It’s now like 4 months now we are using Vision Helpdesk for managing our 3 companies at one place. It’s time for me to share our experience with Vision Helpdesk and the support that we have received.

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/

I have a new start up that I’m currently working on with an old college friend of mine. It required providing customer service as most companies do so I looked around for some top-notch help desks.

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.

Vision Helpdesk creates a logical separation across staff & clients of various domains/companies.

Vision helpdesk is true satellite helpdesk which allows you to add n number of companies and manage them all at single place with ease..

How does Satellite helpdesk feature  works ?

To illustrate this we will take an example of managing two companies which can be extended to any number..

We have added two companies in our demo. Both domains are hosted on physically different servers. (You can host on same server too )

Company One :  http://visiononlinedemo.com/

Company Two : http://iamdemo.com/

Vision setup needs to be installed on just one domain — In our case we have installed on Company One :  http://www.visiononlinedemo.com/support/manage/

Vision Database will be on server one — this database needs to have remote access enabled (If second domain is on different server other wise if both domains are on same server then no need to add remote connection to database)

While Company two needs just client portal files. (No installation setup required for company two)

Staff & Admin URL :: http://www.visiononlinedemo.com/support/manage/

Admin Login — admin / admin

Staff Login — chris / chris [Staff for Company One]

Staff Login — peter / peter [Staff for Company Two]

Staff Login– andrew / andrew [Staff for Company One & Company Two]

Control - Staff Access Rights

Not only you can add multiple companies and manage them but you can also organize staff as per respective company that means you can assign staff particular rights and controls over more then one department and further domain.

Client Portals for Company One and Two :

Client URL for Company One :: http://visiononlinedemo.com/support/

Here Company One clients can register / submit / view tickets.

Client URL for Company Two :: http://iamdemo.com/visiondemo/

Here Company Two clients can register / submit / view tickets.

Lets say we have created departments and mail queues as [ You can create Mailqueues / Departments from Vision Helpdesk Admin Section]

Company One Mail queues / Departments

support@visiononlinedemo.com

sales@visiononlinedemo.com

billing@visiononlinedemo.com

Company Two Mail queues / Departments

support@iamdemo.com

sales@iamdemo.com

On server one you need to create pipe (you can also use pop/ imap, choice is your’s ) for support, sales and billing.

support@visiononlinedemo.com: “|/full_path_to/manage/pipe.php”
sales@visiononlinedemo.com:”|/full_path_to/manage/pipe.php”
billing@visiononlinedemo.com: “|/full_path_to/manage/pipe.php”

On server two forward support and sales@iamdemo.com to support@visiononlinedemo.com

You can check live demo of above example —

http://www.thevisionworld.com/vision-helpdesk/online-demo

Further Questions :

Can I setup different signatures for different companies?

Yes, you can setup different signatures for different companies and also you can have different signatures fo various departments.

How many companies we can add ?

Any number

Though we support multiple companies but we don’t want Company one clients know about Company two and vice a versa..

Absolutely, this was the basic question in our mind while designing vision, we have taken care of this. Even though vision manages multiple companies at one point but it keeps privacy amoung company clients too.

Vision helpdesk setup needs to be installed on all companies ?

NO, just on one company domain you need to install vision setup and on rest domains you need to just upload client portal files.

TheVisionWorld.com developers of Vision Helpdesk — launched Vision Helpdesk 2.0, A lightning speed helpdesk intended to create a better web-based helpdesk experience for users. Available in beta version, Vision2.0 is a new approach to the web-based helpdesk that’s based on the simplicity and power that’s what users need in today’s web world.

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