FreePBX vs. Zendesk Chat

FreepBX is a great product if you are able and willing to manage your own PBX system. It requires some know-how to set up but once running, it works very well. There is a large community that helps answer questions, but it isn't "plug and play" so you will need to be able to research and troubleshoot your own issues (or pay for support).

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Zendesk Chat is suited for all the support teams that provide real-time assistance. Like if someone wants to block the debit/credit card, it is a high-priority case that needs real-time assistance. Whereas issues like close my account, and invoice request doesn't need real-time assistance, where Zendesk tickets support will be perfect.

• Standard telephony.
• VM to email.
• Firewall
• Expandable extensions.

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• Extremely fluid chat interface allows for easy communication.
• It can be used directly on a website page or as a widget.
• Allows the end user to translate the chat into their own native language.
• Notifies you with pending chats via on-screen notifications and sound effects.

• Phone integration/firmware can be clunky and has a learning curve.
• Relies on crowd sourcing information as expected for open-source.
• Requires some moderate expertise for setup.

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• Linking with a telephone, so the agent is only working on 1 channel at a time
• More simplified way to create and use templates
• Link users who may have provided us a new/different email from what we have on file for them

Due to staffing issues, we have temporarily stopped offering chat as an available channel. We're also interested in the best ways to integrate chat with our FAQs and AI to provide quick responses, either during off-hours or prior to speaking with a live agent. I've also found that reporting is rather limited where some of the interesting and useful data made available and visible during the chat cannot be pulled post-chat; it would be great to pull a high-level report so we can analyze this data.

It works well, there isn't much more to say. You can get a free ($0) phone system packed with features, then if you need even more features then the cost is extremely cheap, and it works well. On top of this, you have complete freedom in the PBX to do as you wish, and debug and see everything

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As mentioned previously, it's a clunky product that lacks user-friendliness. It feels old and behind the times compared to other products we have used. The inability to have a wrap-up time before a new chat comes in is also a big issue for our team.

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Getting assistance and/or troubleshooting anything with Zendesk can be quite frustrating. In my years of experience with Zednesk, I have almost never found the answer to my question without going through multiple articles, ultimately getting frustrated and reaching out to our contact for more assistance. So for a consumer, the support is not as relieving as Zendesk Chat is to our customers in getting the questions answered by us.

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3CX may be slightly easier for a novice to use, but FreePBX completely beats it when you remove that factor. You can do anything you want, and debug and see everything. Now with AI its even easier to debug and learn how the PBX works if you hit an issue

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Zendesk Chat is far more user friendly than some of the other competitors on the market. It has a very all the features that you require to ensure your customers are contacted in 'real time'. Its main tools include a live chat interface for quick communication, customisable chat widgets to fit your brand, mobile responsiveness for all devices, and canned responses for common questions. The platform can also start chats based on visitor actions, like time on a page or exit intent. A real must for any leading company

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• Drastically reduced our direct telephony cost as we don't need to have the hardware and support.
• Very functional and added new functionality that we did not have previously.

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• Positive impact - Compared to our old system, this newly updated system provides features and functionality that has increased our agent productivity and provided customer insight like we've never had before. This has resulted in fewer hold times and higher customer satisfaction.
• Negative impact - Our reporting team still struggles with obtaining the right information from time to time with the chats. This leads to loss of productivity and more resources dedicated to reporting.
• Positive impact - Due to Zopim's embed, we are able to more successfully place them on the appropriate self-service portals and pages, reaching a larger audience, and being more readily available to answer our client's questions. This has resulted in an increase in our self-service portal usage, driving down the phone and email support channels, which in turn reduces support costs.

Incentivized

Independently Invited by TrustRadius

A de minimis incentive was given to thank the reviewer for their time. The incentive was not used to bias or drive a particular response, nor was the incentive contingent on a positive endorsement. More Info