Help Desk Reviews

Here is a great management idea for your help desks out there.

You should think of your help desk users as a triangle.  At the top point, you have the person who is in charge of it all.  Then under them, we have two people that work under the person in charge.  After that each person gets other people assigned to them.

This way, everybody gets a role and a place in a much more organized business.  You want to make sure each person who has people assigned under them do not have too many people assigned in that place, because then there is a chance there could be a break in communication.

Help desk software like TremenDesk, a hosted help desk solution, makes this task very easy.  From within the administrator interface, you can assign rolls and duties. You could have this group of people only able to see the desk they should be working, and then that group of people only seeing the stuff they should be looking at.  Once again, we go back to the triangle idea of help desk management.

The last thing I want you to remember is that you should always have the right balance of people both above and bellow – because without that, your proverbial pyramid is going to fall.

TremenDesk has totally re-worked the way they setup their 30 day trial.  Now we already know you needed to give no payment information up-front.  However, now they have shortened the sign up form.  All you give is your name, address, choose a domain and your done.  The account is now yours to try before you buy.

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The TremenDesk Help Desk gives you many helpful functions when working on various tickets in the various help desks you may setup.  Here is a walkthrough of some of the basics.

Tickets can be set to several different statuses and serve various functions. Here are some of the most common examples:

• Locked – No one but the person who locked the ticket can see or answer it. Just remember, you will need to “unlock” the ticket once you are done with it, if you wish others to be able to view it afterwards.
• Assigned to – Using this ticket status you can assign a ticket to one specific user to handle.
• Awaiting Tech – This status sets a ticket as awaiting a response from your side, as the TremenDesk owner. For example, if a member of your staff has not answered the ticket yet, it would list as ‘awaiting tech’.
• Awaiting User – This status sets a ticket as awaiting a response from the person who submitted the ticket. Once it has been assigned this status, it will be taken off the open queue for a desk.
• Watch – You can watch any ticket that is received to the TremenDesk, ticket by ticket. Once you have decided to do so, you will receive e-mail updates any time the ticket has been modified or replied to in any way, and it will also be added to your Dashboard for review.

The same applies for assignments, awaiting, and watches, which are also not ticket statuses.

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Ever wanted to know how you can get yourself signed up for one of the best help desks out there on the market today?  The TremenDesk News web site has posted a complete walkthrough on how you can sign up for TremenDesk, the flexible hosted help desk.

Here is just a small sample of the hosting help desk assistance:

Anybody out there can sign up for TremenDesk.  This help desk software is easy enough to order and to use for any business at any level.  Today, I though I would show you how easy it is to quickly get your new TremenDesk hosted help desk ordered and setup.

Interested?  Check out the fully illustrated walk through only over at TremenDesk.com.

The TremenDesk News site has just completed a great round up of tutorials covering every aspect of domain aliases with the TremenDesk help desk system.  Check these out for a full review of how to handle domain names in TremenDesk.

What Are Domain Aliases?

Domain aliases are used to point multiple domain names to the same desk. We recommend this for advanced users of the desk.

Adding a New Help Desk Domain Alias

Time to take a deeper look at how the TremenDesk hosted help desk application works with domain aliases.  Today, we’ll be covering how to add a new domain alias to your help desk.

Removing Domain Name Aliases from TremenDesk

Domain name management from within TremenDesk could not be any easier.  We have already shared with you how to add a domain name alias to the hosted help desk system.

Changing the Domain in TremenDesk

We have covered all the bases of domain aliases in TremenDesk now, except for one.  Changing your primary domain name in TremenDesk, is very simple and to the point. You might need to do this if your company changed names, or you wanted to change locations of your hosted help desk.

All four of these articles are great resources, and are a fine example of why TremenDesk is the best help desk.

What is the best business help desk solution out there?  TremenDesk.

Let me paint a scenario for you, the average web citizen.  What are you do to when you are running a small to medium sized business, and you start getting a surge of new customers coming your way?  They are all coming in, looking for answers and want to get in contact with you but you don’t have anything other than that puny e-mail address on your web page.  What is a business owner to do?

You enlist the help of a professional.  For a cheap monthly, you can get yourself a help desk to fill your support void.  This way, you can easily sort, configure and get back to your customers before they go somewhere else to do business.

With TremenDesk you can:

+ Create and reply to tickets

+ Assign or unassign tickets

+ Search tickets by any string of text (email, full name, etc) or unique ticket ID #

+ View all tickets from any user

+ Merge tickets

And so much more.  Now your business is booming, the sun is shining and you are better able to handle your new clientele.  Out of all the help desks out there to choose from, TremenDesk has done the most to impress me thus far.

