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Choosing a Help Desk
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With the increased focus
on corporate spending it
is essential that
companies get the most
value from any software
investment. To this end
it is crucial that
companies understand the
industry buzz-words used
by vendors when trying
to sell help desk and
support solutions. Most
vendors will use these
terms to describe their
software, yet
surprisingly few
actually deliver.
Web-based
architecture
Virtually all vendors
describe their solution
as web accessible.
Meaning they allow
clients to login to a
web-based interface to
log and track support
calls.
However,
there is a big
difference between a web
enabled and web-based
system.
The majority of vendors
offer a web enabled
version of their
solution. A traditional
client-server
architecture is most
often used as the
underlying technology
with a module that
provides a simple web
interface. This is quite
different to a web-based
system which does not
require software
installation on the
client side.
This can have a big
impact on performance,
not to mention the total
cost of ownership with a
client server system. A
completely web-based
system is inherently
more scalable, flexible
and secure and requires
significantly less
maintenance.
Even web-based systems
are not created equal.
Most web-based systems
are written using PHP
and/or Perl meaning they
use a pseudo language
interpreter for page
delivery. They offer
none of the true
integration or
scalability that J2EE
applications and web
services provide. (For
example knowledgebase
articles and customer
data can be shared with
other Enterprise
Systems. See the
side-bar on "Why J2EE"
for more information.)
Read our White Paper for
more details on J2EE and
Scripting Languages.
Browser
Compatibility
While most vendors are
promoting web
compatibility, they
differ widely in their
support for different
web browsers. Most
support only 1 or 2
browsers (usually IE on
Windows) and often
require special plugins.
Some also require JAVA
applet downloads to
perform various
functions like reporting
or charting. This can
defeat the whole purpose
of a web-based support
system in providing
general access to the
system .
True web-based systems
should support web
browsers on any
operating system and
require no plugins or
downloads for true
portability and access.
Open Standards
To make the most of a
software investment, it
is important that any
systems are based on
open standards and are
platform agnostic. No
one wants to be locked
into a particular
operating system or
database vendor. You
never know when a vendor
is going to decide to
hold you captive by
increasing licensing
costs, which appears to
be the latest trend.
By choosing a system
that offers a wide range
of back-end data sources
and easy migration
companies can mitigate
the risks associated
with locking into one
database vendor.
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Integration
With technology moving
as fast as it does no
one wants to abandon
their existing
investments. So it is
important that any
system you choose is
able to integrate into
your existing
environment. Not only
must it run on the
correct platform as
discussed earlier, but
ideally it should also
utilize your existing
infrastructure. Can it
leverage existing
database licenses and
operate with MySQL, SQL
Server , Oracle, DB2
etc. These can be
important considerations
to your bottom line,
adding significantly to
the overall cost of a
system.
Another consideration
should be whether the
solution can integrate
into your existing
authentication
environment. Providing
client access through
LDAP and Active
Directory Databases is a
common approach.
Can you leverage the
product with other
systems? This can be an
important factor for the
future. Does the system
offer Web Services
support. If we are
building a large
knowledge infrastructure
can we leverage this
into other parts of the
organization. Web
Services allow sharing
of information using
open standards and
dynamic publishing and
helps secure your
investment.
Total Cost of Ownership
Another key
factor often ignored
when choosing a system
is the total cost of
ownership. It is very
easy to choose a system
based on price alone,
only to find out later
that it requires 3
months to install and a
full time administrator.
This is particularly
true of client server
systems, when you
consider that an upgrade
to the system will
require the deployment
of new client software
for each user. So the
costs can grow quickly.
Many systems also
require a database
administrator to keep
the system running,
another added cost which
can affect your overall
investment.
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