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.