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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    FluentCloud

    Score9.6 out of 10
    Small Businesses (1-50 employees)
    FluentCloud, from FluentStream Technologies, is a dynamic, cloud-based business phone system. FluentCloud includes FluentStream's leading phone system, phone service and customer support team, all in one. The FluentCloud product aims to provide businesses with new telecommunications flexibility, with an emphasis on price and performance. In addition, the vendor offers a wide range of custom applications and communications integration strategies to businesses and software…

    $20

    per user per month

    Zendesk Suite

    Score8.5 out of 10
    N/AZendesk is a customer support solution with built-in ticketing, conversational messaging, and live chat, designed to help businesses of all sizes and industries deliver personalized service at scale. Zendesk's AI agents are trained in CX to help Service teams resolve customer issues faster and more accurately while still providing a human-centered experience. Zendesk ultimately aims to help businesses improve time to value, reduce effort per ticket, and keep costs low.

    $69

    per month per agent

    Pricing
    FluentCloudZendesk Suite
    Editions & Modules
    Essential
    $20.00
    per user per month
    Advanced
    $30.00
    per user per month
    Complete
    $45.00
    per user per month
    Suite Team
    $69
    per month per agent
    Suite Growth
    $115
    per month per agent
    Suite Professional
    $149
    per month per agent
    Suite Enterprise
    Contact Sales
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    FluentCloudZendesk Suite
    Free Trial
    YesYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoYes
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeOptional
    Additional DetailsUnlimited calls to the US and Canada, first-class quality and 99.99% uptime US-based customer support team and fully customizable plans with “A-La-Carte” options.20% discount available with annual pricing.
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    FluentCloudZendesk Suite
    Considered Both Products
    FluentStream Technologies
    No answer on this topic
    Zendesk
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    No answers on this topic
    87%
    Would buy again
    123 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    No answers on this topic
    85%
    Delivers good value for the price
    108 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    No answers on this topic
    92%
    Happy with the feature set
    131 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    No answers on this topic
    85%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    82 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    No answers on this topic
    85%
    Implementation went as expected
    94 Answers
    Features
    FluentCloudZendesk Suite
    Cloud PBX
    Comparison of Cloud PBX features of FluentCloud and Zendesk Suite
    Feature
    FluentCloud
    8.9
    2 Ratings
    12% above category average
    Zendesk Suite
    -
    Ratings
    Hosted PBX9.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Multi-level Interactive Voice Response (IVR)9.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    User templates10.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Call reports7.82 Ratings00 Ratings
    Directory of employee names8.72 Ratings00 Ratings
    Call Management
    Comparison of Call Management features of FluentCloud and Zendesk Suite
    Feature
    FluentCloud
    8.4
    2 Ratings
    2% above category average
    Zendesk Suite
    -
    Ratings
    Answering rules5.62 Ratings00 Ratings
    Call recording9.62 Ratings00 Ratings
    Call park6.92 Ratings00 Ratings
    Call screening10.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Message alerts10.02 Ratings00 Ratings
    VoIP system collaboration
    Comparison of VoIP system collaboration features of FluentCloud and Zendesk Suite
    Feature
    FluentCloud
    7.0
    1 Ratings
    12% below category average
    Zendesk Suite
    -
    Ratings
    Audio conferencing7.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Mobile apps
    Comparison of Mobile apps features of FluentCloud and Zendesk Suite
    Feature
    FluentCloud
    5.0
    1 Ratings
    45% below category average
    Zendesk Suite
    -
    Ratings
    Mobile app for iOS5.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Mobile app for Android5.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Incident and problem management
    Comparison of Incident and problem management features of FluentCloud and Zendesk Suite
    Feature
    FluentCloud
    -
    Ratings
    Zendesk Suite
    8.6
    187 Ratings
    5% above category average
    Organize and prioritize service tickets00 Ratings9.1186 Ratings
    Expert directory00 Ratings7.9127 Ratings
    Subscription-based notifications00 Ratings8.4130 Ratings
    ITSM collaboration and documentation00 Ratings7.8131 Ratings
    Ticket creation and submission00 Ratings9.3186 Ratings
    Ticket response00 Ratings9.0185 Ratings
    Self Help Community
    Comparison of Self Help Community features of FluentCloud and Zendesk Suite
    Feature
    FluentCloud
    -
    Ratings
    Zendesk Suite
    8.5
    169 Ratings
    6% above category average
    External knowledge base00 Ratings8.5163 Ratings
    Internal knowledge base00 Ratings8.4156 Ratings
    Multi-Channel Help
    Comparison of Multi-Channel Help features of FluentCloud and Zendesk Suite
    Feature
    FluentCloud
    -
    Ratings
    Zendesk Suite
    8.4
    182 Ratings
    5% above category average
    Customer portal00 Ratings9.1150 Ratings
    IVR00 Ratings8.076 Ratings
    Social integration00 Ratings7.4119 Ratings
    Email support00 Ratings9.2178 Ratings
    Help Desk CRM integration00 Ratings8.4138 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    FluentCloudZendesk Suite
    Small Businesses
    CallFire
    Score9.7 out of 10
    Help Scout
    Score9.3 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Fuze
    Score8.2 out of 10
    LiveAgent
    Score8.8 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Cisco Unified Communications Manager (Call Manager)
    Score8.3 out of 10
    Front
    Score9.2 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    FluentCloudZendesk Suite
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.6
    (2 ratings)
    8.7
    (225 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    10.0
    (43 ratings)
    Usability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.6
    (98 ratings)
    Availability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (14 ratings)
    Performance
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (11 ratings)
    Support Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    5.5
    (31 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Online Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    6.4
    (10 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (19 ratings)
    Configurability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (4 ratings)
    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Professional Services
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    FluentCloudZendesk Suite
    Likelihood to Recommend
    FluentStream Technologies
