Hello
I am new to this forum but have been hosting for a few years now, kind of local and fairly amateurish it has to be said.

However it is now time to step things up and I am looking at all sorts of things including billing systems and new reseller packages.

Two things to keep this short:
1) Has anyone taken advantage of the Innohosting Support/Sales service offering with their reseller packages? If so can someone comment on how happy (or not!) they are with it? Also, if they don't mind, can they point me to their website integration - I am trying to compare this to Kayako in terms of look and feel.

2) Billing software. I am trying to decide between WHMCS and AWBS. My feeling at the moment is with AWBS because it comes with good features and a decent skin I can customise. WHMCS is great too but will require more work to get it up and running and I am short on time! I also require a web compliant website - so that kind of puts me back with WHMCS.

In summary, firstly thanks for reading my post (!), and secondly if you have any thoughts, experience or suggestions on the above, I would really appreciate hearing from any of you.

BTW I have been recommended this website forum by my current host and other users so it is nice to finally post on here.

Cheers
Samir

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HI

in reference to question 1, i personally would always recommend doing your own sales/support. as you can offer a more personal touch for your own business than anyone else could do.

2) I have tried several different applications and must say WHMCS is by far the best I have ever used.

I would say go for WHMCS for your billing panel.

I have only herd good things about Innohosting.

Goodluck.

I use inno and have their end-user support, but only as a backup. I prefer to do my own support if at all possible and only use them for backup. I redirect only when I'm sleeping and so far, no one has had to use them, so I can't comment. I can comment that their support with me is knowledgeable and professional.

As for whmcs. That's what I use and is completely customizable. You can simply just add your header and your footer and be done with it, or you can customize every aspect along the way. It's up to you.

will require more work to get it up and running and I am short on time! The more shortcuts now, the more headaches later. At least that's how it usually plays out in life. :)

Hi there
1) In fact I totally agree and intend to do all the sales and support I can. However, as I am small time, there is only me and I have to sleep!

I guess the reason for the question is to find out really if anyone has had any dealings with the service Innohosting are offering, and what they made of dealing with them?

It worries me to out source this, hence the post!

@rsbenedict: Can you tell me how you work with the system in terms of turning off and on? What is your user interface like compared to Kayako? Thanks in advance.

2) Regarding the billing system. Well they do look pretty close but I have been swayed by AWBS. Has anyone heard of this system here?

Sorry if I gave the wrong impression - I am really really keen to make the right decisions now and implement the best solutions to save problems down the road; therefore I couldn't agree more with you advice Idcdc.

However, I like to get things done too and I now have in my mind exactly what I want to achieve with the website form and function, so just want to get out there and get it sorted. I guess saying "short on time" wasn't therefore really quite right; more I want to get things set-up asap without having to rely on other people to help too much.

WHMCS will require me to skin the thing (prob outside my skills) and AWBS already comes with a number of front end templates that I can improve on (probably within my skills).

So ... any more thoughts on the above now?

Thanks again
Samir

Hi, Samir!

You can check out my interface at support.powermonster.net. Here you can see that All I did to "customize" the whmcs interface was to add my own header and footer and style the whole thing with css. Really easy.

inno provides an integration script with their service that integrates the whmcs support system with their endsupport. In the options section of whmcs, I just change which support template it uses. The default whmcs one where the support tickets come directly to me and one where they are sent to endsupport.

When you sign up for endsupport, you let inno how you want them to handle the support. You can also work within the system to answer your own support stuff. You let them know what and how and they'll do it. They're a great company to work with.

hi rsbenedict

Thanks for pointing me at your website. I like the style as it is pretty minimal and fast.

So can you tell me how it works from a customer point of view - do they get one place to track their tickets? It would be better for customer to have a consistent interface/front end for monitoring their tickets? - Have I mis-understood or this what you do actually do?

I am pretty keen to go for AWBS and Kayako. I asked Innohosting but they didn't mention an integration script of their service - saying that I didn't ask for it!

Thanks
Samir

The interface you saw is the same that they would see. NO matter where the ticket is sent (to me or to inno), it works the same. It all goes through whmcs with the script.

If you choose not to use whmcs as your helpdesk, you can use their endsupport script. It's simple and effective, and you just cut and paste the html from the address they give you and insert it into your web page where you want the script to go.

Either way, it's totally incorporated into your site.

I went with the whmcs option because I like to have everything in one place, orders, support, customers, etc.

I've not used awbs, but I've heard it better integrates with domains and is better than whmcs in that regard. But for everything else, I've heard whmcs is better.

So if you'll be going a lot of domain management, awbs may be the better option, but if not, I think whmcs is the best. I'm hoping whmcs will keep improving their domain integration with each new release.

Thanks for the clarification.

It looks like they (Innohosting) are pretty committed to WHMCS with that script then? I wonder if there is a similar script that could be run though Kayako perhaps?

WHMCS would be an easier option I think but I have heard mixed reviews about it and excellent reviews about AWBS.

Still open to ideas of course! I have tried demo's of both but it is one of those things that you really get to test properly in action!

S

Inno only provides the WHMCS integration package to users. The APIs the provided integration package works with aren't limited to just that of WHMCS. You are free to use the provided script as an example of how to interface with the EndSupport APIs to build an integration package with another support software, or any other software you like. Although a pre-made script doesn't exist, it doesn't mean one can't be made.

I haven't looked into Kayako, but is their source code open like WHMCS's? If it is completely locked down, it will make integrating a third-party party product difficult, if not impossible.

I would just like to throw my own opinion in and thats WHMCS is by far the easiest script to integrate.

@entia - I actually have a my journal with InnoHosting here in WHT which you might want to read (http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=678972)

InnoHosting

1. System is so far, so good for me. For more than 1-month now I have no complain with the speed and uptime.

2. End-Support is efficient and polite and they really follow your instruction, just make it clear for them of course.

3. Billing - I cannot comment on this one because I have my own. This is just a suggestion, always maintain your own client database for support, billing etc... Do not depend to your providers billing system. Having your own system will give you more consolidated information and flexibility in the long run.

Hope this helps :)