Zendesk is one of the world’s most popular customer support and ticketing software platforms, but many IT leaders are waking up to its significant drawbacks.
But this raises a tough question: if you’re using Zendesk, what should you replace the platform with?
The truth is, there is no simple answer. The “best” alternative depends on what you need from your internal and/or external ticketing system. And the best way to find a new solution is to start with the problems you want to solve.
This article helps you do that, identifying three of the most common challenges IT leaders face – and presenting a platform that solves all of them better than Zendesk.
Expect to learn:
At the time of writing, Zendesk boasts a Trustpilot score of 1.6 stars – with 83% of users rating the platform 1 star. Headlines such as “Customer Support is Non-Existent" capture the general mood amongst reviewers, with a litany of complaints about opaque processes that leave users waiting for hours or days to receive any support or response to their submitted ticket.
From a ticketing point of view, this is not just frustrating: it can exacerbate IT issues. Poor service disincentivizes users from contacting support, which is likely to mean issues remain unresolved for longer – and that can have a cascading effect in companies that rely on IT.
Platforms like Zendesk are supposed to make life easier for techs, but the company’s own support forum would suggest otherwise. Users routinely report that it is difficult to navigate the system and access the analytics they need.
One user claims that even “building a simple report is a headache”, which means techs whose employer opts for Zendesk may spend more time trying to wrangle data from the system than actually using the data.
Integration is an essential part of any platform used within ITSM. You need to avoid data silos, reduce friction between platforms, and make it as fast and simple as possible for techs to access the tools they need to complete their tasks.
However, while Zendesk does integrate with many apps, users report finding the process difficult and time consuming. These issues not only make the initial change management process tricky, but they also create ongoing friction for techs that are not used to navigating Zendesk’s integration problems.
Every ITSM leader is under pressure to balance cost-efficiency with service quality, but Zendesk makes this harder. The platform charges on a “per user” basis, which means companies that grow fast or want to scale their service incur rapidly increasing costs.
Ultimately, these problems have led a lot of leaders to rethink their Zendesk subscription – but which platform should they switch to?
The best way to select a Zendesk replacement is not to start by analyzing the company’s most popular competitors – it’s to set out exactly what you need from your new solution. For leaders concerned with IT support ticketing, there are three common challenges to consider:
It doesn’t matter how powerful your ticketing software is: if end-users don’t embrace it, the tool will not produce positive ROI. The key is therefore to place a heavy emphasis on end-user experience when looking for an alternative to Zendesk.
DeskDirector perfectly illustrates how effective this can be: our combination of smart automation, integrations that place ticketing directly within the Microsoft environment, and an intuitive user interface have helped our clients increase ticketing adoption by over 20%.
With fixed fees and no hidden costs, DeskDirector makes it easy for IT teams to expand their services. The benefits of ITSM can be applied across every department without extra cost – helping your IT department generate more value for the organization.
Another component of scaling your IT services is resource limitations: many companies simply can’t afford to hire enough techs to stay on top of their tickets. This lands them with large ticket backlogs that sap up their techs’ time – and ultimately create a self-sustaining loop.
The solution is to find a platform that will empower your workforce by streamlining and automating ticketing workflows. The key metric here is how quickly your tickets are resolved – and DeskDirector has proven to enable 4x faster ticket resolution.
We’ve established that better alternatives to Zendesk exist. But will making the transition cause more friction than it’s worth?
For many alternative platforms, the answer might well be yes: purchasing, implementing, and training your staff to use the platform could take months. The process is time-consuming and effortful, creating disruptions that could be costly to your organization.
However, DeskDirector solves all these problems: with fast, simple, and fully supported onboarding, our partners get up and running with virtually zero disruption to their daily workflows. And because the platform integrates seamlessly into your tech stack, users typically report an improvement in service during the transition.
Want to explore how the platform would fit within your organization?