An Automated Support E-Mail System?

qm_37 asks: "I work for a small software company with a growing customer base. Our current support desk system has worked well for us in the past, but is going to become very unwieldy if it has to grow any more than it already has. We're looking for a more automated system that will do things like filter and direct incoming support e-mails to the support worker assigned to that task, assign and track support issue numbers, and give us a nice searchable database of previous customer issues. We've looked at various solutions ranging from commercial software packages to PHP/CGI-based server scripts, and nothing has really grabbed our attention. We have also considered writing our own system, but the trade-off is that we need to find the time to do it. Does anyone have any experience with a situation like this? Which route do you think we should take for our support system?"

Comments

tech support!

[AresTheImpaler]

You should outsource your support to another country so that everytime someone needs help, they can talk to a human being. Look, how amazing tech support is.

Easy!

[maskedbishounen]

Just set up a simple auto-responder in your mail client. The message you need is very basic, and will provide your clients/users with enough information to trouble shoot their problem! Ohh, and it's only four characters. ;-)

"RTFM"

Bonus points if you actually include a link to the manual, but no need to go overboard...!

Okay, so that's just what I would do. Why, yes, I am still looking for a job.. why do you ask?