VAIRKKO relies on Deskpro to simplify its workflows

The Challenge

Workforce management and operations software solutions can be incredibly powerful applications for many organizations. From scheduling and personnel management to internal education and payroll - VAIRKKO covers it all. With a vision to provide genuinely superior products and cutting-edge customer experiences through affordable web applications, VAIRKKO hopes to usher in a world where nearly all companies, big or small, can utilize the best workforce management and operations management that the software industry has to offer.

Brian Polackoff, VP of Sales & Custom Relations at VAIRKKO describes the software they offer. "Essentially, we do everything from core HR function to a full e-Learning suite - and everything in between. The full book." Brian and his team at VAIRKKO focus on helping organizations across multiple industries create efficient work environments by giving them the tools and framework to deliver workforce content and services.

"My role with the organization oversees two departments, sales and customer service," begins Brian. "My team goes through the entire process of not just selling the software, but helping new clients fall in love with it and making sure they stay happy." As someone responsible for the happiness of new and existing clients, Brian knew he had to find the right tools to ensure clients are receiving the best support experience possible at every touchpoint in the customer journey.

VAIRKKO's extensive software suite and ambitious vision is combined with a commitment to offering clients truly meaningful customer experiences. "We work with some very, very large clients," tells Brian. "But we're a small team, by comparison, so we need to leverage the most powerful software applications to help us offer a level of service we're happy with, at scale."

Before using Deskpro, Brian and his team struggled to find an appropriate solution that could fit their exact needs as an organization. Many of the support platforms that VAIRKKO considered fell short across multiple criteria, especially failing to deliver the customization necessary for Brian and his team to structure workflows exactly how they needed.

"We went rapid-fire through multiple support platforms," tells Brian.

"I will be brutally honest, some of the programs we trialed were just a hair above garbage. For example, one didn't even have a way to segment different types of support requests - which just ended up dumping everything into a single ticket view."

Brian found that the platforms he trialed just created extra noise for the support team. The increased complexity and lack of freedom started to create frustrations for VAIRKKO. "We looked at Kayako, Zendesk, and so many others that it's almost nauseating just talking about it again. All of them were lacking. They all fell short of the specific requirements we both wanted and needed as a business." Brian needed to find a solution that could make life simpler for his support team, whilst adding value to the customer experience by reducing friction - and all at an affordable price.

The Solution

Whilst making its way through myriad help desks and customer support platforms, VAIRKKO discovered Deskpro and decided to set up a free 14-day trial account to get to know the software. During the trial process, Brian and his team found Deskpro support experts to be instrumental in ensuring the software could be aligned to their specific needs and requirements.

"The support that the Deskpro team delivers is great," says Brian. "They were incredibly knowledgeable and helped me navigate a few use-case scenarios with ease. My questions were always answered with accurate and timely responses."

Trialing Deskpro, Brian and his team found that the Deskpro offered one thing that set the product apart from the rest - the freedom to customize. "After looking at other vendors, we found that Deskpro is literally the only one that allowed for the level of customization that we needed," tells Brian. "This was absolutely vital for maintaining our internal workflows. A lack of this was the deal-breaker for us with a lot of other platforms."

Another thing that made Deskpro stand out for VAIRKKO was the ability to set Deskpro up to filter and sort tickets in a multitude of ways, allowing Brian and his team to see the state of customer support with ease. "I have multiple custom ticket filters to show me tickets grouped by client, SLA status, or waiting time," describes Brian. "With other help desks, we'd have had to create a new filter for every client we had. We have thousands of clients so that just wasn't going to happen."

"Using Deskpro allowed us to set things up exactly how we needed them. I could just perform a mass action here, label tickets there, and do pretty much anything we want to with the system," says Brian.

"This flexibility soon became an irreplaceable feature as we started to realize just how powerful it could be when aligned with our internal processes."

With other platforms, Brian found the lack of automatic distinction between feedback requests and other types of support tickets a concern - but not with Deskpro. VAIRKKO also began to make use of more nuanced features, like the ability to turn regular tickets into feedback requests in just a few clicks. "We really appreciate being able to keep systems separate but working closely with each other like this," explains Brian.

When trialing the software in December 2014, VAIRKKO purchased Deskpro and has been consistently making life easier for both their clients and support team ever since. Brian speaks a little about the affordability of the software. "Price was a huge pain point for us during the consideration. We were very happy to see Deskpro could offer the flexibility we needed at a sensible price."

The Benefits

After using Deskpro for over three years, VAIRKKO has cultivated a range of benefits. "One of the top complaints we had from our customers was the inability to use single sign-on," explains Brian. "We'd often find that they would ask why they have to provide a separate name and password for the support portal and the VAIRKKO suite."

This point of friction was eliminated by Deskpro's wide range of authentication options. "Clients don't want to hear that we're unable to offer single sign-on when they well know that it's possible," says Brian. Deskpro removed the need for multiple steps and improved the level of effort required by clients to receive quality support.

"Deskpro has definitely revolutionized the way we deliver support to our 50,000 plus customers."

Brian explains, "We've modified the user interface within the VAIRKKO product to open tickets in a single click, and users can search for knowledge base articles without even leaving our software. The search bar in our application automatically logs users into Deskpro after they use it and queries the knowledge base. Which is a big deal for us."

VAIRKKO customers can now easily access the support portal in a frictionless manner and see all their open and close tickets in a single, easy-to-digest view. "We've made it as easy as possible for clients to get the support they need," tells Brian, "and easy for our support team to deliver it to them." Customers can access support tickets, knowledge base articles, live chat, and other support-related content by clicking a single button in the VAIRKKO software or website.

Brian and his team have also started to make the best use of the collaborative tools within the Deskpro platform. "We stay connected to our development team, and we can assess which parts of our software require the most support content to increase user adoption and get clients making the most out of our product," explains Brian.

Deskpro helps harness collaboration with features that allow you to create pending articles from live tickets in the system with just one or two clicks.

"Now we can effectively manage our knowledge base," tells Brian. "We know which ones are out of date and which ones need creating, and are building a rich network of interwoven content that really adds a lot of value for our clients - and removes the need for us to hold their hands all the time."

Another impressive aspect of what Brian and his team were able to achieve using Deskpro has been using support content to shape the customer journey. Brian describes the process, "When you click on a 'Getting Started' button in our product, it uses the Deskpro API to link to specific articles relevant to that user and their use-case. Clients no longer need to log in to a separate system, determine the right keywords, and file through the results. Everything they need is just there."

The Future

With an increasingly more effective support department being developed over the last three years, VAIRKKO now looks to the future and hopes to build on its existing success. Brian elaborates on what's on the horizon for the organization.

"We're on a growth trajectory. We're onboarding clients efficiently and effectively, and as an organically-funded company, we grow based on the success of our sales and support teams. We use Deskpro as the main tool for keeping clients happy, and hope to leverage it even further."

The development team at VAIRKKO is also beginning to consider the possibilities Deskpro can realize for their department.

Brian explains, "Our developers use Deskpro as a tool for capturing bugs, which has eliminated the need for a heavy application like JIRA."

"As we grow and bring on new support team members, we find new ways to improve the experience of customers and agents alike thanks to the Deskpro platform," says Brian. "I would absolutely recommend Deskpro to others."