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

Ticket Statuses

To make ticket categorization simple Vision Helpdesk uses ticket status. Each ticket has a status example (Open, Awating and Close ) Admin can create custom ticket statuses for his or her own convenience.

Each status has a meaning – like Open indicates issues is unresolved, Awaiting — Staff has replied to ticket and waiting for clients answer and Close — Issues is resolved.

Ticket Priorities

Tickets can also be categorized based on its priority set by end-user. Priority is simple notation that tells about urgency level of a ticket.

Admin has an option to create new priorities as per their convenience — they can select different color for priorities indication. (Example Red colour indicates emergency and so on.)

Ticket Flags

Ticket Flag is again used to mark tickets for various purposes. Example You can make red flag to indicate very imp ticket, or blue flag to indicate reboot ticket etc.

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/

Company HR Preeti Sharma disclosed three reasons for the company growth — “First is Support — We know what it’s like to be the customer. Our friendly support, availability, and honest approach to business make us unique from our competitors.  Second is Vision Helpdesk Features — Clients are admiring Vision Helpdesk advance features which other competitive help desk’s  failed to offer (e.g. True Satellite Helpdesk — that allows users to manage support for multiple companies,  Easy to use fast Ajax interface, Anti-Spam, Paid Ticket Support, Robust e-Mail Parser and much more.. )  And the third reason is Economical Pricing– The refugee discount special offer that allowed users to purchase Vision helpdesk owned license at just $49.99″.

“Vision Helpdesk has dramatically streamlined our support request process, The Satellite helpdesk feature has consolidated our multiple company support at one place, now our support staff don’t have to login to seperate helpdesk — they can manage everything from vision helpdesk” – said Todd Ray CEO Infrenion Networks.

“It’s reassuring to see that despite the economic downturn, and huge competition in helpdesk software market, The consumers are putting faith in Vision helpdesk to manage their support activity. We are thankful to our consumers for trusting us and we will continue our efforts to provide best helpdesk solutions” said Sharma.

She concluded by saying — “Buy now, or Regret it later, The refugee discount coupon is valid till 15th Nov 2009 — This is last chance to get Vision helpdesk owned license at $49.99  so make maximum out of it”.

More details — http://www.thevisionworld.com/vision-helpdesk-refugee-discount.html

Speed matters when it comes to web applications — “That’s True” says Company HR. Preeti Sharma.

“Imagine a web-based helpdesk software that works like a local windows application — Sounds great!!  Isn’t it ? — Vision2.0 works on PHP-Ajax to equip users with a web application that works just like a windows application, fast yet secure.” said Sharma.

She added — “Vision 2.0 reflects the state of the art in web based helpdesk solutions. It well derives benefits of latest Web2.0 technology that offers user-experience improvement, decreasing user delay, decrease in bandwidth usage, high speed results and much more.”

Apart from speed Vision2.0 includes unmatched features like — Satellite Helpdesk, Paid Support, Robost Mail Parser, Plugin Based Features, Multi-Language, Migration Tool, Antivirus Tool, Auto Upgrades & Installation, Google Hosted Emails (POP3 & IMAP SSL), Customized Tool Bar, Service Level Agreements, Report Generation, Custom Fields, 3rd Party Live Chat Integration, Login Integration, Knowledge Base, Downloads, Predefined, News, Troubleshoot, Advance Search,  Alerts, Filters, Labels,  Flags, Address Book, Calender and much more..

Check out Vision2.0 screenshots, previews and online demo at — http://www.thevisionworld.com

What is Vision 2.0 helpdesk all about?

In a nutshell Vision 2.0 is about High Speed Performance,  Security,  Reliability, Scalability,  Portability and User-Friendliness. Vision 2.0 reflects the state of the art in web based helpdesk solutions. It well derives benefits of latest Web2.0 technology and equip support staff with fast, secure and user-friendly interface. It is extensively designed with PHP Ajax that offers user-experience improvement, decreasing user delay, decrease in bandwidth usage, high speed results and loads of features listed below :

Key Features :

Satellite Helpdesk | Multi-Domain Helpdesk

The well-organized and logically constructed interface allows users to add multiple domains/companies and further easily access and manage them all from one place.

More details –
http://www.thevisionworld.com/true-satellite-helpdesk.html

Robost Mail Parser

Vision includes email parser that gives you power to manage your emails, it gives you option to create corresponding mail queue for each email account. Every new email that user sends in – gets created as a ticket and further staff or user can reply / update the same ticket.

Email Parser supports –

* File attachments
* CC / BCC / Forward option
* Auto responders
* much more ..

Email Parser can be configured in two modes
* Email Piping
* POP3/IMAP/POP3 SSL/IMAP SSL Email Fetching.

AJAX Based Rich User Interface

A major challenge while designing online softwares is the page reload time – for all operations that you do (may be its submitting form or clicking event etc) requires communication between server and reloading the complete page to display the results.

We have used AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) to overcome the complete page reloading issue, AJAX is a web development technique used for creating interactive web applications. AJAX makes your pages feel more responsive by exchanging small amounts of data with the server behind the scenes, so that the entire web page does not have to be reloaded each time the user requests a change. This way it increases the web page’s interactivity, speed, functionality, and usability.

