Your customer-care service could either make or break your business. Getting hold of the right helpdesk solution could prove to be beneficial in the long run. If you are trying to figure out the best helpdesk solution that could suit your business requirements, this piece of work could prove to be beneficial to you. In this article, we have compared two leading helpdesk solutions Kayako and Zendesk. Integrating the right helpdesk solution would help you to reap dividends. Happy reading !
Intended Users
Both these helpdesk solutions are worthy helpdesk solutions to consider due to the immense capabilities both come with. Kayako is not competitively priced compared to Zendesk helpdesk solution. Hence, small business owners might not find it viable. However, it comes with a range of benefits like live Chat, screen sharing, Click-to-Call and integrated VoIP. Security features are also exceptional for this helpdesk solution. Zendesk is priced attractively and offers asset management and integrations with most of the leading social sites. Zendesk scores over Kayako in terms of features like UI usability and customizability.
Pricing info
Kayako offers 30 free day trial and comes in four price options viz. Case, Engage, Fusion and Enterprise. Plans Case and Engage are offered at the rate of 24 USD per agent per month billed annually. Fusion is offered at the rate of 39 USD per agent per month and Enterprise is available at the rate of 99 USD per agent per month.
To help you make final decision, Zendesk offers free 30-day trial option so that you could realize the capabilities of this software. Zendesk offers four pricing options to assist users from all walks of life, whether you are tight on budget or not. Four pricing options are- Essential ( 5USD per agent per month), Team ( 19 USD per agent per month), Professional ( 49 USD per agent per month), Enterprise ( 99 USD per agent per month).
Both of these helpdesk solutions are subscription based, however they don’t offer freemium account. Kayako is not competitively priced compared to Zendesk and small enterprises may not find this option as viable.
Features
Ticket Management
At the core of Kayako lies Knowledge base which helps to generate a splendid, collaborative self-service solution which is topped up with video and images. Instant answers helps to give boost to customer service solution as it proactively offers relevant solutions to user. Tickets are well organized by means of status and departments. One could merge multiple tickets originating from same user to promote ease of use. It is also well backed with solutions like macros, notifications and custom fields. Macros helps to spontaneously populate values in different fields and this functionality would be helpful for tickets that require same type of update. Notifications help to keep the support crew aware of the latest happenings pertinent to the ticket.
Zendesk offers all-in-one ticket management solution with features like default views, macros and RTF. User may view tickets on the basis of parameters like ticket status, assignee, group etc. Macros enable users to automatically update value with just a click. Zendesk also helps to ramp up localized support applications, with the help of dynamic content feature where ticket content would be incorporated on the basis of client’s preferred language. It also gets couple of features like keyboard shortcuts, instant search and on-hold ticket status.
Reporting and analytics
Kayako helpdesk solution offers more than 100 help desk report templates which differs from peripheral views to exhaustive and comprehensive analysis. User could also generate custom help desk reports by exploiting the nuances of the Kayako Query Language. User could also export these reports in either HTML or excel format and could be run automatically. Helpdesk reports could be scheduled to reach your inbox as per your convenience.
Zendesk provides good reporting and analytics capabilities and helps to bring about friendly competition between peers as it displays customer-care service relevant parameters like client satisfaction, response time, ticket volume etc. Details displayed in dashboard are updated on an hourly basis. User could relish prodigious reporting features like report on custom fields, SLA reporting etc. in higher-end plans. Parameters like median first reply time, median full resolve time etc. helps to boost productivity. It also helps to manage backlogs, manage agents and apprehend about ticket lifecycle.
Security
Kayako gets an edge over Zendesk in terms of its security features like agent collision prevention, audit logs etc. Agent collision detection feature helps to apprehend who else is working on the ticket. It gets good number of security relevant certifications like Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) Cloud Controls Matrix (CCM), Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standards (DSS), SOC 1/SSAE 16/ISAE 340, SOC2 ( Zendesk is not fortified with these certifications). It is also encrypted properly viz. Encryption of sensitive data at rest and HTTPS for all pages. Data backup in multiple locations is not yet another advantage of this software solution.
Zendesk also gets galore of safety features like two-factor authentication, SSL encryption and SSL certificate hosting. Audit logs help to be aware of crucial changes which has to be made to your helpdesk solution. Network access restriction feature helps to constrain access from specific IP ranges. In the higher-end Zendesk versions, user could relish features like SSO with SAML support, custom roles and permissions etc.
Integrations
Salesforce, FreshBooks, Drupal, MailChimp, WordPress, Basecamp, Joomla etc. are some of the integrations that Kayako offers to its customers.
Integration feature is often touted as the bloodline of Zendesk and many of the clients prefer Zendesk due to the copious number of integrations it offer with leading social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, Shopify, Slack, Zapier, WordPress, Zopim Chat, Samanage, CTI integrations and also provides integration with tools which support time tracking, e-commerce etc.
Zendesk
Pros
- Admirable customization feature
- Asset management feature
- Good social ticketing factor
Cons
- Expensive helpdesk solution
- No WYSIWYG editor
Kayako
Pros
- Good security features
- Gets cool features like live Chat, screen sharing, Click-to-Call and integrated VoIP
Cons
- Expensive helpdesk solution