    I have tried a few programs over the years to record and track calls and this one is by far the best. Easy to use and more functions than I will ever use. I love the reporting options. There was one particular scenario that comes to mind where I was glad to have FluentCloud. I had a client that was really really angry, cussing, yelling, threatening suit, etc. because he had gone to an appointment almost 2 hours away and when he got there the woman told him that we forced her to schedule the appointment, that we were pushy and rude and she just wanted to get off the phone. Thankfully I found the recording and was able to prove to him that she DID schedule the appointment but she also picked the day and time, answered all of the questions and took absolutely no persuasion at all. Basically it was an easy close. The client couldn't believe it and still to this day he is my client.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Zendesk
    Zendesk is good for small teams where work is not passed along to internal teams or situations where escalations lead to further customer interactions and no further oversight is needed. It is weak as a product for larger and medium-sized companies, where processes are in place that are not aligned with its workflow, as it is a very rigid tool.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    FluentStream Technologies
    • FluentCloud is excellent at customer service, their staff is always helpful and responsive. I have never had a typical service experience where first diagnosis is always the user's system. Their engineering staff is also hands on, I've been so grateful to have Brian's help in selecting the right router - he even configured it for us.
    • Ease of use, the system is quite easy to use even beyond adding extensions, users, new DID phone numbers and complex routing queues. It's also easy to configure feature codes and program them so users can perform multi-step tasks with a few key punches on their dial pad. We use feature codes to allow callers to switch their caller ID to our DID numbers that are local to the area on the fly.
    • Robust features: ability for whisper coaching, barge in and a dashboard to visually check the status of each user.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Zendesk
    • Merging of the tickets with similar issues, it is easy to avoid confusion
    • Al global team somehow gets connected with different ways like Slack, with the Zendesk Suite which is so easier to highlight & the issue quickly
    • The best thing is that this tool gives you to send the message via chat-, email, call through the one single platform
    • Now AI has been added so it works good
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    FluentStream Technologies
    • There are times when calls are really garbled, there was a couple months there that we couldn't listen to any of the recordings because they were not decipherable.
    • They changed something recently where now when you are listening to a recording and you hit pause it takes you back to the beginning when you start again rather than just continuing where you left off. That is a pain in the butt because I have to pause quite often for interruptions.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Zendesk
    • Is there a way for AEs and CSMs to be informed in a weekly summary of all their accounts and any tickets? Example: Disney submitted a ticket on XYZ. Google has an urgent issue on X still unresolved.
    • Is there a way for CSMs or AEs to have a Dashboard that's specific to their accounts instead of seeing all the tickets in the queue that are not relevant to them?
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    FluentStream Technologies
    At this time there our research has found that feature for feature there isn't a better solution for our needs at this cost point. We have had great success and don't foresee a need to change
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Zendesk
    Zendesk is an amazing tool for communicating with your customers easily. The communication tickets from sellers to us or from us to sellers are stored, and there are statuses used to make communication easy. We have internal conversations between departments, linked with useful software such as Zingtree, Talkdesk, and Webs.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    FluentStream Technologies
    No answers on this topic
    Zendesk
    Pros: The agent interface is sleek, contemporary, and relatively easy to learn compared to many other enterprise tools. For common tasks, admins are given point-and-click options- adding fields, modifying workflows, constructing macros. The knowledge base (Guide) editor is easy to use for non-developers. Drawbacks: Once you move past the initial things - complex automations, reporting/analytics in Explore, and/or customizations integrating the API, it requires much more advanced training to use successfully. Navigating between the different modules (Support, Explore, Chat, Guide) can feel very disconnected; often you are reminded that it really is a "suite" of products brought together -not really one unified platform. If you're using multiple brands managing simultaneous support tickets, or heavily customizing workflows to meet your brand, you may run into a bit of struggle with usability. So: it's a lot more user friendly than the palaces (Salesforce Service Cloud, ServiceNow), but is not used as quickly or with as much streamlined flow as a product made for a small shop. So if you are looking for a great balance, this is a good option if you are a net new organization or an organization on their way to scaling from 15 - 50 employee. Expect some elbow grease from the admin team once learning, adapting, and working efficiently once you move past the basics with your support tickets and initial customizations.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    FluentStream Technologies
    No answers on this topic
    Zendesk
    In the past year, I'd say I have only noticed maybe two hours total of downtime in my own usage. Very minimal.
    Read full review
    Performance
    FluentStream Technologies
    No answers on this topic
    Zendesk
    There has been minor performance degradation on a very few days out of the two years I have been using the product.
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    FluentStream Technologies
    No answers on this topic
    Zendesk
    We rarely need to contact their support team, but when we do they are responsive. However there have been notable times when communication between myself and the support rep was challenging despite me providing clear explanation of the issue, screenshots, and a thorough explanation of the goal we hope to achieve. It took several back and forth attempt, on a few occasions, to get resolution on an otherwise simple request
    Read full review
    Online Training
    FluentStream Technologies
    No answers on this topic
    Zendesk
    Zendesk has tons of available material for training - videos, webinars, articles, etc. The only reason this is not a 10 is because it can be hard to figure out how to navigate to these things and find what you are looking for.
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    FluentStream Technologies
    No answers on this topic
    Zendesk
    I was very satisfied. They have a free trial for 30 days and I recommend you do that and use it. It is very easy to get started with the basics and the build on over time.

