Customer Support Software

Looking for ways to improve your customer support and lower support costs?  Does the idea of web based self help and the ability for your customers to submit and track their own support requests interest you?  Our Novo Customer Support Software Suite helps you create... an efficient, cost effective, web based customer focused support environment!

Whether you currently track support requests on paper or spreadsheet, or have customer support software that is no longer adequate for your current needs, we invite you to take a look at our Novo Customer Support Suite Software which enables you to provide a cost effective intranet or internet customer support environment.

The Novo Customer Support Software Suite combines our Novo Help Desk Software with our very powerful, full featured Novo Knowledge Base Software enabling you to provide:

• Optimize Call/Support Center Operations: Reduces call volume by deflecting some of your support requests to your customer facing self help Knowledge Base.  Expedites communication between your support representatives and your customers with quick email notifications.  Allows your customers to check the status and add notes to their support request without calling the support center.

• Captures Knowledge: The integrated Novo Knowledge Base Software allows customer support representatives and others to easily document recurring issues.  This knowledge stays in the system and does not leave when an employee does.

• Decreases New Employee Training Time: With an easily accessible knowledge repository, new customer support software users can quickly find the answers to questions.

Select a Feature To View, or Scroll to View All. Easy Configuration/Web Based Operation Select Ticket Features Powerful Admin Dashboard Automatic Email Notifications Customer Request Submission Attachments Flexible User Roles Configurable Request Queue Work Flow System Time Management Tracking User Defined Fields Powerful Knowledge Base  Business Rules PC Inventory Module MS Active Directory Integration Asset Mgt. Integration Automatic Email to Ticket Processing Flexible Reporting Web Services (API) Internationalization SLA/Request Escalation Database Support     Accessibility/USA Section 508

• Completely Web Based Online Customer Support Software - only a Web Browser is needed to administer & use the system 

• Easily Accessible on your Corporate Intranet or Web Site

• Industry Standard Architecture (MS SQL Server, ASP/ASP.Net)

• In-House & Hosted (ASP) Customer Support Software Editions available

• No Additional Hardware Required (can typically be installed on existing servers)

• Utilizes Existing IT skills with minimal need for re-training

Powerful Admin Dashboard

• Admin Dashboard - fully customizable portal dashboard for at-a-glance viewing of lists and managing reports. Drag and drop components 
  allow you to quickly and easily arrange and sort 
  the dashboard to each administrator's personal  preferences. 

• Search Knowledge Base Articles - allows customers to search Knowledge Base articles before submitting a ticket 

• Submit Requests - allows customers to submit a request directly into the customer support Request/Ticket Queue (with email notifications - see below)

• Manage Requests - allows customers to review request status, add notes and attachments and close requests

• User Roles Management - allows customizable user roles so you can define what your users can and cannot do

• Multi-Department Request Management - allows customer support requests to be managed at the department level.  Each department can create and manage their own requests.

The Work Flow Module is available in specialized Knowledge Base and Help Desk versions.  The versions may be purchased exclusively or combined as needed.

Knowledge Base Workflow:

• Use & Benefit: In certain cases, Knowledge Base articles that have been added or changed require multiple people in various departments to approve the new or changed article. The Novo Work Flow System provides a flexible method for automating AND keeping track of these approval tasks. The benefit is improved quality and sharing of Knowledge Base articles.

• Predefined & "On the Fly" Work flows: Ability to create  flexible work flows from a list of predefined tasks you setup or "on the fly" as Knowledge Base articles are being created.

• Completion/Approval Paths: Ability to define work flows with various completion/approval paths.

• Rules Based Auto Assignment: Ability to automatically assign predefined work flows to Knowledge Base articles based on flexible business rules (i.e. when an article is added to a particular category).

• Auto Email notifications: Email notifications are automatically sent to the appropriate person or group when tasks are completed or rejected.

• Work Flow Task "Queue": Empowers managers to view pending task status, assignment, predecessor relationships and deadlines (with color coded due dates for past due, current, future).

• Company-wide Work Flow Tasks – ability to involve admin users, end users and even external partners in Work Flow Tasks. 
  Note: In some cases the Automatic Email to Ticket module below may be required (i.e. for end users/partners that do not have web access to the software)

   

Help Desk Workflow:

• Use & Benefit: Many requests require multiple people in various departments to either approve the request (i.e. a change to a server configuration) and/or complete specific tasks related to the request (i.e. tasks related to hiring a new employee). The Novo Work Flow System provides a flexible method for automating AND keeping track of these tasks. Results are improvement in quality and control of information systems (Change Management), improved response time to requests involving multiple people, and reduction of time spent keeping track of multi-step requests.
  

• Predefined & "On the Fly" Work flows: Ability to create  flexible work flows from a list of predefined tasks you setup or "on the fly" as Help Desk Tickets are being added.

• Completion/Approval Paths: Ability to define work flows with various completion/approval paths.

• Rules Based Auto Assignment: Ability to automatically assign predefined work flows to Help Desk Tickets based on flexible business rules (i.e. when a ticket is added to a particular category).

• Auto Email notifications: Email notifications are automatically sent to the appropriate person or group when tasks are completed or rejected.

• Work Flow Task "Queue": Empowers managers to view pending task status, assignment, predecessor relationship and deadlines (with color coded due dates for past due, current, future).

• Empowers Help Desk Managers with the ability to customize fields available in a ticket request form to their specific needs. Allows multiple categorizations of Knowledge Base Articles

• Provides the ability to add  fields and determine their position on the ticket form.

• Improves customer response times (support reps have more information and are able to resolve issues faster). 

• Improved reporting capabilities that result in better problem analysis.

• Ability to add  fields to Tickets, Articles, Accounts and Contacts

• Flexible Business Rules - for auto assignment of tickets, auto notifications, etc.

