SmarterTrack 9.x BETA Now Available

January 24, 2013 by 2 Comments

We’re excited to announce the BETA of the next version of our popular help desk: SmarterTrack 9.x. Over the last few major releases we focused on providing a Web interface for SmarterTrack that agents, managers, administrators and end users would find as simple as it was powerful.  With this latest release, we kept the same look and appearance but rewrote the underlying architecture with the latest Internet technologies to dramatically improve the speed, reduce the size and increase compatibility with all the latest Internet browsers and tablets.

In addition, SmarterTrack 9.x brings several new features, server side optimizations and fixes that continues to make SmarterTrack compatible with the latest Internet trends.  As with all releases, we worked closely with customers and partners and while we couldn’t incorporate everyone’s ideas into this release, we prioritized our users’ wants to create a new version of SmarterTrack that we think you’ll really like.

So let’s take a look at what’s new…

Tremendous Performance Increases

We spent a great deal of time benchmarking SmarterTrack and then making changes to increase the level of performance across the board. In many instances we’ve seen increases of 70% or more in the speed and responsiveness of the SmarterTrack 9.x interface. We’ve also seen huge decreases in memory and CPU usage, even under extremely heavy loads. All of this means that the product runs much quicker and much more efficiently than previous versions. Some of the changes we’ve made include:

  • Re-factored and completely re-wrote many areas of the web interface to reduce the amount of JavaScript code, CSS and HTML, making the entire web interface much faster, much more responsive and much lighter weight.
  • CSS files have been converted to LESS, making stylesheets much smaller and more efficient.
  • The button bars were re-factored to be lighter weight controls.
  • The context menus were re-factored to be lighter weight controls.
  • The date pickers were re-factored to be lighter weight controls.
  • The tree view controls were re-factored to be lighter weight controls.
  • Greatly increased performance of the Web interface.
  • Replaced the message editor control with a more lightweight control.

As we mentioned in a blog post late last year, we feel efficiency IS a product feature, and SmarterTrack 9.x really proves that point.

color_customization

Simple Customization for the Portal and Management Interface

SmarterTrack 9.x introduces a much simpler way for users to customize the look and feel of their management interface as well as the entire customer-facing Web portal. Now, rather than having to access system files to create custom styles, users can simply override existing SmarterTrack styles with their own variables or, more simply, by modifying the overall color scheme of the primary, secondary and hyperlink colors. Users can even drastically revise the look of the management interface. For example, by moving the navigation icons to a horizontal position versus their default vertical position. Of course, if an Administrator prefers the defaults, customization at the user level can be disabled, thereby preserving branding and corporate identity. Regardless, with these changes to the customization experience, web developers can more fully integrate a SmarterTrack help desk into an existing Web site.

kb_suggestions

Streamlined Knowledge Base Suggestion Process

Both live chat and ticketing are integral parts of any company focused on customer service. However, they shouldn’t be barriers to customers finding out information on their own. In fact, companies can cut support costs by better positioning self-help resources, making them more apparent and easier to use for their customers. With that in mind, SmarterTrack 9.x better integrates self-help options for issues prior to a live chat being sent to an agent or a ticket being submitted from the Web portal. After an end user types in their initial query they are presented with a new page that lists suggested knowledge base articles based on keywords and phrases that are contained in the live chat or ticket text. End users can then see potential solutions before communicating with customer support agents and possibly resolve their issues themselves.

spell_checker

Improved Spell Checking

No one likes to send replies to tickets or live chats with spelling errors. SmarterTrack 9.x offers a completely revised spell checking engine that greatly increases the accuracy of the spell check as well as adding in grammar support. The new spell check also ignores things like URLs and email addresses and allows agents to add words to their own personal dictionaries.

Better Mobile and Tablet Support

SmarterTrack was architected so that the experience a user gets from a browser on a tablet mirrors their experience in the browser on their desktop. With this latest release, the experience is even more fluid and enjoyable due to a complete revision of the HTML editor used to create and/or reply to tickets, create knowledge base articles and more. Now it’s even easier, and more efficient, for agents to work from anywhere, at any time, using the laptops or tablet devices. And of course, the mobile interface is still available for devices with smaller screens, like smart phones.

