Helpdesk software: Kayako vs Deskpro

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  • Alfa1
    Senior Member
    • Dec 2005
    • 4165
    • 3.8.x

    Helpdesk software: Kayako vs Deskpro

    Some years ago I researched which helpdesk software was best for my site. At that time Kayako came out best. But since then Deskpro has come a long way. The price is somewhat comparable. Even though deskpro costs twice as much as kayako, kayako charges for its addons.

    Both have integration. Kayako has a login share. Deskpro has integration as well, but I can't find to what extent.

    Here are the url's:

    Check out all the features available in Deskpro. Arm your team with the essential support tools for success.


    If you have experience with these support ticket systems, then please let me know your opinion and why you think one or the other is best.
    If you only have experience with one application, then please note this in your post.
    27
    Kayako
    37.04%
    10
    Deskpro
    33.33%
    9
    Don't know
    29.63%
    8
    I buy 420 forums
  • ManagerJosh
    Senior Member
    • Jun 2002
    • 9922

    #2
    Based on http://helpdesk.deskpro.com/kb_artic...1250-ROSZ-6728

    vBulletin: Get users from your vBulletin forum. In addition to sharing user information such as username, password and email address, you gain features like shared sessions and template wrapping. A shared session means once a user logs in on your forum, the session is valid and carrys over to the DeskPRO part of your site as well -- your users don't need to log in twice. Template wrapping involves wrapping the vBulletin pages in the header and footer from DeskPRO, giving your site a more unified look.
    ManagerJosh, Owner of 4 XenForo Licenses, 1 vBulletin Legacy License, 1 Internet Brands Suite License
    Director, WorldSims.org | Gaming Hosting Administrator, SimGames.net, Urban Online Entertainment

    Comment

    • Chroder
      Senior Member
      • Dec 2002
      • 1449

      #3
      Disclaimer: I am currently the lead DeskPRO developer. I saw your thread and decided to elaborate on the kind of vBulletin integration the product has to offer.

      There are three main points of integration:

      1) Authentication. Users from your vBulletin forum can log in with the same username and password in DeskPRO. When the user updates his email address or password, the changes are reflected within DeskPRO automatically.

      Note that DeskPRO also supports multiple user sources simultaneously. That means you could potentially add multiple forums, or just about any other user database, to the same helpdesk. Then users from every source can use their favorite login credentials. If a user happens to be members of multiple databases, DeskPRO is able to properly "link" multiple accounts together to keep things organized.

      2) DeskPRO is able to read the vBulletin session cookie if your helpdesk is on the same domain as your forum. When a session cookie is detected, the user is automatically logged in on your helpdesk -- creating a seamless browsing experience.

      3) DeskPRO provides a simple vB plugin that allows you to easily wrap your forum style with a DeskPRO wrapper. This essentially just wraps the vBulletin page with the standard DeskPRO page with the header (links to the knowledgebase, ask a question etc).

      I'll refrain from posting any opinions on the two softwares since obviously I'll be a little bias But if you have any further questions, email [email protected] and I'll be happy to answer them.

      Comment

      • ChopSuey
        Senior Member
        • Apr 2009
        • 1164
        • 4.0.0

        #4
        Kayako

        Comment

        • dilbert
          Senior Member
          • Oct 2004
          • 887

          #5
          I have Kayako for my site.

          I'm am not too worried about the integration factor, but use their Login Share tool (free add-on) - how often will users be submitting tickets? Although, if you plan to use it for other features, like the self help (troubleshooting), then I suppose it might be helpful.

          I turned off vB's FAQ and use the KB from Kayako instead.

          I don't use the self help or the document library.

          They are coming out with a new version v4 which looks really nice. http://blog.kayako.com/category/v4/ They've been working on it for a long time, and they've added a lot of user requested features. The version I have has unlimited users - they are moving toward a cost per user (seat) structure with the new version, but if you currently have v3, it looks like you may still get an unlimited license upgrade to v4. That's for users, ie staff / admins - you can have as many "members" as you want.
          I have never had any trouble with it. The few issues I did have, were from me not understanding features, and their support was very helpful.

          I've never used DeskPRO, but that looks nice also.
          Cliff
          PathLabTalk
          Square Wheels Cycling

          Comment

          • Alfa1
            Senior Member
            • Dec 2005
            • 4165
            • 3.8.x

            #6
            We would use mainly the searchable knowledge base, support tickets and desktop notifier for staff. We will not use live support.
            The site is a high traffic site, with many support questions per hour. Due to the diversity of ways they currently come in (email, VM, PM, contact form, forum) and that its scattered to all staff members, its hard to say how often users will be submitting per hour.

            Thanks for the information above. Its very helpful.

            Does any of the two have vb usergroup integration / permissions?

            Optimally users first need to search for their question in the knowledge base, before they can open a support ticket. And that after a non-successful search users get redirected to other support options, like opening a ticket.
            I see that if a user searches the knowledge-base and doesn't find what the user is looking for, only Kayako shows a link to the ticket system. I assume this can easily be added in Deskpro?
            If submitting a ticket in Kayako, the question is first searched in the knowledge base.

            It seems that none of the two systems can be wrapped within vbulletin's style.
            Is it possible for kayako or deskpro to easily go from a support ticket to the member profile. How?

            It's too bad that neither of the applications is able to alert staff about vb post reports or to integrate the report system with a ticket system. Does anyone have ideas on this? vbulletin post reports are an important form of support requests.