Help desks are not just for online businesses anymore.  Every single day I hear about a new career type, business or organization using help desks in new and unique ways.

Here are three careers out there that you might not think would need a help desk,  but would be helped by it.

Car Dealerships – A car sales man could be helped greatly by using a help desk.  They could take quotes about what type of car a customer wants one on one via a ticket-based system.  With all the customer’s needs in one place – helping them would only take a few minutes.

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One of the major benefits that TremenDesk has over any and all competitors is the fact that is is bundled with web hosting from the fantastic hosting provider, Lunarpages.  This mix of the greatest help desk ever with the best web hosting in all the land is a combination that can not be ignored.

Why go with TremenDesk?

TremenDesk is a flexible, stand-alone, fully-featured help desk solution, powered by Lunarpages Web Hosting.TremenDesk offers technicians and users alike a powerful yet easy-to-use component to handle any customer service environment. From small to big businesses, TremenDesk’s AJAX-based interface offers an extremely-comprehensive alternative to the competition straight out of the box. If you need to optimize your support performance or are looking for a simple choice that will not require days or even months to set up, install, or learn, TremenDesk is the perfect solution and can be hosted on your own domain name.

Why go with Lunarpages?

Lunarpages Web Hosting launched in 1998 in order to provide affordable and reliable hosting for personal websites, small business, ecommerce shops, Fortune 100 corporations, dedicated customers, and more. Lunarpages hosts the biggest and the best in the industry, utilizing the knowledge that has made us the largest web host in the world. Since 1998, Lunarpages has tailored each web hosting solution to fit the unique needs of our clientele, ensuring that every level webmaster can build, design, and launch their businesses and projects with our help every step of the way.

With a 30 free trial, why haven’t you tried TremenDesk out yet?

So, keep it in mind, that when you pick up your own TremenDesk hosted help desk – you are not only getting the best help desk application on the market, you are also getting the best hosting plan for that script out there.

Lunarpages have a great hosted help desk solution called TremenDesk and it comes with a free 30 day trial. Best part is you are not required to provide any billing or personal information. It really is no strings.

For those of you who have an iPhone, they desk now works with them. Pretty sweet!

Where does one turn when they need a help desk for their help desk?  If you have the TremenDesk help desk application, you can simply visit their support page to get the help you need.

I have personally contacted them on a number of occasions, and was amazed by how quick, professional and polite they were. Via their support page, you have two ways listed to get support:

• TremenDesk FAQs
• Open Support Ticket

Of course, you can always turn towards their blog too, because it has many helpful tutorials, tips and more to get you started with the TremenDesk hosted help desk.

Why are quick replies important to a help desk service?  Hey Jack, that is an easy one to wrap your mind around. A lot of people out there ask the same questions over and over again. Would it not be nice to have them answered in one single location, every time.  With a quick reply in hand, you can cut minutes off your response times, every time.

Take the hosted help desk application TremenDesk for example.  This online application makes it easy to send quick response to answer any complaint, question or suggestion you might get sent your way. You can easily login to your administrator settings, pick the category you wish to add the quick reply to – and write it up.

Give it a title, give it some content and save it for later.  DONE!

Quick reply creation could not get any easier.  So give your own support crew a break and check out this five star help desk named TremenDesk.  It is by far the best host help desk out there right now – and this only one more reason for it.

Are help desks only for questions?

Now sure, many help desk out there are mainly focused at clients or customers sending in their questions – however applications like TremenDesk could really be used for much more.

Things to keep in mind when setting up your help desk would be…

What are your clients’ demands?  Do they need to reach you for support, or do they need something else?  Many help desks out there are setup to receive things like feedback from projects, advertising requests, and much more than just your common Q and A.  So that might be something to keep in mind when it comes to setting up your own hosted help desk.

The thing to remember is that your only limitation is your own imagination, and as long as you are meeting the customer’s needs, you should be set.

Quick responses make our lives easier, because they can sum up a general thought or idea on a topic all at once.  Of course though, as with any good thing, you have to remember to use it in moderation.

When to use a Quick Response

• For general fact gathering to help the customer
• To pass along generic notices or updates

When not to use a Quick Response

• When a customer or client is mad or upset
• When you need to give a more personalized response
• For specific troubleshooting steps unique to that person

Better knowledge of when to or when not to use a quick response on your own help desk setup is a good thing to keep in mind.  Some customers, if they pick up on the fact, become very annoyed with it.  So as a general rule of thumb – make sure you use it only for general topics or requests.

Over at the TremenDesk news site, they have done a great job at detailing some of the specifics of the hosted help desk application, when it comes to user and staff statistics and tracking performance.

