Freshservice

Benefits:

once setup it is easy to use - the mobile app is a real advantage and work well - it is a very good package for tracking service work - the process of moving from current to resolved to closed works well. The ability to track time by service delivery person is great along with the option to add a short note.

Drawbacks:

the company information fields are very limited and there is not enough fields - it is difficult search in the company admin screen. it would be an advantage to be able to setup the first user with company info - also the telephone format needs the country code and no spaces in the phone records otherwise it will not dial off the app - there are some other problems as well but they are minor tweaks

In sum:

ability to capture all service work and track to a billing stage

Benefits:

For our users its been a real nice tool for submitting help requests into our IT department. A variety of options and configurations allowed us to customize our Freshservice portal to provide our users with the best help desk experience possible.

Drawbacks:

I wish I could add my own custom pages to the custom help desk portal. Love the ability to customize the current portal but it would be even better if I could add my own custom pages to the portal for instance ~ a secondary onboarding portal for a different HR team in our company.

In sum:

Freshservice is by far the best help desk/ticketing system I've ever worked with. The speed and ease of use make Freshservice the best help desk platform I've ever worked with in my 15 years of IT experience.

Benefits:

Simple to use - one of the main reasons we went with FreshService was that during a trial of many other systems FreshService was by far the easiest to setup and configure. This means more time doing other projects rather than administering the helpdesk system. Powerful Automations - my trial version had the new Smart Workflow addon which made creating complex workflows very easy and simple. There is still room for improvement and some fields cannot be used in automations e.g. Impact or Urgency. Self service catlog - its a nice to have and allows easy segregation of Service Requests compared to Incidents, the custom forms are nice although would be better to dynamic i.e. drop down of all requesters for example. Branding - nice branding options and easy to use giving full access to CSS / HTML although not as easy to manipulate as ZenDesk. Self Service Portal - We haven't rolled this out to end users yet but the portal is easy to use and with the branding options can be customised. The embedded widget is also useful and can be embedded into SharePoint.

Drawbacks:

Reporting - very limited compared to some systems although improvements are on the road map. Software Assets - confusing to use as you have to track each software item as an asset, cannot easily search on what is installed on computers across the database. Again improvements coming on the road map. Dashboard is useless - current implementation of the system gives a very basic overview of the system and an activity log. We don't use it as it doesn't provide any useful information. Certain Form Fields - you cannot change the default fields or even hide them without using JavaScript, this means I have had to create custom fields to tell my agents to ignore certain fields which isn't ideal. Also the categories list is shared among tickets, our change requests differ from our incidents. SLA breaches - compared to ZenDesk it isn't as easy to see when a ticket is due to breach SLA. Currently the ticket interface only shows Resolve Due date and not response due date, the response due just appears in the main ticket view when its close to expiry. Not ideal but workable.

In sum:

Moving from a shared mailbox it has been a lot easier to manage incoming incidents and track who is working on which ticket. Being an ITIL based ITSM we can now properly track system changes and gain approval across the business based on our business processes.

Benefits:

So, I'm currently trialling freshservice along with a bunch of other IT helpdesk solutions and what immediately stands out about freshdesk is the streamlined, clutter free UI. It was super easy to setup and get started. Out of the box it has multi channel support, so users can send tickets via email & the included self-service portal which also provides the ability to create user documentation. It has a modern UI which makes dealing with tickets a breeze, my team are also fond of the gamification feature which turns your helpdesk into a game by assigning achievements for certain tasks. Aligns with ITIL. Built in inventory system is good and links assets to tickets.

Drawbacks:

The pricing structure can be a little prohibitive as you need to move between plans to get certain features. I could see this being a problem if you wanted to add users from other departments (who don't need all the advanced features) for some of the more clever stuff that the system can do such as on boarding new starters etc.

In sum:

I'm still within a trial period, but have been extremely impressed with the software. Working in a non profit pricing is always an issue and the only real concern with the software.

Benefits:

There's a lot of pros to FreshService. The automated routing (dispatcher) system is excellent and extremely configurable. You essentially are able to make if-then statements with a ton of different variables to route tickets to groups or agents, along with custom notifications. The ticket form, self-service portal, and service catalog are all very customizable and excellent resources as well.

