I’m preparing a pitch and I wanted to share my notes because it helps me figure things out better.
So a client is looking to allow easier processing of support requests, complaints, questions, loan update requests, upgrade or downgrade requests, leave requests and other official memos via email from their both customers and internal staff from their many branches nationwide. I have just the perfect solution but I need to polish my knowledge about it so I can answer their questions. So I’ll write it all down here via my favorite method, FAQ Bullet Points:
- What is the solution called? It’s called osTicket.
- What is it? Its a widely-used open source support ticket system, integrates inquiries created via email and web-based forms into a simple easy to use multi-user web interface. You manage, organize and archive all your support requests and responses. You can create actions like ticket rejection, automatic department/agent assignment or even send an automated canned responses. The best part is, it’s completely free.
- Free? Why Free? osTicket is ‘Open Source’, meaning it is a kind of software that allows developers to completely tinker with its source code without having to pay for it, in order to improve it even further. Many devs add it to their own software and me as a webhost adds it as part of my service.
- Why have I never heard about it? 2 reasons: Being Open Source, it does not have a huge marketing budget, so you will never see ads for it. Another reason is that it’s been in the market since 2000s and is frankly ‘old’ but still very reliable and secure technology. You have probably used it in the past when you sent a support email to a provider.
- Is it reliable? Here is a complete list of the hundreds of big names using it https://theirstack.com/en/technology/osTicket. The principal server I host with in the US uses it as well. Whenever I have an issue I send an email ticket to them and they respond later with it. Because it is open source, many developers integrate it into their own software so it will have a built in helpdesk.
- How does it work? I’ll use my own experiences as an example. If I have an issue about my server I shoot a support email to the US server farm I hire, and they are big users of this software. I immediately receive an automated email with a tracking number. It appears in the inbox and on their internal website so the department’s manager (tech or sales) can assign it to an agent. Their agent replies to it using that tracking number in the subject line. If I reply it will still continue to be seen by their manager and tech person. This assures that the manager is always aware that the issue is still active and can check if it is being answered. It will be Red Flagged if it is still in their inbox for a long period of time. If I do not reply anymore it is considered resolved after a week, but I can always reactivate the issue as long as I continue using the ticket number in the subject. It also allows me to rate the agent’s reply and this is how their company rates their agents.
- Isn’t Chat Better? If your company can afford 24/7 tech support then chat is great. But for the rest of us, the chat solutions available aren’t really chat but are a dynamic FAQ which makes you click from a selection of questions leading to a canned answer. If you insist on talking to a live person and none is available most of the time it will just provide a form which sends an email, and often they just use osTicket or similar. This approach also works and I also have a solution for this.
- Is there a con? osTicket like most open source software does not offer support unless you get a paid support package offered by the company, so I would recommend this to companies who have at least full or part time IT staff who understands email and will spend time to learn how osTicket works. However since email is very basic and time – tested to be safe and reliable, most web hosting companies like mine can easily provide basic support along with any account.
- Can we try it first? No problem, I have a working test installation at https://kaijuhost.com/osticket. You can PM me to login and look around.
