What is the best live support for the money that you pay? Should i have forums as well? If forums, what kind of forum sections should i put up? Should i give everyone access or just members?

We're now implementing Kayako SupportSuite + SMF forums with private clients part.

We used SmarterTicket (http://www.smartertools) in the past and was very happy with them. Since we changed we are going to be implementing Microsoft Dynamics

Definitely set up a forum but make it so that only members can access it. This includes reading of topics - remember to configure it so that search engines can't index it. It'll give your users a sense of security.

Although not a hosting company, I use "Provide Support" for live chat. I think that's one of the best ways to provide support, provided you always have someone available to answer requests live.

Forums make a good "knowledgebase" for people to refer to.... but ultimately, people want to get their answers as quickly as possible. You should have a way for them to submit a ticket or email to you (or your support dept). But usually once people submit a ticket, they still try to find the answer they're looking for themselves.... and if you have forums, live chat, a good Q&A or FAQ section, and some flash tutorials they can browse.... they might just be able to answer their own questions :)

Rob.

Kayako is a great choice if you have the money, but forums - I don't think most hosts actually need one to be honest.

Although not a hosting company, I use "Provide Support" for live chat. I think that's one of the best ways to provide support, provided you always have someone available to answer requests live.
Great suggestion.

There area bunch of free live chat clients available, but obviously the ones that the you pay for are the best. I particularly like LivePerson. I've yet to buy it but I was really impressed by the trial version.

I've been using WebsiteAlive (http://websitealive.com) for a while and I can't say anything bad about them! They're always adding features to their software and thus far I haven't been able to find another service offering the same features. I'd highly recommend them!

Kayako is a great choice if you have the money, but forums - I don't think most hosts actually need one to be honest.

Actually I am the complete opposite. I would find it very difficult to run a host without a support forum. A support forum will help minimize the amount of support tickets created with simple, newbie questions.

Hi,

This is my first post on these forums, just thought I'd say hi, and add my thoughts.

I have used a number of helpdesks, forums and live chat scripts. I do agree a forums are great, but they only tend to be good as the users using them, and if they decide to use them. If you had say 100 clients, I dont think that they would be used much and it would take time for a 'community' to develop. Leaving your forums open to all, depending on how you set it up can lead to a lot off spam posts on certan scripts and it will take a lot on management.

I am now using Kayako SupportSuite as its more intergrated and keeps everything in one place, instead of having live chat with one place then a helpdesk seperate, if you see what I mean.

So if anything I would go with live chat to start with, then introduce a forum when you see fit.

Thats my two pence worth, and that was nerve racking, thought it was time to take the plundge and say something, after reading on these forums for so long.

Quick edit, told a lie, this was my 2nd post, oops ;o)

we use php live support and are pretty satisfied, it costs if I am not mistaken about 140 usd per year and you can set up your custom settins, among all it provides with tracking visitors solutions

as regards forums, I think its a good idea as far as you ve gor a lot of users, if not, empry and inaktive forum will not bring any benefits, users do not like to feel alone, and indeed, like trasops said, only for registered members/users as you do not want pre-sales users to see reports about of the downtime, correct?