Drawbacks:

The only thing that can be frustrating with FreshService is the tiered payment system that requires different payment amounts for different features. While Freshservice is affordable, it can be frustrating when you see a cool feature and want to try it out, only to find that your particular tier does not support it.

In sum:

This software helps greatly with streamlining workflow and helping the team adopt ITIL standards. It is convenient and easy to use, and easy to learn for agents.

Benefits:

I love how easy it was to get started and a year later we are continuously customizing the HelpDesk to our needs. The Automators and options are very intuitive and I would recommend to anyone.

Drawbacks:

Reporting could be a little easier to use

Benefits:

There are multiple things that I like about the Freshservice platform. To start, the ticketing system that they provide is an amazing tool to keep track of issues and resolutions. You can easily search for similar issues and select a wide variety of categorizations to organize your problems and resolutions. I love the private note feature as well, we can suggest solutions to specialists working on solving an issue before it is escalated. Something else I liked about FS is their asset management utility. The Freshservice agent that is installed on the computers make it easier for admins to see who is the last person who signed in to a computer. This helpful in occasions where we have to rule out what computer is assigned to someone when we forget to update the asset. Overall, the Freshservice inventory system is the best I've used in my professional career. Now let's talk about my favorite feature - the API. I was surprised to learn that FS had an API. I was able to thoroughly test their API and develop our own apps. Very pleased with this aspect. I also enjoyed using their admin tools to create workflows, notifications, scenarios to automate and make the ticketing solution more effective. Being able to document things here is also very easy. You can add images, create tags, and alter publications from their editor. Never had any gripes with this. Lots to like here!

Drawbacks:

There are actually very few cons. If there is anything bad to say is that I wished the API returned some more relevant results for what I was looking for. For example, I had to jump through a few more requests that I wanted to convert some values to get something else I needed. Yes, seriously, that's all the bad I can say; we are nerds here at Royal. I was able to code very cool apps with the API.

In sum:

Excellent, see the Pro section. I wished I could paraphrase everything I wrote in that section to garnish this one, but time is limited.

Benefits:

Ease of use and mobile app functionality is excellent. Updates seem to be implemented almost weekly so it is encouraging to see the product constantly evolving and responding to user's requests for improvement.

Drawbacks:

The ability to utilize different parameters within certain portions of the site is lacking. IE: if I wanted to restrict visibility of certain service catalog items to individuals within certain departments I cannot do so; it will only allow for restriction based on groups (locations). Also, reporting on custom text fields would be a huge plus rather than only the drop down selectable fields.

In sum:

Ability to track support requests and provide some statistics to support the need for improvement in our operations as well as support/development staff has been a big plus. While there is still work that can be done to make this system more beneficial to the organization, it did not take much effort to put it in place and utilize it for the initial needs we had of reporting and categorizing our support requests.

Benefits:

The system is easy to use and has an inviting design that everyone can get used to. Even after years of use, the system is constantly evolving and improving. Freshservice can always surprise us with new functionality. The range of features can satisfy every big and small business. Depending on the needs, an appropriate cost plan can be selected. We greatly appreciate various kinds of reports.

Drawbacks:

Technical support is sometimes really slow. Until recently, we were complaining about the searching, but it was improved in the last update. The price for a complete set of features is quite high.

In sum:

Our company has very specific requirements and this software is able to fulfill all of them. We appreciate the continued development and clear control of the system. Management has better control over departmental processes. The use of this software has shifted our customer service to a higher level.

Benefits:

After following a demo given by enthusiastic and cooperative Freshservice employees, we were sure of our choice. The tooling is intuitive, user-friendly, responds quickly and very easy to set up. There are plenty of things that can be adapted to the needs of the company. There are a number of options within the tooling that have certainly increased the efficiency of our employees and in the way customers create their own tickets. The support and technical staff are excellent and an example for other companies!

Drawbacks:

The change module may be further expanded. A feature request has been created for this and the latest information shows that a number of improvements will be made this year.