I went on the hunt for a new support ticket system. I came across Kayako, Cerebrus, and Vision Helpdesk. These three seemed to be the major players.

All three of these company’s offer a free trial so I tried all three.

I tried Cerebrus and even though it did the job, I just hated the User interface. It was too tough for a normal customer service representative to navigate the User interface. I feel like the program interface wasnt well thought out.

Next up Kayako: Kayako is a very nice support ticket system. It was very quick and the interface was easy to use. No issues with the software except for the following few things.I found their support to be horrible! They took forever to respond to my tickets and their live support was not too great.

Second it is very expensive . The software is a few hundred dollars for ONE DOMAIN ONLY.

I decided to continue on to the next piece of software which was Vision Helpdesk

Vision Helpdesk has almost the same interface as Kayako and I found it a bit easier to use. I sat down both of my customer service reps and they both ended up liking Vision Helpdesk more. The interface is very intuitive. Private messaging and anti virus is also included, which is a plus.

The software is extremely robust and can be configured to your liking. There is no delay in the system at all.

I ended up choosing Vision Helpdesk for the following reasons:

1. I liked the interface much more and required really no new training for any customer service re
2. MULTIPLE DOMAINS!!!! Yes you can run multiple domains for an extremly low cost compared to Kayako. For 1 domain its $200 for the software AND for 5 domain support its $250. Kayako is $300 for just one domain – Too Much!
3. You get 1 year of updates instead of 6 months like Kayako.
4. The support was great and answered my questions right away. They are ACTUALLY online when it says online. They offered to help me installing it without me even asking.

PS:  All these helpdesks support live chat as an addon feature if you wanted to offer that. I did test that out since we dont need it for our business but im not sure if they even offer a trial for it.

Anthony

We take every comment seriously — YES we do agree our old website design was not compatible with IE Browser, we redesigned our website and now I hope ChadConnects and everyone else like our site design

Vision Helpdesk Review

For more details check this — http://www.chadconnects.com/web-2-0-helpdesk-software-list/

Also check out Helpdesk Pricing Comparison between Vision Helpdesk Vs Cerberus Vs Kayako Vs Zendesk Vs  Autotask Vs Tender Helpdesk Vs Active Campaign.

I was wondering, how a company could ever think of raising price for just adding few features?  Not at all a good business practice.  The article also mentions that Zendesk later realized their mistake and they decided to run the same pricing for existing customers where as new customers will be still paying higher cost.

Vision Helpdesk could never think of raising price for adding features – Just like we have released Vision Helpdesk Mobile Edition and thats completely FREE!!

The article has also raised questions about the SaaS methods and What SaaS should practically be doing is reducing overall helpdesk management cost ? Isn’t it?  With Zendesk becoming overpricy  that doesn’t seem so

Some random comments from post —

Interestingly, the article has received several comments, One that mentions the comparison  of pricing between several paid helpdesk softwares (screenshot below ) shows Vision Helpdesk is the only Economical Helpdesk Software that offers EVERYTHING UNLIMITED at just $30 per month. (On Top of it we offer FREE WHMCS Software worth $15 per month

We appreciate CCBTools who have posted the nice pricing comparison.

Vision Helpdesk is open for Zendesk Refugee Discounts – please contact us on our Live Chat or email us for Zendesk Refugee Discounts.

]]> http://www.thevisionworld.com/helpdesk-pricing-comparison-vision-helpdesk-turns-out-to-be-most-economical.html/feed 5 http://www.thevisionworld.com/on-demand-private-branded-helpdesk.html http://www.thevisionworld.com/on-demand-private-branded-helpdesk.html#comments Sat, 01 May 2010 09:21:18 +0000 Vision Helpdesk http://www.thevisionworld.com/?p=1659 Vision Helpdesk offers unique feature — “Satellite Helpdesk” that allows you to manage multiple companies support operations from one place – the key thing is Vision Helpdesk creates a logical separation among each company staff,  users,  tickets, knowledgebase and almost everything,.

Vision Helpdesk has central database and single Admin / Staff Portal where each company admin / staff log’s in and can view respective assigned company departments / tickets.  Same way each company has its own client portal which allows that company clients to submit / view their tickets / knowledgebase / news / downloads etc and of course each client portal can be branded as per company name and design.

Apart from scalability Vision Helpdesk has opened up various options for IT companies to manage their support operations.

Talking about options and how companies can use Vision Helpdesk’s Satellite feature, One of our client ( TurnKey Internet )   trust Vision Helpdesk to offer On Demand Private-Branded Helpdesk to their Reseller, VPS and Dedicated hosting clients.

TurnKey Internet  uses Vision Helpdesk Owned Ultimate Plan that offers adding UNLIMITED domains / companies. They have installed Vision Helpdesk on a generic domain every time a reseller sign up with their hosting services they add that Resellers domain as a company in their Vision Helpdesk and provision Reseller with their own Private Branded ( Reseller can have their own company logo ) Ready to use Helpdesk.

