You can choose freeware helpdesk software for your website without apprehensions as most such solutions, though free, provide sufficient functions for managing the customer support services of any small business. To list and select a solution, simply use your favorite search engine to display the available solutions. Read the instructions, descriptions and system requirements of the solutions to check if they meet your requirements. Select a solution, download it and install it.
In your search for freeware, keep your eye open for links that claim to be free while offering only a free trial version for a fixed time period. In addition, keep in mind the required useful features, administrator and user functions and whether you need multi-operator support. If your business does not require multiple operators, avoid going for complex software that provide features such as unlimited operators. Similarly, if your website does not support PHP, avoid selecting PHP ticket systems. Choose a web-based tool if you want your software to be accessible from any where.
Let’s look at the features of some freeware helpdesk software such as Help Desk Lite, Trouble Ticket Express, and HelpDesk Connect. Help Desk Lite is simple to work with and provides the basic functions of ticket tracking and assigning operators. It is a CGI script written in Perl. This software supports the use of emails to communicate with customers by integrating the email-based system into a workflow with features for tracking tickets, entering custom mail forms and assigning tickets to operators.
To use Help Desk Lite, you do not need a constant Internet connection. An operator can log in to the system, select a service ticket and take its ownership. The software copies the message of the request and sends it to the operator as an email. The operator can then use the email application of his or her choice to compose and send a response.
Trouble Ticket Express is a web-based freeware helpdesk software that allows you to respond to customer inquires from any location using a web browser on any operating system. It supports tracking of tickets through bulletin board correspondence, which displays the entire sequence of correspondence for each trouble ticket in one view. You can also determine whether a ticket is open, closed or pending for want of more details.
HelpDesk Connect can be hosted remotely and supports in-built customer and ticket databases, FAQ builder, file attachments and automatic escalation of tickets. A user can define up to 10 custom fields to store desired information in the databases. A field may be displayed in the form of a text box, a checkbox or a list. These fields may be set up as read-only, mandatory or hidden. As soon as a problem is solved, the FAQ builder publishes the solution in a knowledge base that customers can later search on.