Overview
Avineon, Inc. customized Zoho Desk to meet their specific needs, built it in about a month, tested it for a few months, and then launched it.
The company
Established in 1992, Avineon, Inc.® (Avineon) provides a broad range of technological solutions and services that are crucial for the efficient operation of organizations, including government agencies. With a presence in over twenty-five countries and a client base of more than 300 customers, Avineon specializes in digital modernization, engineering support services, spatial intelligence, and GIS managed services.
The challenge
The company was initially using Salesforce in a very limited capacity, mainly for monthly and quarterly reporting. The employees would often only log in at the end of the month to enter data to meet reporting requirements. Salesforce was not integrated into the company’s normal business processes and was not aligned globally.
Recognizing an opportunity to fully embrace CRM as a critical part of the business, the decision was made not to continue with Salesforce. After evaluating several options, the company chose to implement CRMPlus on a global scale in 2019. They started with Zoho CRM and then implemented Zoho Desk for their support process. The exchange of data between Zoho CRM and Zoho Desk works like magic for them.
Most of the customers supported through Zoho Desk are managed services customers, with whom the company has annual agreements to provide technical support. Before implementing Zoho Desk, customers would contact the company by email or telephone, and there was no effective way to track their requests or monitor progress. As a result, customers would often need to call back to inquire about the status of their issues, highlighting the challenge Avineon faced in managing the support process.
The evaluation
Salesforce was expensive, rigid, and required costly consultants for even minor changes. With Zoho, we've gained incredible flexibility and ease of customization, allowing us to tailor the system to our unique business needs. The ability to make global implementations with region-specific segregation has been invaluable.
The initial focus was on managing the sales process through Zoho CRM—from leads to opportunities or deals, tracking wins and losses. However, gradually, they tried out other Zoho products, including Zoho Desk and Zoho Analytics.
"When we were deciding the best options for implementing a help desk, we considered several options," Campbell explained. "We were using Zendesk internally for our IT help desk for a long time and thought about expanding its use. However, it made more sense to integrate our help desk into Zoho CRM, where all our customer data already resides.
The implementation
Avineon also sought a partner to assist with the transition. They partnered with 3Leaf CRM, led by Michelle Scott, who has supported them throughout the entire journey. Michelle and her team helped migrate data from Salesforce and Zendesk to Zoho, customized screens and workflows, and automated various processes. Over the past five years, they have continued to provide invaluable support.
Avineon, with the help of their certified Zoho Partner, customized Zoho Desk to meet their specific needs, built it in about a month, tested it for a few months, and then launched it. They now have customer portals and have recently added a second trigonal organization with its own help desk. The ability to extend Zoho to handle more functions in their business processes has been invaluable for them, becoming their go-to solution. Rather than creating multiple stand-alone systems, they aim to address their needs within Zoho by continuously adding new capabilities to manage everything in one unified platform.
Since starting with approximately 25 users, the company has grown significantly and now holds more licenses as its needs have expanded.
The solution
Streamlined ticket management process for quick resolution
Avineon implemented Zoho Desk, which is managed by a specialized team that responds to requests and coordinates with our entire technical team. As a result, their Zoho user base has expanded beyond just the original Salesforce users.
With Zoho Desk, the company allowed customers to submit requests that are tracked and managed by a team, with each request assigned to an agent who communicates directly with the customer. Automation is in place to confirm receipt of a request immediately and inform the customer who will handle it.
The team responsible for these managed services tickets has allocated a few members to handle the triaging, assessment, and understanding of each ticket.They either solve the problem themselves or seek assistance from another member of the technical team, either for consulting or for assigning the ticket to someone who can handle the work. Zoho Desk has made this process simpler and more effective with its intuitive features.
Transparency to keep the customers informed
Customers can use a portal to view all of their requests and check their status: open, closed, or rejected. This self-service portal also improved customer satisfaction, as clients who previously experienced disorganization now see a professional and transparent process, which gives them a sense of comfort.
Customization for even easier adoption
The team customized Zoho Desk to manage customer environments by capturing information about their systems, such as operating systems, software versions, and other configurations. Initially, this data was lacking, so surveys were implemented to gather the necessary information and update the system as tickets were processed.
They also simplified the default setup of Zoho Desk. Out of the box, Zoho Desk had around 50 features, but they customized it to include only what was needed. This level of customization made the system more useful and easier for their team to adopt.
Knowledge base to reduce wait times for customers
Avineon built a knowledge base to document recurring issues and create articles that the team could access. Some of these articles were also published to customer portals, allowing customers to search for solutions before submitting a ticket and potentially resolve issues on their own. Over time, the company's knowledge base became a robust source of information and helped reduce the need for direct support.
Dashboards and reports for deeper analysis
Before Zoho Desk, the company found it more difficult to determine how much time was spent on specific customers or problems. However, now they have moved to a more granular level using dashboards and reports in Zoho Desk analytics, thus tracking time spent on individual tickets.
This shift allows them to analyze which types of requests take more or less time and identify if some customers are underpaying for the services provided. It offers greater insight into the nature of the requests, how they are managed, the time taken, and the associated costs.
Benefits & ROI
Customer feedback that proves you are on the right path
A few months after rolling out Zoho Desk, a customer at a trade show commented positively on how easy it was to get their queries resolved. They appreciated the transparency, the ability to track the status of their requests, and the communication, which was lacking when using email or telephone. Implementing the desk solution has proven to be a significant business value, improving our customer satisfaction and service delivery.
- Industry typeIT Services and Consulting
- Employees1001-5000
- Type of businessB2B
Looking forward
Avineon wants to explore more Zoho products and automate additional business processes to save time and focus on revenue-generating areas.
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