Best software for internal and external email communication

I love using kayako as it has been the best communication platform which not only allows me to communicate but also provides me reports on any urgent email that I need to act on immediately which saves me from delayed tasks and replies. Since we switched from outlook to kayako software for inter-team and client communication, kayako has provided the best communication platform which allowed us to to have an organized, easy to refer to and not only use but also can view any sent/received email from any location via any device.

Pros

Kayako has been the best communication platform for professional communication that I have used so far. Kayako is recommended for both inter-team and external - client communication. The best feature of kayako is that it allows you to organize your emails into folder based on departments, status and the nature of the email content.
Also using other type of email platforms has been a worry at times and time consuming when trying to find all the back and forth communication happened on one email thread by multiple people, but kayako provides the best solution by capturing all the communication happened on one subject/email which is sent and received by one or many, in the same email thread which we call a "Ticket"

Interface of kayako can be designed and created as per the user's requirement and preference.
Also referring to an email has been very convenient as each ticket carries its own unique Ticket ID.

It also provides reports on emails based on its nature. ex: overdue, received within 24hrs and etc based on rules we set which allows to the user to be more organized, effective and proactive.

Cons

Understanding and using the software is essential as it doesn't function like other email platforms but has its own organized interface. Inter team communication The software is mainly build for professional communication however I wish it could have few other options like adding colors, tables and etc but apart from that no other cons to mention.

Kayako Classic (On-Premise) is a solution that covers all areas of support and more.

Customer Service Improvements resulting in winning a German Golden Stevie Award 2018.

Pros

It covers many areas of daily conversation handling activities: Ticket, Incident, Problem, and Complaint handling situations. If the basics do not suffice, custom fields and tracking options help iron out missing pieces. It contains a Knowledgebase that allows you to record Articles and information. Survey system (very handy for Event-Driven Surveys); Reporting options and quick access to tickets. One of the KEY FEATURES is that the tool is FAST and keeps a focus on the work area for staff, rather cluttering everything with detail fields. Finally, the web-interface is fully customizable and very useful in granting options to access the conversation handling tool. Did I mention Kayako Services being great in helping to resolve questions and issues when contacted? They do this very well!

Cons

It lacks a few items that I wish would be included (software is always under constant development, and Kayako customer service is very responsive and friendly): proper comprehensive auditing when tickets are handled (like automatically submitted communications recorded with date and time); Complaint Handling structures based on tickets; improved linkages between tickets (though possible it is not done in a single click); KBA link to tickets; Reporting is nice though it lacks options to customize charts, colors and the way detail can be presented (formatting through configuration rather customization). Another drawback in a recent release is that a lot of browser cell padding has been introduced causing the display of elements unnecessarily spread out across a regular HD monitor. Luckily this can be customized using CSS injection or system-wide CSS manipulation.

it works but required a lot of enhancements to make it work proper for us

Getting us closer to our customers and helping them solving their problems. Kayako delivered that base functionality and more at the time we switched from one of the Atlassian products (2012). Since than we have enhanced to improve out internal workflows. However, there is a lot we would like to see in the near future to shorten ticket work time and able to switch to customer self managment / help for the simple stuff. The more we can get out of the core / base functionality the better it is for us which requires real commitment. Btw. Industry selection is missing Enterprise software or similar.

Pros

As we use Kayako for a long time (since 2012?) you get used to it which makes it difficult answer. Thinking about it stability comes into mind. Beside usual software bugs our system is very stable and reliable and doesn't need much maintenance. We like the new UI that came with classic 4.90 as it gives a modern look. From the feature perspective ticket management works very well for us in general but there isn't a particular feature to high light.

Cons

In first place we are missing the commitment for Kayako classic. Nothing has happened since two years (going to cloud announcement). However, this might change now. There are a lot of things that can be improved like Knowledge Base, File management, workflow, troubleshooting, etc. Back porting some of the new cloud features would be also much appreciated team collaboration, one workflow, etc. Lastly a much better and faster context aware search would help us a lot.
All of this has recently discussed with our new Kayako contacts.

Good choice although there are some problems.

There are so many helpdesk systems, Kayako has been our selected one, but we are still looking for better choice.