            Please ad more opinions about Kayako and Deskpro.
            Last edited by Alfa1; Thu 11 Feb '10, 9:46am.
            I buy 420 forums

            Comment

            • Redseal
              Senior Member
              • May 2007
              • 289
              • 4.0.0

              #7
              Kayoko appears to have quite the setup and the price is right. Version 4 looks good so maybe ill wait to see what they come up with before playing with a trial version. In the meantime I'm going to see how close I can get with vbulletin and some plugins from .org i'm sure you can get pretty close.
              I love lamp

              Comment

              • sross
                Senior Member
                • Mar 2004
                • 660

                #8
                You might think I'm crazy but the best hdesk system I have ever used is a submission form that sends an email to a dedicated Gmail account with a lot of labels configured for hdesk roles. It is so simple and easy to use.. The submissions show up, I move them to the right label.. some labels are titled 'in progress' some 'completed', etc. I could even tie it into a shared google docs area if I wanted to. Often the best solutions are free and simple.

                Comment

                • Redseal
                  Senior Member
                  • May 2007
                  • 289
                  • 4.0.0

                  #9
                  I agree, usually the most simple solutions are the best.
                  I love lamp

                  Comment

                  • TheComputerGuy
                    Senior Member
                    • Apr 2001
                    • 998

                    #10
                    I'm torn as I'm looking for the same thing.

                    I'm leaning more towards kayako than DeskPro...but to give it a fair shake, I haven't looked into DeskPro as much as Kayako.
                    Kayako prices are a bit nicer to me, which is the main reason, since I only need the helpdesk.

                    Comment

                    • Dean C
                      Senior Member
                      • Mar 2002
                      • 4571
                      • 3.5.x

                      #11
                      Originally posted by sross
                      You might think I'm crazy but the best hdesk system I have ever used is a submission form that sends an email to a dedicated Gmail account with a lot of labels configured for hdesk roles. It is so simple and easy to use.. The submissions show up, I move them to the right label.. some labels are titled 'in progress' some 'completed', etc. I could even tie it into a shared google docs area if I wanted to. Often the best solutions are free and simple.
                      That could work for a tiny support system, it won't work for a business which has hundreds of support requests a day and pays staff based upon their hours spent on tickets etc. That's where DeskPRO excels. I can't say I've tried kayako
                      Dean Clatworthy - Web Developer/Designer

                      Comment

                      • Jamie Edwards
                        Member
                        • Apr 2007
                        • 72
                        • 3.8.x

                        #12
                        Disclaimer: I am part of Kayako

                        Alfa,

                        You contacted me asking to contribute to this thread and answer your questions.

                        We would use mainly the searchable knowledge base, support tickets and desktop notifier for staff. We will not use live support.
                        In that case, you'll probably be looking at Kayako eSupport.

                        The site is a high traffic site, with many support questions per hour. Due to the diversity of ways they currently come in (email, VM, PM, contact form, forum) and that its scattered to all staff members, its hard to say how often users will be submitting per hour.
                        How many is "many"? There are Kayako support desks with very high volumes of messages - even hundreds per hour.

                        Does any of the two have vb usergroup integration / permissions?
                        The only direct integration provided between Kayako and vBulletin is "LoginShare". This lets your users login to your support desk using their vBulletin username and password. Beyond wrapping your own forum template around Kayako using Kayako's templating system (much like vBulletin's), there is no other integration at present.

                        It's too bad that neither of the applications is able to alert staff about vb post reports or to integrate the report system with a ticket system. Does anyone have ideas on this? vbulletin post reports are an important form of support requests.
                        We have hundreds of customers who use Kayako as their forum support desk. They pull in post reports using e-mail integration. Kayako can poll e-mail from any POP3 or IMAP e-mail box.

                        You could set post reports to go to [email protected], and tell Kayako to poll that mailbox for new e-mails (which includes post reports). It will then convert those e-mails into tickets (or if the e-mails are replies to existing tickets, append them to the existing tickets).

                        I am not entirely comfortable with using the vBulletin forum to plug our own software - so if you have any other Kayako questions, you may do well to create a thread on Kayako's own forum, or e-mail [email protected]

                        Good luck in your evaluation
                        @jmedwards - @kayako - www.kayako.com

                        Comment

                        • Shamil.
                          Senior Member
                          • Feb 2008
                          • 4755
                          • 4.2.X

                          #13
                          Originally posted by Jamie Edwards
                          We have hundreds of customers who use Kayako as their forum support desk. They pull in post reports using e-mail integration. Kayako can poll e-mail from any POP3 or IMAP e-mail box.

                          You could set post reports to go to [email protected], and tell Kayako to poll that mailbox for new e-mails (which includes post reports). It will then convert those e-mails into tickets (or if the e-mails are replies to existing tickets, append them to the existing tickets).
                          WebHostingTalk does this, though for some odd reason, they've stuck to Kayako v2.x
                          Shamil Nunhuck, - Radon Systems Ltd.
                          VPS + Dedicated Server Hosting and Management
                          vBulletin Hosting and Services
                          Server / Website Consultation

                          Comment

                          • Redseal
                            Senior Member
                            • May 2007
                            • 289
                            • 4.0.0

                            #14
                            Kayako is the way to go I think once they get V4.1 out.
                            I love lamp

                            Comment

                            • TheComputerGuy
                              Senior Member
                              • Apr 2001
                              • 998

                              #15
                              This is great...two of the largest helpdesk people coming to vBulletin forum to post. I like it!

                              Comment

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