Zoho isn't the first name that comes to mind when talking about software solutions for businesses, but it has established quite a reputation around the world for being a cloud-first business OS company. With products such as Mail, CRM, Office, Docs and Campaigns, Zoho decided to extend its reach into a more smart context-aware help desk solution called Zoho Desk.
Zoho announced the new product at its facility based in a small town located in the foothills of Western Ghats called Tenkasi, which has a population of about 70,000 people (and yes a lot of greenery, too).
"Zoho has challenged conventional wisdom so many times in its history. We built the first software products from India when IT services were the rage and established them in the global market. We are now showcasing something that has never been done before: the first software product created in rural India, world-class in its refinement, competing with the best," Sridhar Vembu, CEO of Zoho Corp., said in a statement.
Zoho Desk is a result of a 150-member team, developed over a period of five years. Vembu said the company could develop the product in an IT-city, resulting in the early development of Zoho Desk, but he chose Tenkasi to make a point to the world. In one of the slides featured during the launch, Zoho showed that a Google search for companies moving from the city to rural areas is next to nothing.
So, Zoho Desk is a product with a message.
Speaking about Zoho Desk itself, here's what it has to offer. Context is the center of Zoho Desk. There are five main features to the software – work modes, unified respose editor, agent scorecard, headquarters and team feed.
Work Modes: Customers reactions are prioritized in real-time based on their response due-time, priority and customer type, so agents can respond to tickets with efficiency.
Unified Response Editor: Agents get all the customer data such as past conversations and possible solutions to the issue at hand, helping them resolve a problem quickly.
Headquarters: This gives all the analysis about a customer's experience with the company, such as happiness ratings, negative feedback and long interaction threads, all in one place.
Agent Scorecard: This helps agents monitor their own performance with the customers like average response time, resolution time, number of tickets and happiness ratings.
Team Feed: This feature helps agents communicate with other agents to find an early resolution to a customer's problem.
So, how much does Zoho Desk cost?
Like every other Zoho products, there is a free model as well. It is free for up to 10 users (for life), and business plans start at Rs. 720 per month for the Professional Edition and Rs. 1,500 per month for the Enterprise Edition. Zoho Desk is available on web, Android and iOS for users to access it anywhere, anytime.
