Benefits of a help-desk software solution

A help-desk software solution is designed to help you manage your help-desk operations systematically and efficiently. Its purpose is to enable you to easily track and follow customer calls. Installing a help-desk software solution will help to better manage your customer relationships as it provides processes that can systematically track calls thereby enabling quick responses.

The help-desk software will act as a database for all your customer issues. It provides features to store customer-call information such as the time a call was made, a brief description of the call and the person to whom the call was assigned. You can view the list of calls that need to be attended in the form of a sorted list, report or a graph. It will maintain a history of customer calls, which could be based on the product type and this can be used to collect information on which products received maximum customer call or enquiries.

Most solutions offer a knowledge base which will store of a list of problems or issues that customers have encountered, and the action or solution taken against the problem. Should the problem arise again with another customer, the same solution can be applied and your staff will be able to move on to attend the next call. This saves your organization time and money. Since your staff quickly resolves calls, you do not need more members to attend and service customer calls. Furthermore, the knowledgebase acts as a training device for new staff and you can also reduce money spent to train employees as the knowledge base stores solutions for problem encountered. Help-desk software solutions provide for better communication amongst organization members. It can be configured to send alerts or mails to the concerned staff so that they will respond to the issue in time. Administrators and authorized management personnel can view reports, sorted lists on customer calls and how issues were tacked by their staff at any time and so a constant communication is always maintained. Better communication flow provides way for quick problem solving and better work efficiencies.

Linda James - Benefits of a help-desk software solution

Microsoft Great Plains Technical Support : Typical Questions and Answers

Technical support offered by MBS depends on the region. For North America (NA), support is available to both partners and customers who availed of the support plan. In Asia Pacific (AP), Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) though, support is only available to partners.

Unfortunately, not every customer in North America can avail of support from their vendor. Some who opted not to renew their annual enhancement plans are orphaned from their vendors and do not receive free upgrades. If they need immediate support, they can contact the MBS Support Team directly but they are charged a higher premium. In this case, it is best to get support from partners such as Alba Spectrum Technologies or the like instead of directly from MBS.

Below are some questions and answers that the MBS Support Team (Asia and EMEA) receive:

Q1. Will Microsoft Great Plains run on operating systems other than Microsoft Windows?

A1. Microsoft Great Plains was first developed to support both Microsoft and Mac operating systems. However, later versions of Great Plains do not support Mac specially when Microsoft acquired the company (Great Plains Software).

Q2. What database platforms are supported by Microsoft Great Plains?

A2. Version 8 and above of Microsoft Great Plains supports only SQL Server and MSDE. Versions lower than 8 support SQL Server, MSDE (version 7.5), Ctree (for Great Plains Standard), and Pervasive SQL (formerly Btrieve).

Q3. We are currently using a different ERP system but we’re interested in migrating to Great Plains (GP). Is this possible?

A3. This is very much possible depending on the ERP system being used. Migrations have been done from Peoplesoft to GP as well as JD Edwards to GP. If interested, we will conduct studies for possible migration between your ERP system to GP.

Q4. Is integration possible between Microsoft CRM and Microsoft Great Plains? A4. This is definitely possible but it will either rely heavily on MS Biztalk Server (if you follow the MS CRM to GP Integration document) or on Dexterity customizations.

Q5. Can Microsoft Great Plains be accessed via the internet using an internet browser?

A5. There are some eProducts for Great Plains which will allow the company to create an online store. However, this only pertains to the Sales Order Processing side of Great Plains. To access Great Plains remotely, you would need to have Citrix (http://www.citrix.com) installed. If you want to access Great Plains on the browser itself, you need to configure the web server component of Citrix into the web server that you’re going to use GP from.

Q6. What if I am having some problems with Great Plains or if I want to satisfy my curiosity on certain aspects of the ERP system without bothering my vendor?

A6. All Microsoft Great Plains customers have access to CustomerSource. This is an area in the MBS website specifically catered to MBS Customers. Here, you can search the extensive KnowledgeBase relating to any MBS products as well as download service packs and patches for your GP install.

Happy computing! If you’re interested on how Great Plains can help your business, don’t hesitate to contact us. 1-630-961-5918 or 1-866-528-0577! help@albaspectrum.com

Vincent is formerly a Technical Support Engineer for the MBS Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa support team based in Manila, Philippines. Currently, he is a Great Plains specialist in Alba Spectrum Technologies (http://www.albaspectrum.com) – USA nationwide Great Plains, Microsoft CRM customization company, serving clients in Chicago, Houston, Atlanta, Phoenix, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Miami, New Orleans, Toronto, Montreal and having locations in multiple states and internationally.

Importance of Good Customer Support in Online Computer Peripherals Shops

Looking for hi-fi computer peripherals? Finding it tough to decide on the product you need to purchase? Not sure about the models that are available? Not sure about the configuration that would best suit your need? Worried that your budget might not fetch you your long dreamt hi-fi? Just relax!! There are many great world class online computer peripherals shopping centers. They offer you not only the best computer peripherals but also friendly online help in their world class online computer peripherals shopping sites. All that you have to do is to avail all the help you need in terms of the counseling you would require on the purchase of the right computer peripherals. These websites have always-available customer support agents’ usually just one click away. The ones that are successful have provided exceptional customer support available online which is dedicated to make their customers feel delighted and satisfied. Because they have learnt the business mantra very well - Their success lies in their customers’ satisfaction.