Here is just a sample of one of the articles in question:

Due to popular demand of our look into the advanced ticket stats in the TremenDesk, we had a number of people wanting to know more about how TremenDesk handles statistics.

To drill-down into the statistics, choose a relatively short term to graph. To see to-the-minute detail, you can graph the past hour. To see hourly detail, you can graph the past day. A good place to start is 2 days, which would give enough detail without being too overwhelming.

Check out the entire series here:

• FAQ on Help Desk Analytics
• More on the Help Desk Statistics
• Advanced Ticket Stats in TremenDesk

Well worth checking out if you are looking to learn more about the TremenDesk hosted help desk application and the tools that come with this great help desk solution.

You can say goodbye to mailto links and mail forms once you get a solid help desk solution like TremenDesk in place.

This hosted trouble ticket system is by far superior than the rest.  One thing that a help desk can help you accomplish is removing unnecessary contact forms and e-mail links from all over your page.  With a help desk in place, you can send anybody who needs to contact you over to there.

For those who don’t want to give up on the “way things were” you can also map e-mail addresses to specific queues inside of the help desk interface, so then you get the best mix from both worlds.

TremenDesk also servers as a solution for lost for forgotten about e-mails.  Have you ever happened to be writing an e-mail reply to a customer inquiry and when you have hit “send”, another member of your team has already dealt with the problem?  In TremenDesk it doesn’t happen.  Your conversations are saved in ticket form via your own personalized help desk.

By far TremenDesk is the trouble ticket solution.

Are you looking for a help desk?  Out of all the options out there, I think TremenDesk gives you the most bang for your buck.  Don’t take my word for it though – check out these awesome tutorials I found on their site:

Better Manage User Help Desk Permissions

The TremenDesk hosted help desk application allows you to better control your user’s help desk permissions.  Queue permissions are actually nested under the Tickets Management administrative permission. To grant a user access to all queues, check the Tickets Management checkbox:

How to Blacklist Bad Tickets in Your Help Desk

The TremenDesk all-in-one help desk solution, excel and outperforms the competition when it comes to filtering out junk.  One way it keeps spam and un-wanted tickets at bay is through blacklisting.

User Levels in TremenDesk

I recently got an e-mail from TremenDesk user who wanted to know more about how the user levels are the same, and different – and what is the use for each.  To help you understand the various user types in TremenDesk, check out this list, from the most common, to the most unique.

Get Help Desk Tutorials by E-mail (for Free!)

You can now get e-mail updates when the TremenDesk News site is updated. Enabled today, e-mail newsletters will be sent out once a day when a new post has been made to this site.  This means that every tutorial, tip, or how-to that is posted here will be delivered right into your e-mail inbox.

Replace Your E-mail Mess with TremenDesk

Many people just look at TremenDesk as one of the best stand-alone and fully-featured help desk solutions out there.  Don’t get me wrong, it does that job extremely well, but some of our users have been thinking outside the box and using it in unique and interesting ways.  Need an example?  What about people who use TremenDesk to replace their e-mail system?

TremenDesk is a powerful self-hosted help desk application that is well worth the time and money.  Why?  It’ll cut your costs in half and save you bucketloads of time.  You can try it for free (no credit card needed) at TremenDesk.com.

Are you looking for Help Desk software? Now there are many choices out there, from small to large – but only one gives you the benefit of being low in maintenance and high in value.  That help desk system is none other than TremenDesk.

There is no need to learn Perl, PHP, or any other complicated scripting language to use this fantastic help desk solution.  Oh no, you see it is a “hosted” help desk suite.  What this means for you is that the install and the upkeep on the back end is all managed by the dedicated TremenDesk administrators.  All you have to worry about is keeping your customers happy through the help desk interface that TremenDesk provides.

Give the 30 day free trial a shot, there is no credit card needed, and this way you can see what many have already seen, TremenDesk is by far the best hosted help desk system out there today.

You have asked for them, so I am now happy to deliver them to you.  Here are some screenshots of the TremenDesk hosted help desk in action.

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What makes TremenDesk better than your average help desk software?  Well, it offers you the software, the hardware and ever other –ware you could want together as a bundled package.

Not only do you get access to one of the best help desk suites out there in the market today, you also get it hosted and updated for you for free.

• So let us list off the benefits you get with TremenDesk:
• Script? Yes, you get TremenDesk – so that is a BIG check mark!
• Hosting?  Yes, hosting is provided by Lunarpages, one of the best in the business!
• Updates? Yes, the TremenDesk admins will update the script for you to roll out security fixes or new features

So, now can you see why TremenDesk is better than any other help desk software solution out there today?