Pros

1- Beautiful user interface.
2- It Supports all activities in a helpdesk process.
3-14 days free trial
4-Good localization, so you can add your own translations to (just) on-premise version

Cons

1- When you are Kayako admin and at the same time one of the staffs (Agent), you have to switch so many times between Admin / Staff panel to do your tasks. sometimes it makes me confused because knowing which setting is in admin panel and which one is in staff(Agent) panel sometimes is difficult.
2-I can say that Kayako is designed for too many clients for a limited number of services. If you have too many services each of them assigned to a client, Using Kayako would be difficult (But Possible). for example, you have to set permissions for widgets separately.
3-Kayako is not suitable for small teams. it requires a lot of time and effort for setting up.
4-Kayako integration and API's are limited. We couldn't integrate Kayako with our Self-Built project management and timesheet system.
5- Localization in cloud version doesn't work very well. We couldn't use Arabic in cloud version

Support makes the difference when comparing this to other competitors

Kayako helps keep all of our customer communication centralized into a single support suite. It allows our customers to engage more frequently with self-serve help (knowledgebase), chat, and email. Kayako makes it easier for our staff to troubleshoot and resolve any issues.

Pros

The new interface is very modern and much more exciting than the other interface. It is much faster and friendlier to use. The support is available for questions and bugs, whereas some competitors do not offer support of implementation. The price of the software is a little steep when comparing it to competitors that offer more, but being a Kayako customer for 10+ years on a perpetual license granted us a pretty steep discount that made the pricing make more sense for us.

Cons

I wish they had more features such as ability to get more customer feedback which would help our product development. There are other software similar to Kayako that have a feedback component that allow users to voice their "opinions" and then other users can vote on that. I would like to see this in Kayako and have been asking for about 10 years now.

Customer support across multiple channels.

Pros

Kayako enable our sales team keep track of tickets opened by our customers.We are able to save some of the most asked questions our customers commonly ask the sales team ; ensuring for every time these common questions are asked , it is just a matter of a few mouse click and they get a pre-saved response.
Integration is seamless ,and we currently integrate Kayako with Zapier and our social media platforms.Our integration with Kayako required no single line of code to get this done.
With social media integration , Kayako has enables us offer support to customers and also interact with them on the Facebook and Twitter platforms.Allow us turn leads into customers on social media.

Cons

Support with Kayako can be a bitter ,sweet experience. There have been times when support had been prompt and at other times ,it was a terribly poor experience. The Kayako support department need to be consistent with good ,prompt customer response.

Great application, the only one with the "Follow up" feature.

I don't get any benefits, It's just our ticketing system :)

Pros

Customer support are great, they're really helping and I'm getting a great service.
They're answering tickets really quick as well.

Cons

1. Reports aren't that professional with the Classic Kayako, and the KQL is hard to understand, i believe that you have to make it a bit easier and user friendly.

2. I would like to upgrade to Cloud Kayako, but there is a missing feature which is highly important for me, the "Follow up" feature, this feature letting me create a trigger that will open my ticket after several minutes, this feature implanted only in the Classic Kayako.

3. From the moment you've changed your pricing method, it's a bit expensive.. and while having customers that would like to get reports (most important for them) Kayako Classic at least doesn't give the best value here, i don't know about Cloud Kayako.

Powerful System, Steep Learning Curve

Kayako is where we manage all of our client tickets. It is great for my daily work routine and allows me to stay on top of many tasks at the same time. I have been working with it for 1.5 years and it works great for me now, but the first few months took a long time to get used to. Things are not where you would think they would be. The system is VERY customizable, however, and if you have a person that can put in the work to set the system up, it can be bent to fit your specific company needs.

Pros

Kayako automates a lot of the communication and tracking processes for us. Since my company has put the time into setting up Kayako to meet our companies needs, I am able to focus mostly on client communication and not administrative tasks.

Cons

The system is very particular about what you can and can't do. Things that seem like they would be obviously included do not exist (seeing all open tickets from an organization, for example), and must be either set up manually or gotten to in a roundabout way. Kayako also requires a steep learning curve and is not an intuitive system.

Longtime User

Excellent support system, Kayako assists us with providing great online help desk support via ticket logs and live chat to our clients.

Pros

I like how effective Kayako's support team is. They reply in a timely manner to help fix the issues at hand. I also enjoy how easy it is to use, and allows for employees to stay on top of logged faults, tasks and other items within the system while providing detailed updates to keep the customers in the loop. Kayako has been our main helpdesk software for the past 7 years.

Cons

There is not too much I don't like about Kayako, I believe their live chat incorporation to websites could use some work. It would also be perfect if they can link it to CRM as we currently have to use these separately.

It's great, but we like to be as efficient as possible, which means tabbing through everything.

Easy access to the emails we want, especially from Amazon.

Pros

The look and feel. the customization options and custom insights. Filtering and suspending messages options. Ability to send all the messages we want to our inbox and not the ones we don't want.

Cons

Can't tab through and select "type, priority" etc. quickly without clicking (you could in the old Kayako). Can't forward or CC a message easily. Images and attachments not perfect. A little slow.
I also can't figure out how to remove the "message sent from Kayako" signature. This should not be required since we pay for the product and it can be embarrassing when we're trying to send professional emails, so we opt out and use Outlook for those.