What is our primary use case?
I worked for a huge company operating in about 24 countries and covering about 42 online-shops, separated by brands. We needed a ticket system where we could have everything included and also have separation as there were different call centers working for this company. They were not allowed to see the data of each other.
Freshdesk offers this, with some automation and some other rules that allow us to put in and restrict as necessary. This was the main cause for why we are using Freshdesk.
How has it helped my organization?
The productivity has much improved since the use of Freshdesk, as the agents don´t have to use different systems to get all information for the customer.
What is most valuable?
This is the best tool. There are so many good features, however, one of the main, best features is the restrictions allowed for the agent. With a few mouse clicks, you can change the restrictions for them. For example, what tickets they can see, or what features they can use.
You can put in some custom apps. It is quite easy to program custom apps and integrate them as Freshdesk is very open with tutorials, and they jump in whenever the programmer has issues.
You can learn the solution yourself rather fast. It's not complicated to use. Basically, what you see what you get. You don't just have to use it out of the box; you can find workarounds easily.
One of the main benefits is that it is not complicated and the layout makes it easy to find what you need. Everything there, including email notifications, automation, SLA policies, customer sales sections, and so on. It's labeled. It's not complicated. When you click on something, you know what you will get, basically.
What needs improvement?
They have some flaws. No system is flawless. When I started working with Freshdesk and Freshcaller as well, they were separate tools. Freshdesk is for tickets processing, while Freshcaller is for taking calls and creating tickets out of it. However, these two solutions were more or less separated even though they kind of communicated with each other. And yet, it was not that easy to get a connection. Currently, they are already working to have an omnichannel. That way, you won't have to switch tabs. You can stay in a Freshdesk window and from there you can reach everything. This is the main thing that has to be improved and they're still working tirelessly on it.
There are some restrictions where you need automations and sometimes there is just no way to achieve what you need - but this is common with other tools.
I'm raising feature requests for the system. However, when you add a feature request and then you have to wait - possibly even a couple of years until enough other companies raise the same feature request as you. Only when there is enough interest, it's put on a roadmap.
The size of your company seemingly does not really matter when it comes to having feature requests put on the roadmap.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been working with Freshdesk since June of 2019.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
From the Freshdesk side, it's very stable. There are no issues with bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. The performance is great. Of course, it depends on your internet connection and stuff and on your own computers. Sometimes, when it comes to Freshcaller, the service is not really stable. I experienced that in December last year. It was quite unstable, however, it's my understanding that they found a solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
In my former company, we had about 600 people using the solution. Now, I'm working with another company that is setting up Freshdesk and Freshcaller and there will be about 250 people.
To scale the product is quite easy. Basically, you buy some service plan, such as the enterprise plan for example. It's based on agents. Whenever you want to add some agents, you just do it and it will be taken into account for the billing.
How are customer service and support?
You can talk to the support easily - just send an email - and they're very fast in helping you and offering solutions and workarounds. They have some great insights.
My impression is that they are very dedicated and they have a lot of knowledge. I have to admit, I mostly worked with technical advisors who were dedicated to me. With the general support, I do not have that much experience. Sometimes I raise a ticket and, when my technical advisor is not available, some other agent or advisor will jump in. Mostly, they know what they're talking about. However, of course, when they have never seen my system or my setup and they are not into it, it's often not easy for them. Sometimes there are some misunderstandings, but those are sorted rather fast.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
This product was not the first choice. The first choice was Zendesk. However, there were some issues with the tool itself and with the attitude of the people there. We decided to move from Zendesk to another ticket system, and, with some research, we found Freshdesk and we decided to go with it due to the fact that it offers way more flexibility. On top of that, the people there are really dedicated and they're really human also. They don't want just to sell the product - they want you to be happy with the product. This was the second reason why we chose Freshdesk.
Freshdesk offers way more competitive prices than Zendesk does. And, at that time, for Zendesk, it was not possible to do restrictions, such as ensuring one call center is not allowed to see data from another call center.
Of course, Zendesk has omnichannel from the start. Everything is integrated into one administration center and everything is connected already. You sometimes still have to find workarounds though as no system is perfect. This is the main advantage that Zendesk still has, however, Freshdesk is working on it to have their own omnichannel.
How was the initial setup?
When you get it, it's quite easy get up to speed. In Europe, you have to deal with strict GDPR-rules, and only when you take the highest price model, you will get a server in Germany. Apart from that, it's quite easy to get up and running.
It took me a bit longer than two weeks to set everything up, because most of the things we wanted to have, we prepared in advance. I would say, to really get your bearing and to really know what you are doing, it takes about three to four weeks. Even then, I've been working with it for nearly three years now and I still learn. I'm still learning more every day.
There is not really any maintenance. It's very stable and only requires maintenance when you have to change something due to any request or requirements from your own company. No technical maintenance is needed.
What about the implementation team?
When you get your demo version, you can do basically everything, try out everything, and there are people who can help guide you. There is a technical advisor and also an account manager. Whenever you have a question or whenever you don't know what to do, they are there to help you. During the first two weeks, I had constant calls with them to have a walkthrough and they would show me things and stuff like that. They're holding your hand basically. It's really great! They are very dedicated and want to help you and want you to be happy.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Basically, they offer a free support desk, however, it's really small, with only a ticketing knowledge base and some other features. The best system plan is Enterprise. It costs basically 79 Euros per agent per month when it's billed annually and 95 Euros per agent per month when it's billed monthly. This cost covers everything - routing, sandbox, audit logs - the whole omnichannel package.
In comparison, for Zendesk, the best service plan is 150 Euros per agent per month, when you are billed annually. There's a difference of about 70 Euros. Freshdesk is much more affordable.
When you want to buy the enterprise support model, then you can talk to the Sales guys about if the price can be lowered.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I had some looks into RightNow, OTRS and some others. All of them either had not the needed features or were too complicated to use for the end-user.
What other advice do I have?
I'm a customer and an end-user.
I would advise potential users that, if you are happy with omnichannel, take Freshdesk. If you want to have a bit better integration, you should just use Zendesk.
I'd rate the solution at an solid eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.