Zendesk Tops PolicyStat’s List for Client Support Management

One of the most important offerings of PolicyStat’s Client Services is our help desk (more commonly known as Customer Support). In early November 2009, we set a goal to significantly improve the customer support tools we provide for our clients. I researched the available products for several weeks – there are literally hundreds of products to choose from – but one of them stood out: Zendesk. I was looking for an application that would be easy to implement for just a few users and a few hundred clients, yet scalable enough to grow with our business. Given the client list of Zendesk, they seemed to fit the bill. They had a free trial option, so I signed up and never looked back.

So, why do I like Zendesk for managing our online support offering?

• Multiple entry points into one system (email, web, phone & and Twitter)
• Customizable look and feel (including automated messaging)
• Knowledgebase features which allow our clients to search for answers to their questions, view video training clips, learn more about our product and stay up-to-date on product changes
• Software-as-a-Service product – we are a SaaS company and believe strongly in that model
• Ability to integrate – create tickets automatically from within our product – we are working on that and they have Django integration
• Scalability – Groupon uses Zendesk, and they’ve just opened their one millionth ticket – wow!

What would I like to see improved?

• Ability to control/update user subscriptions to Community Forums – we use the community forums to announce system updates, but we have to manually subscribe new clients
• Some wysiwyg tools to customize front end/entry screen; you can customize with CSS but it is painful for the technically challenged like me

As a company on a steep growth curve, we are always looking to use tools and technologies that will not be outgrown if we double or triple in size each year – our customer system certainly qualifies, and Zendesk made that very easy for us.