A help desk is a place where you can get information and assistance with technical problems you might have.  Many of them are broken off into two categories, the ticket portion and the tutorial portion.

In the ticket portion, you have a way for customers to contact a company or business, to answer a question or to get a response.  The tutorial portion often has FAQs (frequently asked questions) answered, and popular help articles that give information for topics that are most asked about.

As for the history of the modern help desk, here is a little more information about that from Wikipedia:

In the mid 1990s, Middleton at Robert Gordon University found through his research that many organizations had begun to recognize that the real value of their help desk(s) derives not solely from their reactive response to users’ issues but from the help desk’s unique position where it communicates daily with numerous customers or employees. This gives the help desk the ability to monitor the user environment for issues from technical problems to user preferences and satisfaction. Such information gathered at the help desk can be valuable for use in planning and preparation for other units in IT.

So as you can see, at it’s core – any help desk’s purpose is to help the customer get more information, by any means necessary.

Help Desk software should be open enough for creative new ways to be thought up, and can be put to the test.  I have seen many help desk systems that are too exact in nature, and that does not help when it comes to finding a solution that fits a wide variety of topics.

You need a help desk to provide you general features, such as:

• A Manual Way to Submit Tickets (via a web site)
• An Automatic Way to Submit Tickets (like via email)

Other features you might want to consider are:

An easy interface to customize the “input” data a customer can give.  You need ways to change the questions asked of the customer when putting in a help desk question, such as name, location, what the problem is, and other account specific details

A way for tech support members to communicate between themselves about a ticket.  Being able to type up and share private notes about a situation is a good way to help troubleshoot before you go back to the customer with a definite answer.

All in all, you have to remember to keep a help desk simple enough, so it fits a wider group of people better.

With the economy going the way it is, many people out there today are looking to start their own home business.  Whether your selling t-shirts, or building the next great online service, you need help to get this done.  Let’s take a look at what you need to remember when setting up shop.

Setup a Place of Business

Now, you might be running your business out of your cellar, however you need to give the impression that you are bigger than you really are.  Go up to your local post office, and see if you can setup a PO Box address – so people can reach your business by mail.  This also helps to keep your personal mail separate from your business mail.

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As of late, I have been reading a lot of books on the topic of help desks, and how to better manage them.  One of the best books I most recently read was Help Desk Manger’s Crash Course by Phil Gerbyshak.  This excellent guide through the help desk management world will help both beginners and experts when it comes to managing a better help desk.

It is the guide newbies to the help desk world need, when they are on the first 90 days of the job and thereafter as a reference tool.  Filled with great ideas for new managers, each chapter provides new and exciting tips to help you become a better help desk manager.

Check out the Help Desk Manger’s Crash Course on Amazon.com

The entire book is well written, and the author and contributor to the book really speak from first hand experience. This book will remind seasoned managers of the meat and potatoes of our business, and help the newbies to get up to speed in record breaking time.

What should you be looking for in a help desk?  There are many different help desks out there in many different shapes and sizes.  Here are a few thing I would recommend you check in on before you make your final choice.

Script vs Hosted Service

I would highly recommend going for a hosted script, that somebody else can manage the backend for.  Why?  Well, it takes one more monkey off your back, and allows you to focus more so on the customer service and support you provide through the help desk.

Built in Tools

How many other built in tools does your help desk choice have?  Having quick response management is a must, and a built in knowledge base is really nice.  These are two features I like to see built into any help desk I am checking out.

Quality Tools and Support

Find out how responsive the help desk provider really is.  Before choosing one, contact their support team or try posting a support message on their message boards and see how responsive they are to your questions or issues.  This is the best pre-test you can do, before you really need their help.  You should always know what to expect, so this trial test with the support methods they provide should help shine a light on things.

So those are my must-have features for any help desk I use, what about you?  What tools and services does your perfect help desk need to have?  Let me know in the comments!

When it comes to looking for the perfect help desk, you first have to ask yourself – what type of solutions are you looking for?  We are all looking for that leading support platform.  Something that is powerful, flexible and adaptable for our own organizations.

Better Help Desk Features

As far as features go, you want to go with ticketed support that has e-mail management included.  Advanced statistical reporting is important too, because you want to be able to monitor your customer and staff relations.  The ability to publish rich self help resources is something that can not be overlooked in the features department either.  When push comes to shove, teamwork is the keyword to remember.  Any help desk you choose should have a focus of working as a team, rather than pitting one department against another.

Integration also plays an important part of any help desk solution.  How easy is it to make the help desk fit your web site layout, and make the transition from your site to the help desk as flawless as possible?  You might also look at synchronizing task, appointments and contacts.  Sharing login information with third-party databases would be a feature handy to have too.

