SPECIAL EDITION
November 2003

Hello!

Superb customer service is key to make loyal advocates out of your customers.

Customer Servings focusses on value-adding customer service articles, a Customer Service e-zine delivered free to your mailbox every month!

In this Free Help Desk Software special:

1. How I have tested the free help desk software
2. Test of Free help desk software:
- LBE Free Helpdesk
- Elementool Basic
- FreeCRM
- Liberum
- Web+Center
3. New at Customer Service Point.com

How I have checked the Free Help Desk Software

• Functionality: I look for useful functions rather than a lot
• Customizability: If you need to align your tool to your business, you'll probably need to customize the tool
• Ease of use: A helpdesk tool must aid, not hinder, the support process
• Speed: Any customer service rep that had to wait on a system while talking to a customer, understands the "need for speed"
  :-)
• Reliability: You need a tool you can trust, with data integrity, and that works when you need to

With these 5 area's firmly in mind, I set out to install the software, if necessary (some solutions are hosted, so no installation is necessary then. Just an Internet Browser).

Then, I start filling the software with master data, such as users, customers, status, and so on.

After this, I really get into the software by making up calls and issues, assigning them to support staff, and handling the calls as I normally would. I create additions to the knowledge base or FAQ (if applicable).

Finally, I do some reporting. And, if there are other interesting features, I check them out. But not to intensively, I must add.

After doing all this, I write a report and add a screenshot. So you can benefit from it, my valued reader :-)

Tests of Free Help Desk Software

But I was commited to get you as much information as possible on this, so I waded through them, and found some real nuggets.

Check them out!

LBE free help desk software - LBE offers a previous version of their help desk software. The free help desk software is originally designed for Windows 3.1.

Elementool Basic hosted help desk solution - a suite of hosted help desk applications for help desk, bug tracking and time tracking.

Free CRM software - The company CRM ASP Inc. has created a hosted software solution for customer relationship management and sales force automation.

Liberum open source web help desk software - Liberum Help Desk is a web-based application for managing support requests within a small business or organization.

Web+Center web help desk solution - Internet Software Sciences (ISS) product, Web+Center, is a suite of web based customer support applications

What's new at CustomerServicePoint.com?

However, I would like to draw your attention to the following site, which link I have added to my site. It's a jobs search engine that unites job seekers and employers within the call center, customer service, telemarketing, telesales, help desk, sales and CRM industries, from entry level through executive management. If you're looking for a job in customer service, you could really benefit from Call Center Careers.

Customer Service Jobs and Call Center Jobs

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Customer Servings is the monthly e-zine for www.customerservicepoint.com, your resource on improving customer service.

Customer Servings is for you!

If you have any suggestions for subjects you would like to see in future issues, or have comments in general on Customer Servings or Customer Service Point, please e-mail me at customer_servings@customerservicepoint.com.

I welcome your remarks!

(C) 2003, Erwin Steneker