If you need to communicate with your customers to solve their problems, you definitely need a help desk. A place, where all most popular questions are answered and users have the ability to ask if anything remains unclear. If you are running a service, a web hosting, or anything else related to a big number of potential customers, help desk software will make it easier to communicate with them.
There are lots of help desk scripts available on the web. Everything depends on your current needs; if you’re installing it for the first time, you should better choose a free or open source solution. Here is a big list of software to choose from, but I will tell you a little about the script I really like. It’s Hesk.
IMHO, it’s a great script for a beginner and for a pro. Interface is very clear and you don’t even need a documentation, as it’s hard to do anything wrong with this script. Take a look at a screenshot:
Let’s find out what are the features:
Customer Interface:
* Submit new tickets
* Attach files
* Obtain detailed information from customers with custom fields
* SPAM prevention
* Suggest related articles before final ticket submission
* View existing ticket status
* E-mail notifications of staff replies
* Browse knowledge base
Knowledge base:
* Unlimited knowledge base articles
* Unlimited categories and subcategories
* Quick and Easy search capabilities
* Post attachments to articles
* Count article views
* List newest and most popular articles
* Rate articles
Administrator interface:
* Unlimited administrators and staff accounts
* Restricted access to some functionality for certain staff
* Powerful ticket search ability
* Manage knowledge base categories and articles
* Manage staff accounts
* Manage canned responses
* Customize help desk settings
* Modify your profiles and signatures
* Autoclose tickets after X days
* E-mail notifications of new tickets and replies
* Customers can easily rate staff replies
* Easy translation into any language
You are welcome to download your free version.
If you can propose any other simple and free scripts, please, post them in comments.