• Multiple AND/OR Conditions & Actions - ability to configure rules based on various field dependencies and perform multiple actions (i.e. update status, reassign, email alerts, etc.)

• Rules Logging - ability to configure log events for each rule

• Ability to Route Inbound Emails to a Particular Support Queue (requires the optional Automatic Email to Ticket Module below) – automatically route incoming emails to different support teams or departmental “queues” based on the email address it was sent to (i.e. hr@... goes to the HR Queue, it@... goes to the IT Help Desk queue, etc.)

• Maps Active Directory Groups to Departments and Roles - providing single sign on and easier user administration

• End User Active Directory Authentication & Search - single sign on for corporate customers/end users.  Also allows searching Active Directory for customers/end users when customer support representatives add requests.

• Built in User Authentication - complete built in User Management if Active Directory is not used 

• Monitors an email account and automatically adds/updates a ticket from the email message.

• Support for Multiple Email Accounts – POP, IMAP and Microsoft Exchange

• Work Flow Task Management (Requires optional Novo Help Desk Work Flow Module) – ability to complete Tasks via email

• Remote Mobile Technician Support – ability for support technicians to be able to update tickets via Email Smart Tags

•  Integrate Novo software with 3rd party software applications allows our software to be integrated with your existing software

• SLA Management - Associate end users/customers into service level groups (account types)

• Business Rules - Create service level related business rules for each service level group

• Escalation - Auto escalate/re-assign tickets to another person or team

• Notifications - Auto email notifications (i.e. to a pager/mobile phone) to appropriate Help Desk personnel/management if a ticket is not responded to or closed within the defined time period.

• Logging/Reporting - Define service level log events as informational, warning or failure allowing report generation on failures and near failures. Generate charts of SLA performance

Select Ticket Features (Enterprise Edition)

• Ticket Templates - create custom Ticket Templates, allowing you to create simple to complex ticket entry forms.

• Ticket Copy - ability to copy/save a ticket and its related information

• Memorized Tickets - ability to memorize repeatedly used tickets to speed ticket entry

• Recurring Scheduled Tickets - ability to schedule memorized tickets to automatically generate tickets for routine tasks

• Confirmation Receipt To Customers/End Users/ - an email is sent back to the customer/end user that submitted the request to confirm its receipt.

• New Request Submissions - Customer support software users can be notified via email of new requests submitted by customers/end users.

• Re-routing of Requests - Customer Support staff are notified when a request is re-assigned to them.  A link in the email takes them right to the request. 

• SLA Failure - when the time to review a request has passed without action, notifications are sent to the appropriate management/supervisory personnel.

• Quick Attachments - easily add attachments (i.e. screen shots of error messages, etc.) to an online customer support software request.

• Flexible Request Queue - Easily enable/disable columns to display

• Priority Colors - Priorities are associated with a color making prioritization quick and easy.

• Request Filtering - each user can define their own preferred view of the requests by applying multiple filters

• Clean, Straightforward Layout - for ease of use 

• Punch In/Punch Out Request Time Tracking - The online customer support software tracks cumulative time spent on a request.

• Ticket Due Date-  Due date feature shows deadlines for ticket completion.

• Business Hours & Holidays - ability to define business hours to be used in ticket management
  

• Customer/End User Self Help - provides a web self help system to customers/end users allowing them to answer their own questions, which reduces call volume.

• Quick and Easy Knowledge Capture - intuitive interface allows Customer Support and other staff to quickly create a formatted and categorized Knowledge Base article.

• Quick Knowledge Base Search on Request/Problem - 1 click problem/issue search of the Knowledge Base as a Request is being added/edited.

• Knowledge Base Article to Request Linker - with just 3 clicks you can link a Knowledge Base article to a customer support software request.  This is then available to customers/end users and/or other support representatives to reduce response time - it shows the articles that have already been reviewed.

• Request to Knowledge Base Article Creation - allows you to quickly create a Knowledge Base article from a Request Description/Resolution.

• Request to Knowledge Base Article Creation - allows you to quickly create a Knowledge Base article from a Request Description/Resolution.

• Software Inventories - shows a list of software installed on end user's PC 

• Hardware Inventories - shows a list of hardware components installed on end user's PC

• Asset Types - define types of assets (i.e. PCs, laptops, servers, PDAs, Cell Phones, network equipment, office equipment, etc.) 

• Custom Asset List Views - each admin user can configure his own asset list view (i.e. the columns to display, list filtering and sort order). 

• Attachments - any type of file (i.e. scanned purchase orders, warranty information, service agreements, drawings, MSDS sheets, pictures, technical specifications, etc.) can be attached to an asset. An asset can have a multiple number of attachments. 

• Administrative User Security Groups and Roles - ability to assign an administrative user to one or more groups with a unique role (i.e. Edit, View Only, etc.)

• Metrics On Demand - ability to configure drill down charts and graphs

• Built-in Reports - numerous standard pre-built reports included 

• Flexible Reporting capability - Our Customer Support Software identifies monthly/yearly trends by various metrics and facilitates root cause analysis (identifying problem areas)
  
  
  

• Multi-Lingual Support - supports the ability to add/manage customer support requests in different languages.  Utilizes the same system for providing global customer support.

• Time Zone Configuration - allows customer support representatives in different time zones to add/view request dates/times adjusted for their time zone.  

• Improved navigation via keyboard

• Improved capability for screen readers

• Microsoft SQL Server 2005/2008

• Microsoft SQL Server 2005/2008 Express Edition (with Advanced Services)

*  Note. The Customer Support Software box is graphical and doesn't represent actual packaging. The Novo Solutions Customer Support Suite is downloadable with licensure.