The extensive amount of software for Help Desk solutions often makes it a difficult choice for a business owner to select he one that’s going to fit best into their business model. One possible way to go is to opt for a free Help Desk software system in hopes that it would work at least as good as a propriaty or licensed solution.
If you are in a similar position and feel like going for a free system, but still have some reservation, here are some of the Pros and Cons of free Help Desk programs.
Pros
- The primary benefit obviously – no financial costs involved.
- The ability to run a test between multiple free Help Desk software solutions and determine which one suits your needs the best.
- Access to source code allowing you to modify and customize different aspects of the functions and work flow of the application.
- Not with all free solutions, but available end-user addons and expansions you can benefit from.
Cons
- One of the biggest downsides of most free Help Desk software is the lack of proper customer and bug support, far from the level of support that is provided for non-free solutions.
- Lack of scalability and high-end functions which are often the state of the art features that mark the top Help Desk programs.
- Incompatibility with modern Customer Service standards and lack of support for some host and operation systems and environments.
- Vulnerability to code, database and email attacks, mostly due to the open source nature of these free solutions. Anyone can easily recognize the system you’re using.
Conclusion
Obviously it’s impossible to cover all aspects that govern the differences between free and non-free Help Desk applications. All in all, it’s a calculated risk that you as the business manager has to evaluate before choosing the system you are going to use when dealing with customer service, issue solving, sales management and so on.