Greater Support for
International Customers

SmarterTrack is a truly international product. With customers in well over 120 different countries, support for languages other than English is a priority. In addition, as SmarterTrack’s adoption across the globe continues to rise, support for non-Western character sets is also essential. With SmarterTrack 9.x we’ve not only included support for right-to-left languages in the management interface and on the portal, but we’ve also gone through the entire product and greatly simplified our language strings to make things much easier for automated translations and for customers who create their own translations files.

17 Different Spell-check Dictionaries Included

In addition to the improved spell checking, SmarterTrack also includes dictionaries for 17 different languages. The languages supported include:
configure_dictionary

  • English (US+UK Combined) – DEFAULT
  • English (US), (Australia), (Canada), (UK)
  • French
  • German/German (Switzerland)
  • Greek
  • Hungarian
  • Italian
  • Norwegian
  • Polish
  • Portuguese/Portuguese (Brazil)
  • Russian
  • Spanish

These dictionaries are fully editable as well, so agents who speak multiple languages and use the dictionary of their choice and add words as needed.

Is that it?

Of course not! SmarterTrack 9.x has many more features and improvements. You’ll find them in the release notes we’ll post in the SmarterTrack 9.x BETA forum, but here are a few more that might be of interest:

  • Phone numbers now carry over from the login and user creation external provider.
  • Incoming or outgoing tickets created by agents can now be pinned to an agent when they are created.
  • Status messages and tip text now drops down from the top of the page and no longer disrupts page flow.
  • Language strings have been simplified so that they are much easier to translate.
  • SmarterTrack Communicator users can now designate calls, either incoming or outgoing, as “Personal” in order to prevent automated call logs.
  • Canned replies are now inserted into a ticket or chat wherever the cursor is located.
  • Duration now appears in the ticket grid so that agents and managers can see the total time a ticket has been worked on.
  • All default system emails were reviewed and rewritten to make them easier to understand.

Getting started with the BETA

To get your hands on the BETA simply visit the SmarterTools BETA forum, where you’ll see how to:

  • Sign up for the BETA
  • Get a special BETA license key
  • Download the latest BETA release (we update it regularly)
  • Communicate with other BETA testers and the SmarterTools development team
  • Stay up-to-date on the latest release note and BETA news

Sign up for the BETA

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Improve Customer Service and Agent Development with In-app Chat

March 29, 2012 by

Perhaps one of the more misunderstood features of SmarterTrack is its internal chat functionality. I’m not really talking about live chat—that’s primarily used to chat with external audiences, like your customers—I’m talking about the agent instant messenger and chat rooms.

Not everyone is aware of these fantastic tools, so I want explain how using agent instant messaging and chat rooms can help companies improve customer service without increasing costs.

It’s all about the benefits, baby!

One of the main reasons SmarterTrack’s internal chat features are somewhat overlooked is that many companies don’t realize the benefit of keeping their agent-to-agent communications within their helpdesk system. In fact, most companies allow agents to chat using third-party services like Yahoo! of Microsoft Live Messenger. While these services can be efficient, they can expose agents and companies to the potential of lost information and abuse. Besides, keeping agent chat an internal component of your helpdesk offers additional benefits that just aren’t available from third-party services :

  • It promotes collaboration. Instant messenger is the quickest, most efficient way to get clarification on an item, ask for assistance with an issue or get an opinion on the best way to craft a response. Sure, you can dash off an email or walk across the hall, but that’s not always necessary. Instant messaging is immediate and can provide a less intimidating method for employee communication.
  • It lends itself well to companies with agents working across multiple locations or from remote offices. Got an office in London and one in New York, but need your customer service teams to be in regular contact? No problem. Set up a permanent chat room in SmarterTrack for weekly team meetings. Chat room conversations are archived too, so your employees can always refer to the transcripts later if they need to.
  • It reduces costs. Overall, you’ll be spending less on employee training and development. Plus, well-trained employees usually equate to less problems and more sales.
  • It reduces churn. Because your agents are able to provide well-informed responses to inquiries, your customers will be happy. This means they’ll continue to use your product and even consider purchasing other products and services your company offers.
  • It’s archived. As with all communication channels within SmarterTrack, instant messenger and chat room conversations are stored within the helpdesk so managers or agents can refer to them later. This also makes it easy for companies to comply with regulatory standards like SOX and HIPAA.
  • It’s more secure. You could use a third-party instant messaging client like MSN or Yahoo! for internal communications, but then you’d have to set up all of your employees in that system and you’d rely on public services or servers. This means your internal communications are not as secure as they would be if you were using SmarterTrack for agent communication. In addition, agents using third-party services can usually connect with their family and friends who are also using the service, exposing them to the temptation of personal communications.

