand import of asset discovery data directly from the ARD database to the Web Help Desk provides support professionals with the critical, up-to-date asset information required to efficiently resolve service requests. This new integration makes Apple Remote Desktop 3 asset data available to any web browser through one centralized web application.
Web Help Desk’s integration with Apple Remote Desktop 3 makes initiating an ARD control session a simple mouse click away. Technicians can instantly access all of ARD’s features and benefits from a Web Help Desk ticket or asset view.
Hopefully, they will add even more features in the future making it better. We, here at MyTestBox, will review this help desk software soon.
Sphere: Related ContentTags: apple remote desktop, customer support, email support, java servlet, mysql, open-source, software, tomcat, web help desk
Launched: Web Help Desk Software – Version 9
Aug 27, 2008 by Bill Morrison MyTestBox News
We’ve all been there. When we need it most, the ‘help desk’ turns out to be a ‘no-help desk’, leaving us frustrated and mad at the host company (which might be our company). Well, they’ve actually been paying attention to this. Newer, server-side hosted, browser based help desk solutions keep getting closer to the holy grail of a fully functioning service desk.
With this in mind, MacsDesign Studio LLC announced version 9 of their popular cross platform product, Web Help Desk. This entirely web-based product now adds a rule-based voting and approval system for change requests, a user interface enhanced with AJAX, and an extensible plugin architecture. It’s still cross platform, with installers for all the popular servers- Windows, Linux, Unix and Mac OS X.
Point and click
So far, the focus in these help desk ‘improvements’ always seems to be the customer over the service personnel. It’s about time someone realized that servicing the enduser (the tech or manager) is key to getting the problem resolved. And problem resolution is what the customer is going to remember in the end.
Understanding this, Web Help Desk uses a filtering, point and click interface to categorize service requests before the e-mail goes out.
From their site:
- These Request Type Categories assist in providing high-level information to service desk personnel, as well as assist in Web Help Desk’s automatic assignment of tickets to the correct personnel, group of personnel, location, and correct department.
But there’s even more point and click. Installation and customizing your filters are set up for non-programmers. This allows the people who need the information set up the forms.
Next, the software displays a list of all software and hardware assets assigned to the request submitter. This gives techs the unique info they need without having to pry it out of reluctant and largely ignorant users. (“When I double click the thingie, that other bit with the colors doesn’t come up.”) From a service department management point of view, Web Help Desk provides loads of report options- tracked and linked to incidents and assets involved. You can bet when the complaints about X not doing Y start rolling in, they aren’t going to stop with the first fix.
Finally, Web Help Desk allows shunting similar problem types to the right solver. It can rank and send tickets to the people most likely to solve them quickly and correctly. This last one might be the most important feature of all. I can’t tell you how often I get the phone tag shuffle until finally (maybe) I get routed to the right person.
You can see their demo here.
The Web Help Desk software is deployed as a Java servlet running under the Apache Tomcat 5.5 servlet container (included in the installation). A compatible Java 5 Runtime Environment (JRE) is included for all platforms except Mac OS X and Solaris, which have a pre-installed JRE. Because the application is 100% pure Java, you have the freedom to install the Web Help Desk server-side software on the operating system of your choice without the worry of OS lock-in.
Sphere: Related ContentTags: customer support, email support, java servlet, mysql, open-source, software, tomcat, web help desk
osTicket – a PHP/MySQL customer support ticket system
Apr 17, 2008 by Vaibhav Gadodia Customer Support
osTicket www.osticket.com is a popular open source customer support ticket system based on PHP and MySQL. It supports both web-based and email based ticket systems. So your customers can either log on to your website to raise a support ticket or they can simply send an email to support. osTicket integrates both channels into a simple web-interface which lets your support staff manage the tickets and provide support to your customers.
There are commercial systems out there which have a whole lot of features that most support staff seldom uses. osTicket is a good way to start your support operations and then (maybe) if your needs are not being met, you might think about changing it. Notice since it is open source you might easily be able to customize it to meet your needs.
Of course, being open source, it is also complete free.
This open source project was recently revived by its authors after a lull of over a year. They started releasing a new version of the product in January this year with the latest release a few days ago. They have a very active forum community of over 700 members with over 1300 posts catering to various topics around osTicket.
Technical Specifications
osTicket requires a web server that can run:
- PHP 4.3 or better
- MySQL 4.1 or better
That’s it. Being PHP and MySQL driven, you can be sure that it will run on your hosting provider’s space. If you host it on IIS on a Windows box, then also you are safe because Windows version of both PHP and MySQL are available.
In terms of hardware, there are no specific requirements. Most shared webhosting hardware is good enough to run this. The users only need to interact with this using a browser.
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Tags: customer support, email support, mysql, open-source, osticket, php, support ticket system
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