Which Helpdesk/ticketing System Is Appropriate For Me

Salesforce as help desk ticketing system

It all depends on what you’re trying to do, and what your budget and expectations dictate. It has limitations in terms of internal vs. external, and without some configuration it can be quite cumbersome. Service Cloud helps, though it’s quite expensive to add on. Desk.com | Customer Service and Helpdesk Ticket Software is quite good. Zendesk is decent for external facing, but it’s not that helpful on the internal side. And of course, there’s always the issue of migrating data and data integrity within SFDC.

What help desk ticket system style would you rather receive as a customer: comment/IM style (e.g. Zendesk, Desk) or Gmail email style (e.g. GrooveHQ, Enchant)?

Judging from the number of my active subscriptions, and my promptness (sic) to address issues, I find myself very often on the receiving end of customer support tickets. Zendesk /Helpscout ticket style emails are easy to read, well structured and give you the quick answer evaluation option that works well with the customer service sector. Funny thing though as widely endorsed how many things do you end up commenting and thinking of the helpdesk in use (yeah they must be using … ) instead of focusing on the message itself.Primarily when the nature of your business relies on the personal rapport with your clients, and you want no interruptions across all touchpoints with your brand then I don’t see why you should stick with a help desk and not move to a solution that offers shared inboxes.At Gmelius we offer all the tools and the means to manage any group email right from your inbox. And with all the tools, I include collision detection, shared email templates plus all the automation needed to take it a step further. Either it is Gmelius you’ll go for or another suggested solution that works from Gmail, at the end if you need to keep a consistent brand message and feel a helpdesk - added platform aside might depreciate your messages at the end.Full disclosure - Proud member of the Gmelius team

What is a good ticketing management system (á la Zendesk) with support for PGP encrypted emails?

You could use http://www.keeping.com (a ticket system that integrates inside Gmail) combined with Gmail encryption plugin such as https://www.mailvelope.com/

Which helpdesk software will allow me to create a custom ticket submission form, and will arrange the fields so they fill up the screen?

As an alternative to ZenDesk for creating an custom ticket submission form, Zoho proves to be a responsive option to maintain and arrange the fields as per your requirements. Some more options on the table are;LiveAgent a web-based multichannel help desk software & IT helpdesk ticketing system which integrates all channels (Email, Voice, Chat, Facebook and Twitter) into 1 interface.SoulCRM incredibly simple and efficient web based ticketing tool specifically designed for small & large businesses. It's a complete solution for helpdesk support.SupportBee ticket management system helps your team collaborate on customer support. It act as easy to use IT Help desk ticketing software helps your team collaborate & deliver friendly customer service.

What are some of the best simple, low cost, help desk ticketing systems?

Front is a simple AND easy to use help desk system.Unlike traditional help desk ticketing software, Front lets your team respond to customers as quickly and easily as email (but with more transparency and collaboration). There’s no complexity of tickets, extensive set up flows, and days of training on a new complicated UI. But it has the powerful features your support team needs to deliver personal support.Front also works with ALL of your communication channels *email addresses like team@ and contact@, tweets, Facebook messages, live chat, SMS texts, and even Google Play app reviews* so they can directly respond to these conversations from one platform. You have advanced productivity features, like canned response macros, send message later, shortcuts, and message reminders, that you can apply to all these channel conversations. See more featuresThe real bonus with Front is that it’s built for team collaboration. Team members can share customer messages using direct mentions (like Slack) to discuss situations, managers can ‘follow’ customer conversations without being CC’d or BCC’d or Fwds, and review and live edit their team member’s response drafts before sending to customers.Simple doesn’t mean “basic.” Companies have scaled their global communications with Front and set up automated workflows to increase their efficiency.If you’re looking for a simple, but powerful solution, then I would recommend Front.Full disclosure: I work for Front so I’m super biased, but I wouldn’t work here if I didn’t believe what I just said.