In other words, using SmarterTrack’s internal chat features can help companies improve their service levels effectively and inexpensively.

One thing about live chat…

SmarterTrack’s coaching and co-chat aid employee development. (Click pic to enlarge.)

There are a few live chat features relating to agent-to-agent communication, namely coaching and co-chat, that can further improve customer service levels. If you’re not using these features, you’re really missing out on a great employee development tool.

Co-chat allows a manager or senior agent to actively participate in a live chat session another agent is already working on. For example, customer XYZ is talking to agent John via live chat about a problem with a recent purchase. The customer is emotional, irate and does not like John’s answers and asks to speak to a manager. Rather than transferring the chat, the manager can join the live chat and chat alongside John to calm the customer down and find a resolution that all parties are satisfied with. In this case, we’re using co-chatting to “lead by example” and teach John how to best manage unhappy (and sometimes unreasonable) customers.

On the other hand, coaching can be used to assist an agent in chats from behind the scenes. Let’s say it is Jane’s first day answering live chats and the customer asks a question she doesn’t know the answer to. She can request real-time assistance from another agent, who will coach her through the correct response. It’s similar to co-chat, only the customer never knows that two agents were actually involved in the conversation for a few minutes.

Setting it all up

As luck would have it, we’ve got a few articles in the SmarterTrack.com Knowledge Base that cover our internal chat features. Take a look at these, and if you have questions, feel free to comment on this blog post.

Filed under SmarterTools, SmarterTrack, SmarterTrack.com Tagged with , , , ,

Five Things to Look for in a Cloud-based Help Desk

December 21, 2011 by

Selecting a help desk for your business should be a fairly simple task. However, with all of the options out there it can be a bit difficult to figure out which one is the best fit for your needs. Below are a few things to consider as you begin your search…

    1. Make sure the help desk has all of the tools you need.

The basics for any help desk should include live chat, a ticketing system, call logging or phone system integration and some form of self-service knowledge base. Ideally you’ll want to get all of this from a single solution and then pick-and-choose the features that you actually want to implement. Unfortunately, many SaaS-based solutions offer a limited toolset, forcing users to mix-and-match services across a number of different providers. Does anyone really need that hassle? A good rule of thumb is to keep it simple: look for one solutions provider that can meet, or exceed, your needs.

    1. Simple pricing scheme

Hands down, “per-agent per month” pricing is the simplest model to follow, understand and budget for. Some solutions offer tiered pricing based on total agents; some offer tiered pricing based on the features you get; and one or two offer pricing models based on workload, time spent using the system (like cell phone minutes) and other, more difficult to understand pricing schemes.

Your best bet is to select whichever pricing scheme fits your needs, but a simple method that allows you to pay monthly for the number of agents you need and that allows you to add or remove agents at any time seems like the best and simplest model to use. In addition, this makes it easy to budget for your customer service costs.

    1. Customizable to fit your business

Making a seamless transition from your website to your customer service solution means your customers will be in a better state of mind when they communicate their requests or concerns with your staff. Customization options include things like color-coordinating the customer service interface (ticket submission, self-service portal, live chat, etc.) to match your website, the ability to add your own logo, the ability to add in links to other sites and/or services like a company forum, your company blog ora back-end management system.

Your customization options should even be something as simple as the ability to use your own domain name (or an offshoot of your domain name) instead of the URL the service provider offers for the address of your online help desk. Using “support.yourcompany.com” versus an alphanumeric mess like “http://site113.hosted.help_desk_company_name.com” can mean the difference between keeping a customer within their comfort zone and stoking the fires of anger and regret.

