When businesses start out, it’s common to rely on email or phone for providing customer support.

But with growth, moving beyond email and phone as the primary support channels becomes critical. Support needs to scale with a business. If agents are struggling to keep up with requests and inboxes are stacked with unanswered emails and voicemails —it’s definitely time for helpdesk software.

Helpdesk software allows organisations to accept, track, and respond to support tickets in an organised way. Many helpdesk programs also provide knowledge bases, self-service portals, SLA management, and reporting. Choosing the right customer support software will depend on factors such as the product or service that you offer, how large or specialised your team is, and any other specific needs.

Equip your team with the tools for providing superior service and this will build relationships and trust with clients.

Here are some common questions that people ask during the consideration phase:

• Which channels do I need to be reachable on?
• Do I have any specialised support groups who handle different issues?
• Does my company operate in locations with different hours, or languages, that need to hand-over cases?
• Does my company have different SLAs to manage and report on?
• Do I need any additional features like Net Promoter Score or Customer Satisfaction surveys?
• What kinds of KPIs or Metrics do I need to be able to track?
• Can I use this to train and monitor staff?

These are some of the typical questions. Depending on your unique requirements, you might consider coming up with a checklist of needs for your ideal customer support platform. A partner can help with this too.

How much will it cost?

Investing in the perfect Customer Service software will not only improve the sales journey but your ongoing customer satisfaction and brand. Cost for such a solution will vary from as little as $12-15 per month per user to over $150, based on a variety of factors, including:

• Number of users and features
• Channels, knowledge base and self-service options
• Setup, training and implementation needs

Can Customer Support software be integrated with my other platforms?

Almost every single customer support program will have integration capabilities with other platforms. The common ones are

• CRM, Website, CMS or ERP
• Social Media, custom apps, mobile

Some integrations may require custom development in order to seamlessly work with your customer support service, but your friendly integration partner can help with this.