The main criterion you should look out when dealing with an online shop is whether the online customer support is designed to help the wary customers in product counseling and budget counseling. They should have trained agents who will be able to give you guidance on the computer peripherals that would best suit you. In terms of budget counseling, their agents should be able to choose the most cost effective solution for your need. Any good shop would train their online customer support agents out of their longstanding experience. Look out for the availability of online customer support agents who are readily available to resolve your billing related queries and your shipping related queries. These are the shops you should be buying the products as they can offer the needed assistance post sales.

You got to ask the following questions: What is special about their online computer peripheral site? Is it the price? Is it the quality of the products? Or is it something more than that that makes them popular? Apart from all these usually, it is something more than that, that makes them popular and the most sought after online computer peripheral stores. The website should make you feel important you are not left on your own to be lost in the complicated technical configurations and specifications of the products which often most of the users find difficult to translate it in terms of meeting their practical requirements. The online customer support agents should listen to your requirements and should be happy to counsel you on the product, configuration that would best suit your need.

The website should be flooded with the latest technology products which also maintain consistency in offering the latest technology customer support. Ages have changed and everyone is expected to move along with the time. The same applies for maintaining a website and keeping the customers happy. It requires dedication blended with a sense of service.

Though still used in many websites, customer support offered through telephone has become a headache for both the customers and the companies that offer the support. Making calls to toll free numbers and waiting for long minutes have become obsolete. We understand our customers better and are aware how tired and frustrated they feel about making calls just to hear a monotonous reply – “Your call is in queue please wait”. Live chat customer support has changed the situation. Immediate response accompanied by valuable suggestions has become the specialty of having live chat customer support on websites. But this doesn't apply to all great websites as the toll free support is relatively good. You should look for a good customer support that you prefer, if you want phone, email, snail mail or chat you should look out for the shop that offers the right support like the one you prefer.

One good online Computer components and peripherals store that offers great support is the theredhotgroup.com. You can also take a look at the training packages offered in redhottraining.com

Customer Support Solution - The Way To Go About Your Business?

Customer support solution is usually unheard of by small enterprises. Well, actually, they just ignore it, since setting up a customer support service proves to be quite costly in terms of both, time as well as money. That’s not the case anymore is it, especially now that the Internet is finally here to stay.

There is vast competition among companies, big and small alike and it’s almost like a rat race in which you could just be the underdog. Getting the customer’s attention is the easy part; the tough part is when you have to manage them. Customer support solutions were known to be really costly where you could have hurt your pockets real bad, but that not the case anymore.

For advocating a good customer solution, there are many softwares available in the market as well as on the Internet. The software is an ideal package that can help you to manage all of your customers online. Communications is an essence needed for your business to grow and reach new heights.

Software packages like the customer support software provides rapid interaction with the customers. The reason for adopting these softwares is simple. Sometimes, it becomes very difficult to answer hundreds of customer e-mails at one go. What this software does is that it analyses the customer’s queries and directs them to the solutions such as the FAQ board, quotations of your products, etc. If the problem is related to something technical, the customer query is automatically forwarded to your technical staff. A CSM (Customer Support Management) system is an important asset for any enterprise. An effective knowledgebase is an important aspect in this matter.

Customers are always looking for new information and your knowledgebase system should take care of that. Customer support solution is nothing but a software support provided to the company to make its work more coordinated and deliver quick results. Apart from the customer support softwares, an additional feature that you can provide to your customers is live chat. When we talk about live chats make sure that you get the best of your technical staff for engaging into customer interaction.

This feature makes handling customer queries much easy and faster to handle. This is a perfect feature for those customers who just need to clear some doubts about the product or service. A customer support software combined with the live chat feature can offer you the perfect customer support solution that you always needed to maintain good customer relationships.

In this day and age, customer satisfaction is the sole motive of any web entrepreneur. To take care of a businessman’s needs, there are many customer support software available in the market as well as on the Net. So what are you waiting for, these softwares are very much affordable and you can spend more time focusing on different productive ideas and techniques to grow your business. All you have to do now is go get one.

If you need a powerful solution for your support make sure you check out the Premium Response Customer support solution for more info.

Customer Support Services Call Centers

The customer is the lifeblood of any business, and it is only right that business owners and managers provide optimum customer support through the quickest and most accessible medium – the telephone.

You can easily provide your customers with this kind of support from call centers. Call centers refer to firms that act as ‘company phone centers’ on your behalf. These call centers are able to handle services like help desks, live customer support, lead generation projects, emergency responses, inbound responses, outbound telemarketing and simple, telephone answering service.

Most companies now outsource their call centers to save on the costs of maintaining one in-house. Many call centers can be found in India and in Manila, where labor is cheaper and the workforce speaks fluent English. Big call centers offer value-added services such as multilingual customer support, directory assistance, credit card services, interactive voice response and web-based functions.

Call centers bring your company closer to customers, paving opportunities for cross-selling and up-selling. A good call center not only helps strengthen your company’s relationship with its customers, but it also generates new business and helps you maintain and grow your market share.

Aside form this, call centers can control your brand integrity by delivering fast and accurate support to almost any customer concern. What’s more, it does not cost much and frees up your internal resources, so that you can use them to develop your core competencies. Leave your sales and customer care concerns to call centers, because they can provide all necessary telephone and Internet support to your customers at any and all times.

Call centers are indeed becoming very popular among business because of their proven track record of maintaining and even increasing sales, fostering customer satisfaction and acting as one of the essential gatherers of market intelligence.

Customer Support provides detailed information on Customer Support, Customer Support Software, Live Customer Support, Customer Support Services Call Centers and more. Customer Support is affiliated with CRM Call Center