    1. Intuitive and powerful management system

Your help desk should not only give you options on how to communicate with customers, it should also give you the ability to manage and monitor the communication methods you implement. For example, your supervisors and managers should be able to monitor live chats and offer advice to an agent in real-time, right within the chat window. If things get too dicey—say a customer gets irate or starts asking more difficult questions—a supervisor should be able to jump in and either co-chat with the customer and the agent or take the chat and personally handle the issue. In addition, an event system should be available so that agents, supervisors and managers can be alerted when circumstances warrant it, such as when a VIP submits a ticket, a chat sits idle too long, or if a customer begins using language that some may find offensive. In fact, the event system should be flexible enough to fit just about any circumstance and compatible with all tools within the help desk, from live chats to tickets, tasks management to KB articles.

    1. Informative and actionable reporting

In addition to all of the tools on hand to interact with customers, management should be able to view reports based on those tools. For example, time reports to see how long agents spend answering tickets and live chats or even cost reports to see the true cost of providing phone, live chat or ticket support. Business owners should be able to see trend reports so that they can make informed decisions on things like adding staff if the work load trends upwards and more.

In many cases the ability to see trends and point-in-time reports on all help desk functions is just as important—and some would argue they’re more important—than having the features available to provide support and customer service. Handling support requests is one thing, but being able to act on the information gleaned while handling those support requests can mean the difference between a successful business and one that flounders.

There you go. Hopefully that provides a little guidance as you go about your search. As always, we’re interested in your opinion on the items above, as well as any we may have missed. Please feel free to add your own “things to consider” in the comments.

Filed under SmarterTools, SmarterTrack, SmarterTrack.com Tagged with , , , , , , , ,

Announcing Our Presence With Authority

September 6, 2011 by

(c) Orion Pictures – “Bull Durham” (1988)

SmarterTools is very pleased to announce the introduction of our new hosted help desk and customer service software: SmarterTrack.com. We’re here and we’re bringing the heat!

With the release of SmarterTrack.com, we’re once again disrupting the market by bringing enterprise-level features and functionality at a price point that is extremely easy to understand and unbelievably affordable for any business. Zendesk, Assist.ly and Kayako had better watch out! SmarterTrack.com is here and we are the ONLY hosted help desk and customer service software you’ll ever need.

Benefits of SmarterTrack.com Over Other Customer Service Solutions

1. Extremely simple pricing model. Unlike other services, we charge a flat fee per agent and give users ALL of the functionality we have developed. This is the easiest and simplest way to price a service and eliminates the complexity of plans and the need to upgrade and downgrade, change tiers, etc.  Recently, one of our competitors introduced a per-minute fee for agents. What a nightmare, and how can you manage your budget with something like that? With SmarterTrack you know exactly what you’re getting and how much it’s going to cost, day after day and month after month.

2. Complete help desk and customer service software. Rather than pull together a bunch of features from a number of different providers, SmarterTrack.com gives you EVERYTHING you need to communicate with customers and end users:

  • Ticket system
  • Live chat
  • Call logging
  • VoIP integration
  • Self-service knowledge base
  • Workflow and Service Level Agreement (SLA) management
  • Full trend and summary reporting on EVERY feature
  • Foreign language support for KB articles, live chats and ticket responses
  • Full complement of Web services for complete automation and integration with CRMs, shopping carts, management platforms (Parallels, CPanel, custom built apps), and much more
  • Customizable, customer-facing Web portal that is SEO-friendly

The list goes on and on.

3. Quick and easy set up. You can have a working version of your help desk configured and ready to use in less than 5 minutes!

4. 30-day FREE trial and zero obligation if you decide to move on. (Though we know you won’t). Use our free trial for 30 days—no credit card needed to sign up—and get used to the interface and feature set. Once the trial period is over, it’s a simple matter to move to a subscription and you can add, remove and modify agents as needed at any time!

We could go on and on (and in future blog posts we probably will), but what it comes down to is simplicity and ease-of-use.

Filed under SmarterTools, SmarterTrack, SmarterTrack.com Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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