As you can see, I can come up with plenty of solutions when it comes to help desk management, what I would like to know is what are you looking for in a help desk?

Most companies out there will wait until it is too late before they try to find a reliable help desk to help with with their support needs.  Waiting for the need might cost you in the long run, because you will have to start to maneuver staff around, have work disruption and suffer from a loss of business.

So when is the right time to get a help desk?

This is no simple answer for everybody, however I do have some general advice I think all could learn from.  You need to be able to stay ahead of the curve though, so you are ready to meet the problem, before it runs you over.

A truly effective IT help desk will prevent problems for you rather than fix them.  Get that sort of mind set right now if you want to be a success.  Go out and start looking for much more than just a fix to the problem – find a helping hand.  Personally I have had a lot of luck with TremenDesk.  Why TremenDesk?

• It has helped us increase our productivity, giving us tools to answer customers quickly.
• It is easy to use, so there is less training time for new employees.
• Our internal stress over meeting the customer demands are now gone, because TremenDesk allows us to manage current and past customer situations with ease.

There are just a few solutions we have found that TremenDesk, the better IT Help Desk has provided us.  Don’t wait for all heck to break loose.  Go find yourself a help desk to use before you need it, so you can meet that demand, rather than trying to satisfy it later.

Wouldn’t you like to know how to run a more effective help desk environment?  In the book, Running an Effective Help Desk, Barbara Czegel will guide you through the steps you need to take to get this done.

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There are definitely a lot of things to take into consideration when it comes to picking the help desk that is right for you.  TechRepublic has done an excellent article on this very topic that I would like to share with all of you:

Here is just a little taste before you dive into the real deal:

The consulting firm I work for recently asked me to find a solution to meet our help desk needs. Specific qualifications had to be met for this help desk system to become “the one.” I assumed the task would be simple — after all, I’ve spent the last 10 years covering software of all sorts, including help desk tools. The reality was much different. There are a LOT of help desk systems available. So many, I quickly realized just how challenging the selection would be.

Read the rest of 10 things to consider when choosing a help desk system.

They have touched upon many important factors here.  Making it easy, branding, ticket management, web interface, personalization, security, features and budget play a key role.  One help desk system I know of that meets all the qualifications is TremenDesk.

Security for help desk users and owners should always be a top priority.  So, with that said – what security tips and tricks should you keep in mind when running a help desk or using a help desk.  I will share with you a few suggestions for each.

Here are some good help desk security tips for users and owners.

Help Desk Users

• Do not give out information you should keep private, such as credit card, social security details or passwords.
• Clear your browser history and cache regularly if you share the computer you are on with multiple people or you use a public computer.

Help Desk Owners

• Make sure you keep your scripts up to date, unless you are using an online hosted help desk solution like TremenDesk – which in that case updating isn’t needed.
• Make sure you offer alternatives to the help desk, such as phone support, if clients don’t feel comfortable giving some information over the phone.

You can never be too safe these days when it comes to online security, so my last tip for both types of help desk users (both the owners of them and the users of them) would be to use common sense.

Working on a help desk can both be a rewarding and challenging experience at the same time.  When taking both the positives and negatives into play, how can you help motivate your own help desk staff?

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Lunarpages Web Hosting released TremenDesk.com last year and by far this is the best online hosted helpdesk we have reviewed.

TremenDesk is idea for the following types of support/communication:

Schools – Communicate with students, parents and teachers, submit assignments etc

Businesses – Customer Support including technical, billing, sales,  and various tiers of support

Best Features:

Speed – Because the desk is hosted on Lunarpages servers the speed an reliability is phenomenal!

Robust – Can handle thousands of users and queues at the same time.

Versatile – Can be used for various business types, various desks.

Affordable - Starting at under $40 per month, the best solution for your business.

Visit TremenDesk.com NOW!

Committing to a hosted help desk solution is a big decision and this is the backbone of your customer support reputation.  It is so important to phone or email the web hosts or software providers that you are considering with top questions, prior to spending your hard earned cash.

Here are our top 10 questions for help desk service reps:

1. How long before my Help Desk  is available to use?
2. Why should I choose your company to host my Help Desk?
3. Do you have 24/7 support?
4. Where will my Help Desk be located?
5. Do you provide backups for free?
6. How secure is my Help Desk?
7. What is the contract duration I am committing to?
8. Is there a money back guarantee and how long is it?
9. Will your help desk solution grow as my business grows?
10. How fast is the customer and tech experience?

We recommend TremenDesk by Lunarpages Web Hosting. Call or email them and see how they score with our top 10 questions