Hey everyone,
I'm navigating a tricky situation at my development company, where we provide a SaaS application. Right now, we use Zendesk to handle support for our roughly 200 external clients. Each client typically has between 2 and 20 users opening tickets, mostly via email, leading to around 1,000 tickets per month, managed by 35 agents. We also handle internal IT support through Zendesk, but our team is quite small—just two IT staff plus me as the manager—supporting 220 employees.
Our developers are on Jira, but my boss is pushing to switch everything to Jira Service Management (JSM). His reasoning includes:
1. Better linkage between client tickets and developmental bugs.
2. Improved reporting on affected areas of our application in concert with developers.
3. Simplification by merging our ticket systems into one platform.
4. Cost reduction since Zendesk costs about $65K for our setup.
I have experience with JSM from a few years back, and while it's evolved, it still seems more suited for internal IT processes rather than external client support. I'm worried about how JSM might handle our needs. Thoughts on the following would be really appreciated:
- Has JSM really improved for handling high volumes of external client support? Will it be as workflow-heavy as I remember?
- Is it genuinely going to enhance reporting for the dev team, or are there better methods to link Zendesk tickets to Jira?
- Will transitioning to JSM save us money in the long run, considering any potential hidden costs like additional agents for developers?
- Can one ecosystem really simplify our operations, or will it create more issues with configurations and maintenance for our small team?
Sorry for the lengthy post! I'm feeling the pressure to make an informed choice amidst my boss's enthusiasm for JSM, and I'd truly value some input from anyone who's been in a similar boat. Cheers!
3 Answers
Honestly, I'm shocked to hear you're paying $65K for Zendesk. There are many more affordable alternatives—Zoho Desk, for example, offers great features at a fraction of that price. Expanding your options might uncover some hidden gems that meet your needs without the hefty price tag.
I work in a SaaS company in renewable energy, and we've successfully switched to Plain for both internal and client-facing support. If you're looking for a cost-effective solution, Plain integrates well with similar setups. It might be something worth considering if the complexities of JSM seem daunting or if you're worried about costs spiraling with JSM's additional features.
I've had a similar experience with JSM. While it has improved over time, it still feels more tailored for internal IT and development than for handling external customer support effectively. The idea of a single ticket system sounds appealing, but it might just complicate things more for your small IT team in terms of maintenance and reporting requirements. Some teams I know focus on keeping Jira for bugs and development work, using a more user-friendly ticketing solution for customer support to manage the complexity better.
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