Hi Guys, I am primarily a Foxpro programmer, but I also have IT customers for other issues. I have a few customer that always have requests for modifications, but sometimes they forget to tell me or to follow up. On occasion, this relaxed environment of support causes some stress. A customer mentions some modification they want and all of the sudden they are upset it's not ready, even thou they never actually explained or formalized the request. Oh well, my customers are too close... like family one might say. So I decided to use a formal Help Desk system to help keep my requests in line and organized. Now, here comes the beef. Good Help Desk systems for IT are SOOOOOOOOO expensive. I am basically a 1 man shop. I subcontract on occasion and I am subcontracted on others. So I can't afford an expensive solution. So far, here's what I found.
1. Spiceworks: great asset management and help desk if you are on location. It was not created for MSPs so the workaround to make it workable for MSP render it more of a nuisance than an asset. 2. Freshdesk: great help desk cloud based software that's FREE for up to 3 users. It's easy to get it up and running and it looks good also. You can add your company logo to their support portal. Also, it has time tracking features. For the Help Desk is quite what I expect it to be and did I mention it's FREE??! The things that give me pause about Freshdesk are: a) the website speed seems a tad slow; b) it's a cloud solution (I rather have the data on my server); c) pricing $40/user/month if you want their full solution; I looked into other solutions, but most cost thousands to operate. If anyone has a suggestion, please feel free to share with the others. I decided to create this thread because I am sure some of you may be struggling to decide on some type of solution. Btw, I don't discard using Spiceworks on some customer sites for asset management. I am just discouraged to use the help desk after installing it and having an email exchange with their support. They were very dismissive of the needs of a small MSP. Like, you need this enhancement then this software is not for you... bummer. The software install on my server was a breeze. It's just useless since the Help Desk does not have company as a standard field, there are no user levels, and the portal doesn't request a password for you to log in!!!!!!!!! Amazingly poor design. Happy Holidays!!! José Olavo Cerávolo http://www.ceravoloconsulting.com/ --- StripMime Report -- processed MIME parts --- multipart/alternative text/plain (text body -- kept) text/html --- _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: ProFox@leafe.com Subscription Maintenance: http://mail.leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://mail.leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/1387926037.79177.yahoomail...@web161403.mail.bf1.yahoo.com ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
