With over 100 Support Desk vendors in the market, prices ranging from free to over $6,000 for every advanced user (i.e. Technical Support Rep or Customer Support Rep) and a vast list of structures, internet services, and features to look at, choosing the right help desk software for your business can be a time sucking and frustrating process.

The purpose of this article is to try and simplify the procedure for you. This industry brief will deal with general issues that everyone in the help desk software market should understand before making the final selection. Considering these issues will help you make a more knowledgable decision.

Customer Support Software - Architecture

The issue that seems to generate the most uncertainty in our industry is server/client web-enabled solutions (C/S) vs. 100% web-based solutions. In general, C/S architected solutions are dying breed. At one point, an excellent step up over main frame solutions, C/S technology has been phased out due to the availability and benefits of web-based solution architectures. The main reason some helpdesk software vendors continue to sell C/S solutions is due to the conclusion that they do not have the expansion resources to adapt their older product to a web-based architecture. Some of the rewards that web-based solutions have over C/S solutions include:

• No client-side software installation, updates, or support

• Log in from anywhere, anytime with any browser

• Full access to all features and functions at anytime and from anywhere

When you start to demo different customer support software solutions please take note if you are required to load code on your desktop to begin the demo. If so, you are not dealing with a business that offers a web-based solution. True web-based architectures need only a web address in order to try a demo.

So, if the vendor sends you a 5 MB exe. file to demo their solution, you are not seeing a 100% web based customer support software solution. The file that business is emailing you is either front ending a C/S system or is a complete canned demo on your desktop. Make sure you assess the solution you are going to buy! If you do buya C/S solution, please take note that web-enabled add-on modules wont give you full access to all of the features when you are in a browser on the web.