Customer support traditionally involves planning, installation, training, trouble shooting, maintenance and upgrading via phone, email, and web to assist customers in making correct use of a product. In recent times, social media is playing a significant role in achieving the goals of customers support. Companies are now integrating social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc for faster and efficient customer service delivery.
Salesforce, a global enterprise software company has launched a new SaaS(software as a service) help-desk application-Desk.com which provides small-to-medium-sized companies with cloud-based customer support management to help for field queries through phone, e-mail, web, Twitter, and Facebook.
Desk.com lets SMBs manage requests for help wherever they start from—Facebook, phone, Twitter, web. It also has a mobile component, so staffers can support their customers even when they’re out of the office.
Desk.com also allows companies to build out a knowledge base filled with answers to common questions, allowing customers to solve problems without the need for a human agent.
Pricing starts at US$49 per agent per month, with unlimited access. Salesforce.com is also offering “flex” pricing for $1 per hour for part-time agents. The mobile application is included at no extra charge for full-time users. Desk.com is set for release in the first quarter of this year.
For mobile support, Salesforce has built an HTML5-based site for Desk.com that conforms well to mobile browsers on the iPhone and various Android phones.
“We realized that small and medium sized businesses might have a small customer service department, but, really, everyone in the company is doing support,” Alex Bard, the former CEO of Assistly who is now vice president and general manager of Desk.com, told Fast Company.