    The only thing technically complex was single sign-on and integration to Salesforce.com required some tweaks – otherwise setting up system was very easy
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    FluentStream Technologies
    I have used others besides what is listed below but FluentCloud is by far the best I have used, especially when it comes to tracking and reporting call volume and production of our calls. Being a call center that is production based on call volume having something like FluentCloud is essential.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Zendesk
    At the time of evaluation, Dynamics had extremely limited knowledge and support capabilities. The UI is clunky, and reporting requires a deep understanding of the underlying data structure. Ongoing maintenance was costly and didn't provide a positive ROI in any sense of the term.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Scalability
    FluentStream Technologies
    No answers on this topic
    Zendesk
    WHY we will use Zendesk in HR and PD internally
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    FluentStream Technologies
    • FluentCloud is a good value, we have done extensive cost comparison and the feature set vs price is very favorable.
    • The lack of a contract and ability to dynamically add or remove extensions as needed is great, we only pay for what we use.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Zendesk
    • More than anything, provided a boost to our perceived professionalism. The portal is a massive improvement on email only support.
    • Workflow optimization via macros and automations has enhanced response times and raise our 'first call resolution' metric.
    • Speaking of metrics; having them at all! Before Zendesk Suite we were email only so had no insight into agent and vendor performance.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    FluentCloud Screenshots

    Screenshot of Completely hosted VoIP solution with 99.99% uptimeScreenshot of Online web portal with full self-management capabilitiesScreenshot of Full Call Reporting Dashboards

    Zendesk Suite Screenshots

    Screenshot of the Zendesk Agent WorkspaceScreenshot of Omnichannel MessagingScreenshot of Zendesk TicketingScreenshot of Bots powered by Zendesk AIScreenshot of Tone shift with Zendesk AIScreenshot of Zendesk ticketing side conversations