Again this is just one way how Vision Helpdesk Satellite feature can be used, If you explore Vision Helpdesk more you will find some more facet of Vision Helpdesk

For past few years we were using Kayako Helpdesk, We have had no issues with day to day operations with Kayako ticketing system but our business needs have changed recently and Kayako does not look promising with our new needs. Our major concern was scalability, We are growing and want to have our staff to login to one single helpdesk which can manage support for multiple companies at one place, Fortunately we found Vision Helpdesk and its Satellite Helpdesk feature which is exactly what we have been looking for.

Here is how we would like to chalk out our review -

Pricing : Vision Helpdesk is economical infact some times I personally feel they are offering vision license at low cost compared to other competitive helpdesk in market.

Installation and Upgrades : Installation takes few clicks just run setup from browser and with few clicks you are done. Similarly Vision Helpdesk upgrades comes from their admin menu — just enter ftp login details and your system gets auto upgraded.

Usability : The system is powerful yet easy to use I don’t think I ever read vision helpdesk manual.

Design and User Interface : The Manage Portal is designed nicely with Ajax and JavaScript boosting overall operation speed but they have more scope to improve client portal.

Features : Vision Helpdesk feature list is long and we are impressed with their monthly updates which includes bug fixes and new features – In past 4 months we witnessed list of new versions and every new version was packed with new features and parallel correcting bugs in previous version.

Unique Features:

• Satellite Helpdesk is big plus helps you manage support for multiple companies from one installation, It gives listing for different companies and their departments on Left Panel, One thing that impress us is Staff Access Control – You can assign Staff to particular Domain or Department and also restricts staff operation wise. Logical separation between different company clients is huge plus.
• Ticket Billing is another nice feature allows to bill per ticket.
• WYSIWYG Editor included for New Ticket, Reply Ticket, Signature, News Articles, Knowledgebase and Email Templates.
• Plug-in System
• Toolbar is unique.
• The Ajax or no Page load - Faster operation over traditional php helpdesk software’s, I would not call it as feature but yes it does save lot much time with page loads and saves bandwidth too.
• WHMCS billing integration is again great.

Scalability : Perfect! supports single to multiple companies management and without any hassle.

Support and Services : They have nothing but excellent support, They have added us on Goggle Talk and I can chat with their support techs on IM all most all issues fixed immediately no long waiting.

They offer 30 days free evaluation version which is plus.

Cons : For now they dont offer Live Chat System

Vision Helpdesk Score — 9/10 (One point I would reserve for Live Chat which they claim to be coming soon – we are happy with livezilla for now but would definitely love to have something integrated with vision helpdesk)

Our Installation : http://www.infrenion.com/support/

We include Free End User Support for our VPS clients i,e free  support to customers of our VPS clients. We install a Vision client portal on our vps clients website (See example HERE). Their customers signs in and submits tickets from their website. Vision allows customization of  logo, header and footers for our vps clients – so they can match their website design. The ticket is controlled, tracked and replied to using the main Vision program on our  server.

Vision Helpdesk also easily imports data from major helpdesks like: Kayako Support Suite – Kayako eSupport – Cerberus and WHMCS. This makes switching to Vision Helpdesk easy and you have all tickets imported from your old helpdesk — that’s is a big plus.

We are thankful to Vision helpdesk developers to provide us such a wonderful helpdesk software that allows us to manage end user support without any hassle.

We highly recommend Vision Helpdesk.

Thank You,

Russell Chambers

CEO. GlitterHost.com

First one that came to mind was of course Kayako – rock solid reputation and great ticketing software.

Then I highly considered WHMCS – amazing all-in-one type solution and I’ve been using it for 2 years now.

Then on a whim, I decided to check out the Software Offers section (my first time on those forums in over a year) and saw an advertisement for Vision Helpdesk.

I was like who???? – As most people can agree that these guys are new to the block. interestingly enough, I kept reading their advertisement.

I read about the helpdesk features and a few features caught my eye, so I clicked on the link to check it out.

I’m more the type to get info not from a web page but from support, so I clicked on Live Chat.

I was directly connected to sales rep : Sheena.

I ‘ve had many live-chat sessions in my time, and I have never had anyone more attentive to my needs than Sheena. Time spent on LiveChat = 35 Minutes. Live Chat via Google Talk = additional 45 minutes.

I shot question after question, scenario after scenario and she literally walked me step by step on how Vision helpdesk can achieve what I needed. She paid close attention to my business needs and why we’re using the helpdesk in the first place. She was kind enough to paint me a picture with different combination of what Vision helpdesk can do to ultimately achieve my goal.

Okay, so after an hour and half of chatting, I decided to take the plunge. I was reluctant to move away from going with WHMCS but Sheena’s talk with me really won me over.

