Next week 4PSA will be introducing a new online presence, as well as redesigned back-end systems. One of the most important systems that has been completely renewed is the one used to provide technical support to our customers. The new facility, called Support Zone, is the result of an important development effort primarily focused on improving the satisfaction of our customers.

Back to Beginnings

We are still using (while writing this article) the original commercial help desk system that was installed back in 2002, when 4PSA was merely a 3-people operation, with about 10 customers. All the way since, the system has proven to be excellent. Over the years, we added some capabilities within the constraints of its old architecture. However, at some point it was not able to handle further growth or development.

History Unfolds

From the management perspective, since 2009 it has become obvious that we must raise the bar on the technical support facilities we offer to our customers. There are many good commercial support systems on the market and we could have simply purchased and installed one. At first, we liked the idea, but after a little bit of research it was obvious that this would have only provided marginal improvements, because the user experience is the result of several factors. Therefore, we decided to take the time to integrate this development into a much bigger project that targeted all back-end systems. This project started in the second half of 2010 and will be completed in the weeks to come.

What We Did

In the end, we still purchased a commercial help desk system, but we decided to get one that provided access to the source code. This allowed us to change the source code significantly, to integrate it with other systems, and to extend its functionality. As a result, the new Support Zone introduces the following facilities for customers:

• Full-featured help desk – the current facilities are way more improved than the ones in the previous version; it streamlines the communication with the technical support by means of more accurate notifications and greater transparency. Customers can now use the support subscriptions attached to their purchases to open support tickets, which means that they are entitled to use the level of service they want.
• Knowledge Base – the knowledge base is now integrated with the Help Desk, which means that relevant KB articles will become available whenever the customer is on the point of contacting the technical support service for a known issue.
• Software documentation – the software documentation is centralized. This means that it will be easier for customers to locate documentation.
• Software downloads – we supply links for the download pages for all 4PSA software so that customers would be able to locate everything more quickly.
• Feature Suggest – The steps to suggest new features are simplified and much more interactive. If for example we discover that there is a feature the customer doesn’t know about, we’ll use the feature suggestion as a support ticket and bring it to their attention.
• Bug Report – the bug-reporting procedure is also much more interactive; in many cases, the user will need to provide us with a larger information input. By integrating the bug reporting option within the same facility, the process will become more efficient.

Maybe the most important changes are on the back-end. Back-end improvements increase our technical support efficiency and the collaboration between support engineers, no matter if they are located on different continents. At the same time, it allows us to change the support level and the SLAs for current customers and we are basically able to provide more at no additional costs. You can have a look at the new Support Zone homepage below.

All new tools are compliant with the 4PSA software solutions that will be launched this year and are designed to streamline Unified Communications by merging communication channels.

Stay tuned for the next articles about the new 4PSA website systems. 🙂