Choosing The Right Support App To Grow Your Business

If you’re trying to select a support app for your business there are enough options to make this task rather daunting. Two of the most talked about service-desk support tools are Desk.com and Service Cloud – both from Salesforce! By leveraging cloud-based tools to deliver outstanding service, companies will ensure that their customers are faithful to their products and even recommend them to their peers. Depending on the size and scope of your company, Desk.com or Service Cloud will help you meet and exceed your service goals and become a truly customer-focused organization.

Desk.com is user-friendly and well suited for start-ups and smaller businesses, while Service Cloud can accommodate corporations with more sophisticated business processes. Since both apps are powered by Salesforce, the connection between them is seamless so companies can use both products together and/or grow from Desk.com into Salesforce’s Service Cloud should your business require a higher level of customization on your customer service journey.

Both apps are easily accessible on any smart phone so that great service can be delivered anywhere, anytime. Listed below are the features analyzed by West Coast Consulting Group for Desk.com and Service Cloud which will help you select the best customer service support solution for your business needs.

Desk.com

Well-known companies such as Yelp, Vimeo, Soundcloud, One Kings Lane, and Pandora all use Desk.com as their web-based support application. And so do a lot of the smaller start-up businesses, such as Munchery, Disqus, Square, Zenpayroll and Bonobos. The Desk.com model is that all companies should have access to the highest quality service and support tools for its customers, at a price point they can afford.

Here are some of the coolest features Desk.com offers:

• Universal Inbox: Allows companies to manage all of their service channels from an easy-to-use universal inbox that’s accessible on the web or mobile device. Customer requests from email, phone, Facebook, Twitter, mobile, chat, and self-support sites are all funneled into the universal inbox, which allows customer support agents to provide speedy service and resolution without having to toggle between windows or lose track of an inquiry. If a service issue is too complicated for a junior-level agent to resolve on their own, the case can easily be transferred to a more senior agent.
• Self-Service Center: One of the best features of Desk.com is that it encourages companies to build a way for customers to resolve their own issues through a convenient self-service center template included in the product. Businesses can customize the center to meet their needs and integrate it with their existing website.
• Productivity Tools: Another way that agents can speed up case resolution. A company can create business rules, organize cases by creating labels to tag certain types of issues, organize cases with filters, and use macros to create shortcuts for efficient resolution.
• Knowledge Base: Agents access the latest articles organized for support content AND this knowledge base is pre-connected to power the self-service center. Companies can quickly select and push content out so customers can help themselves to the most up-to-date information.

Desk.com also integrates with Google Apps and various telephony providers among others.

Service Cloud

An impressive app, customer support platform, used by Blue Shield of California, Coca-Cola, Wells Fargo, and Chipotle to name a few, Service Cloud is Salesforce’s customer service software-as-a-solution for call-center CRM and help-desk management. Service Cloud is a comprehensive, more data-centric platform solution that allows for a high-level of customization. Of course, that means that it isn’t as easy to implement as Desk.com, but is ideal for larger companies that need a rich view of their customer and support activities with complex customer interactions. With Service Cloud, agents have cross-channel capabilities so that they are able to assist customers by phone, on the web, or via email, or on social channels.

Service Cloud has a lots of features, so we’ll give you the highlights:

• Console and Case Management: Agents can work on multiple cases at once with Service Cloud’s platform. The console allows agents to find, update, and create new records easily on a single page – and all the information they could need about a customer is available to them without needing to leave the screen. This means that agents can provide speedy service, support, and complete telemarketing tasks without losing track of cases from unnecessary clicking and scrolling through different pages.
• Chatter: Employees can collaborate to solve issues through Chatter by sharing information and articles that pertain to a case. Each case record has its own Chatter feed so that everyone working on that record automatically receives alerts and knows when the record has been updated. Employees can gain insight from other, more experienced employees and even escalate cases to senior agents.
• Communities: Companies can use Communities, a self-service tool where customers can troubleshoot and ask other customers for help with issues, accessible from any device. You can add these self-service capabilities  to apps, Facebook pages, and mobile websites so that customers have easy access to a supportive community that frees up agents for other tasks. If an issue cannot be resolved within the community, Service Cloud monitors all inquiries so that an agent can follow up on any flagged items.
• CTI: Businesses can integrate with their telephony infrastructure as Service Cloud works with most phone systems.
• Integration: Service Cloud not only provides companies with the flexibility to integrate with any legacy or back office system, but it’s also linked to the Salesforce AppExchange, supporting over 2,000 app vendors.

In addition, Service Cloud has features like live web chat, knowledge bases, reports and analytics, and customizable dashboards. It truly is a powerful all-inclusive customer-service support solution and is part of the Salesforce CRM platform. In summary, Service Cloud and Desk.com are clearly designed for companies in different stages of growth.

Now that we have covered the basics, feel free to contact us at info@westcoastconsulting.com to discuss your business needs and goals to establish a great customer-focused organization.

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