I paid for the helpdesk (owned license) (mods are more than welcome to verify) and submitted a ticket for installation.

Within the hour, installation was complete. (this was around 8:45-9:00 pm PST) I never heard of a company doing an installation that late during a business day. I assumed it was going to be done the next business day.

I’ve been testing out the helpdesk for about 2 hours now. Setting up the configs.

So here’s my scorecard

1. Aesthetic Design – Sorry to say, but it can definitely use a major touch up. It’s definitely not the most appealing helpdesk to look at, but it gets the job done.

2. User interface - A lot to take in at once. The moment you set it up, you just see everything everywhere. However, after you take in everything for the first 5 minutes, and after clicking on each icon to see what it does, you get the hang of it. Not to mention, there’s a unique feature of turning on/off icons in the toolbar to make things somewhat less cluttered. Something unique I haven’t seen anywhere else.

3. Ajax Implemented - I gotta give it up for the use of AJAX. Every page loads within a second at most. Pretty damn fast navigation, on almost every link posible on the helpdesk.

4. User-Friendly – Well a lot of people said ModernBill wasn’t that user friendly…but a lot of people said once you get the hang of it, it’s cake. Same thing with Vision helpdesk. It’s easy enough once you know where everything is. There’s a sidebar to the left is where settings are and top navigation for toolbar and access to almost everything else. Click around, once you get the hang of it…pretty easy.

5. On-going support and updates. I’ve checked out what others were suggesting and looks like Vision helpdesk will bend over backwards to get a custom module out to meet the clients’ needs. Im not saying this pre-maturely. I’ve read what users have requested and it looks like development has gone underway to incoporate what users really want. I’m excited to see what these guys will rollout with in version 2.

6. Designed by programmers at heart. You can tell that whoever is programming this helpdesk isn’t a design major or artist by nature. Simply put, they’re putting in features purely for the sake of making life easier without going into making the software look pretty. It’s something that the end-users will appreciate though. They have a tool that imports your WHMCS Database/Kayako Database. You don’t even have to pay extra for this service. It’s already built into the software. Unlike other companies that charge for this migration service. Other neat features to note: Satellite helpdesk.

Overall Scorecard of the helpdesk software itself: 7.5/10.
I’m an avid user of WHMCS, WHMCS has come a long way since v2. But Vision helpdesk looks promising enough.

I won’t be incorporating Vision Helpdesk into my main-stream projects just yet, but I’m definitely going to test-drive this software to see what it’s really capable of.

With that said, I’m not here to recommend this company over WHMCS / Kayako or anything like that. Helpdesks have features that some don’t, do the research.

But if you’re deciding on whether you should try out Vision helpdesk, I would definitely recommend getting the evaluation version. It’s well worth the price tag of $FREE.99

As an owned license holder now, I’m crossing my fingers that there’s continued on-going development for this software!!

Thank You,

Kevin Lee.

My name is Jeremy Otten. I Am the CEO at Random Solutions. We are a young IT company that where looking for a payable but good helpdesk product.

I have searched all around the internet and spent hours goggling around. Then I stumbled upon Vision Helpdesk. I never heard of these guys….. they where also a young company and the helpdesk version was v2.xxx so its a young product I thought..

I did an online chat and they where very friendly and experienced. I asked them why I would pick them above any other competitor. They mentioned a unique satellite helpdesk feature and some other stuff.

At the moment I am also a beta tester of the product. And I must say the software is very intuitive/effective and very smart!

Ow and did I mention it is FAST! 99% AJAX driven! almost no page loads/reloads or whatever. Its a nice and clean helpdesk app. No bloatware when you just spent hours finding 1 feature or check mark. Within 30 minutes I got the hang of it.

The development has a steady past over at vision helpdesk. Bugs are fixed really fast and they listen to suggestions. This is really good because this way the product gets programmed the way we (the users) want it to be. It will get smarter and smarter along the way.

Another great service was free installation. I just made an ftp account and sub domain in my cpanel mailed them the credentials and I was up and running in NO time!

To come back to the satellite feature. We are a starting company and are partnering with other starting companies. This way we can compete with the bigger guys who have more people to work with. The cool thing is we now have 1 helpdesk/service desk for all the partners. We can share clients(sub help desks) with each other if we give both support to that customer. Its simple and works very well in my opinion.

I do not say that the product is perfect, no software is perfect!! But its worth the few pennies and it really has a lot of potential and a lot to come!

Also they offer great rebates for current helpdesk owners and migration tools for Kayako/Cerberus and many others!

Just evaluate the software and you will see what I mean! What harm can it do

Jeremy Otten (CEO – Random Solutions)

Netherlands.

Evaluate if Vision is suitable for you Business click here to launch Vision Online Demo — You can also test Vision helpdesk on your server by ordering our Free Evaluation Version.

If you have Evaluated Vision Helpdesk and want to share your experience with  us and our visitors — then please feel free to comment this post..