Paid Support

Vision integrates with leading Billing software WHMCS and allows you to turn your helpdesk to offer paid support to your clients. You can add billing notes, create invoice from helpdesk, track payment status and much more..

Plugin Based

Vision helpdesk is modularized to equip users to enable or disable various features. (example : You can enable or disable scrapbook, alerts, calender, online staff, favorites, anti-virus, address book etc.. ) — This also allows our developers to code several useful plugins and easily plug in to our system rather changing whole code.

Multi-Language

“Multi-language” feature now empowers organizations to extend their business all over the globe by breaking the language barriers. Now you can provide support to your clients in their own language.

This feature mainly includes –

• Clients can change client panel language to one that they understand.
• Clients can send tickets / emails in their own language.
• Your staff has option to select language while replying tickets.

More details — http://www.thevisionworld.com/vision-help-desk-now-breaks-language-barriers.html

Easy Migration Tool

Vision provides with an innovative data migration tool. The migration tool automates the entire migration process and easily imports data from major helpdesks like:

• Kayako Support Suite
• Kayako eSupport
• Cerberus
• WHMCS

The migration tool is an open, user-friendly, and extensible migration process ensuring reliability and data integrity.  Migration of users, tickets/emails, ticket queue’s, ticket status and much more are seamlessly done that save time and efforts.

Inbuilt Antivirus Tool

With increasing online virus threat it becomes very important for any organization to keep its data secure — Vision comes with a robust integrated Antivirus tool to eliminate the possibility of virus through email attachments and also allows you to scan helpdesk files.

Auto Upgrades & Installation

This feature allows you to auto install / upgrade your vision helpdesk versions.
more details — http://www.thevisionworld.com/vision-helpdesk-auto-version-upgrade-tool.html

Google Apps | Google Hosted Emails (POP3 & IMAP SSL)

You can configure google hosted emails with helpdesk.
more details http://www.thevisionworld.com/vision-helpdesk-supports-google-apps.html

Scrap Book & Private Messaging

The module provides instant private communication between members of your organization. Adding to this, it allows staff members to post scraps/updates in the scrap book.

Submit / Reply Tickets Using Your Favorite Email Client

Vision not only allows you to submit / reply / update tickets via online web portal but also from your favourite Email Clients – like Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express etc.

Customized Tool Bar

Staff can customize tool bar as per their convenience . The most used features are just a click away with our toolbar.

Service Level Agreements

Service Level Agreements (SLA’s) are fundamental to both providers and recipients of services. For important services, therefore, it is essential that the service level agreement is appropriate

But how can you ensure that this essential component of the legal contract is met while delivering a service? Our system therefore includes a comprehensive presentation, designed to help the service provider to gain a complete insight of each ticket/client to find out if the SLA was maintained.

Report Generation

With the help of rich GUI including charts, figures & table of contents – Vision generates accurate report on runtime for Work summary, Service Level Agreements, Response time, Performance and much more..

The reports include elements such as recommendations, suggestions, or other motivating conclusions that indicate possible future actions the report reader might take.

• Last 7 days staff activity (Matrix Report)
• Monthy Staff Work Activity (Statistics)
• Monthly Staff  Performance (Scale / Point Graph)
• Monthly Staff SLA Record (Pie Chart)
• Annual Ticket Bar Graph Report
• Work Report
• SLA Report
• Response Report
• Performance Report
• Client Tickets and Billing Report

Online Issue Tracking

At this point, with technology as cheap as it is, there’s really no excuse not to have an online issue tracking system. Vision incorporates an online issue tracking system which is relatively easy to use, can be made accessible to all, and can serve as a central depository for all kinds of issues.

Custom Fields

This feature allows you to easily create custom fields / forms as per your business requirements.

Ticket Escalation

With this feature you can configure your helpdesk to auto escalate/move tickets to different departments if the ticket reachs overdue time limit. This is helpful to speed up operations and maintain SLA’s.

Login Integration

Login Integration plug-in allows your users to bypass the login registration process for their support area.

Vision supports the most popular and widely used third-party software packages/applications like:

• ModernBill (v4 and v5)
• vBulletin
• osCommerce
• SM Forum (SMF)
• WHMCS
• WordPress

Through the login integration plug-in with other areas of your business, Vision gives you simplicity with maximum control.

3rd Party Live Chat Integration (CCS | LivePerson | ProvideSupport)

This feature allows you to integrate 3rd party live chat helpdesk in to your client portal. You can easily add live chat
icon on client portal page with this feature.

Configurable Client Portal

We have designed client portal in simple html pages which allows you to easily integrate it with your website design.

Client side quick search facility

It enables your clients to search their email / ticket using single word or phrase that appears in message subject or content.

Useful Tools :  KnowledgeBase | Downloads | Predefined | News | Troubleshoot
Advance Search | Alerts | Filters | Labels | Flags | Address Book | Calender

Vision1.0 stable release has proved itself as rigid and solid helpdesk software which 1000′s of users are using it for their businesses.

It took the feedback, support and co-operation of all of you to reach where we are now. Without the beta testers and users who evaluated Vision Helpdesk, the journey would never have been so smooth.

Now right after one year we are excited to launch Vision2 beta — We planned for Vision 1.3 and 1.4, but while working on it we realized that we have to change so many things and the whole script needs quite a few structural improvements.