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PowerSchool Unified Classroom Special Programs vs. Zoho Desk

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    PowerSchool Unified Classroom Special Programs

    Score10 out of 10
    N/APowerSchool Unified Classroom Special Programs (Special Education) covers all areas of education including 504 processes, services capture for Medicaid billing, special education case management, gifted and talented, English language learners, and Response to Intervention (RTI). It is a comprehensive system that combines case management with tracking clinical services to ensure the delivery of IEPs and alignment of IEPs to state and local goals. The system is designed to support districts in…N/A

    Zoho Desk

    Score8.3 out of 10
    N/AZoho Support is a Saas help desk / ticketing system aimed at SMBs. I competes most often with Zendesk, and Desk.com.

    $9

    per month per user

    Pricing
    PowerSchool Unified Classroom Special ProgramsZoho Desk
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    Free
    $0
    Express
    $9
    per month per user
    Standard
    $20
    per month per user
    Professional
    $35
    per month per user
    Enterprise
    $50
    per month per user
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    PowerSchool Unified Classroom Special ProgramsZoho Desk
    Free Trial
    NoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoYes
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoYes
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeRequired
    Additional Details—A discount is offered for yearly billing.
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    PowerSchool Unified Classroom Special ProgramsZoho Desk
    Considered Both Products
    PowerSchool Group LLC
    No answer on this topic
    Zoho
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    No answers on this topic
    93%
    Would buy again
    14 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    14 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    No answers on this topic
    87%
    Happy with the feature set
    13 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    No answers on this topic
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    10 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    No answers on this topic
    85%
    Implementation went as expected
    11 Answers
    Features
    PowerSchool Unified Classroom Special ProgramsZoho Desk
    Incident and problem management
    Comparison of Incident and problem management features of PowerSchool Unified Classroom Special Programs and Zoho Desk
    Feature
    PowerSchool Unified Classroom Special Programs
    -
    Ratings
    Zoho Desk
    8.5
    5 Ratings
    4% above category average
    Organize and prioritize service tickets00 Ratings9.05 Ratings
    Expert directory00 Ratings7.14 Ratings
    Subscription-based notifications00 Ratings7.14 Ratings
    ITSM collaboration and documentation00 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Ticket creation and submission00 Ratings8.95 Ratings
    Ticket response00 Ratings8.95 Ratings
    Self Help Community
    Comparison of Self Help Community features of PowerSchool Unified Classroom Special Programs and Zoho Desk
    Feature
    PowerSchool Unified Classroom Special Programs
    -
    Ratings
    Zoho Desk
    9.8
    5 Ratings
    20% above category average
    External knowledge base00 Ratings9.85 Ratings
    Internal knowledge base00 Ratings9.85 Ratings
    Multi-Channel Help
    Comparison of Multi-Channel Help features of PowerSchool Unified Classroom Special Programs and Zoho Desk
    Feature
    PowerSchool Unified Classroom Special Programs
    -
    Ratings
    Zoho Desk
    6.6
    5 Ratings
    19% below category average
    Customer portal00 Ratings8.04 Ratings
    Social integration00 Ratings6.83 Ratings
    Email support00 Ratings6.15 Ratings
    Help Desk CRM integration00 Ratings5.44 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    PowerSchool Unified Classroom Special ProgramsZoho Desk
    Small Businesses
    Bonterra Apricot
    Score9.2 out of 10
    Help Scout
    Score9.3 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Bonterra Apricot
    Score9.2 out of 10
    LiveAgent
    Score8.8 out of 10
    Enterprises
    No answers on this topic
    Front
    Score9.2 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    PowerSchool Unified Classroom Special ProgramsZoho Desk
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    8.8
    (23 ratings)
    Usability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (12 ratings)
    Support Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.8
    (11 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    PowerSchool Unified Classroom Special ProgramsZoho Desk
    Likelihood to Recommend
    PowerSchool Group LLC
    PowerSchool Special Education is well suited in one specific area: special education in elementary, middle and high schools. It works here due to the nature of the platform, which focuses on meeting the needs of students with all disabilities. The software offers information on specific cases, students, as well as Academics. This supports the mission of supporting all students and making it easier for educators, parents, and administration to be more heavily involved in tracking, monitoring and supporting students. When using PowerSchool Special Education, it simplifies the IEP process. Collaboration is one of the best abilities the software provides. There is a need to track program eligibility, including 501 accommodations and Title 1, and in a school with such a large population, the functionality that this software offers to users is important.
    Incentivized
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    Zoho
    Zoho Desk is a great customer service tool. It is very easy to track the ability to receive tickets and send responses in Zoho Desk. There are lots of options for customization. The knowledge base feature is very extensive and powerful. It makes creating internal and external FAQs easy.
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    Pros
    PowerSchool Group LLC
    • It provides all the documents necessary for supporting federal and state laws in regards to the special education program.
    • Extremely effective in helping to meet reporting standards for students. Teachers that fall behind on deadlines or timelines are given reminders and provided with processes to monitor progress and reporting.
    • Case management is easy, which leads to 100% compliance. This is important because the best strength is that this platform helps to increase funding by meeting all requirements of the Fed and State.
    • An additional strength is the collaborative potential it offers. The platform offers student portals to let staff access all resources on demand.
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    Zoho
    • It provides a simple widget code with a few clicks once you decide to integrate it with your website or application.
    • There is a very user friendly dedicated mobile application for Zoho Desk for Android and IOS devices.
    • You can easily track all of your tickets and agents from the dashboard interface.
    • You can insert tags with each ticket to group them into specific categories for analysis and troubleshooting.
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    Cons
    PowerSchool Group LLC
    • In terms of improvement, the interface is extremely ugly and simple in design, color and icon design. The platform needs to have a much more interactive and appealing interface so that use is more comfortable.
    • For parents, their side of the platform has a lot of options. That needs to be simplified. I think less and more drop downs within the key menus would help.
    • The disability codes are very lengthy. Perhaps there are easier or faster ways to access subsections to select.
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    Zoho
    • The biggest drawback that I am facing while using the platform is that their ticketing system is not that great [in my opinion]. It does not give us the option to add sales tax and other charges in the invoices which leads to a big problem for us.
    • [I feel] its customer support needs improvement.
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    Usability
    PowerSchool Group LLC
    No answers on this topic
    Zoho
    I give [Zoho Desk] [an] overall usability score of 9. This is partly due to the search functionality needs improvement. There are several times where I am left unable to find a ticket and have to generate a new one. I am hoping in the future that they will make some changes!
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    Support Rating
    PowerSchool Group LLC
    No answers on this topic
    Zoho
    As Zoho Support is based in a different timezone to ours it can be an issue that we cannot get an immediate response to an issue. But I will say that once their Support is in the office they are fairly good to respond. they have resolved almost all issues I have told them about, but Zoho have also made system changes and not communicated these beforehand which means we are faced with something new and cannot get support on this until their support team is in the office
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    Alternatives Considered
    PowerSchool Group LLC
    There is no other software on the market that is specifically focused on improving the support of special education programs. PowerSchool Special Education system has a similar interface and structure that Moodle Rooms offer; however, Moodle Rooms is for content management and student management. PowerSchool Special Education is not related to course curriculum management, it is primarily focused on special education programs. Managing special education programs can be very difficult and stressful. It is impossible to successfully comply and healthily support a special education program without tools such as PowerSchool Special Education. Even more important than what other software does do for schools and educators, this platform makes it more convenient for families. Electronic forms and parent portals make processes easier.
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    Zoho
    We selected Zoho Desk as we needed a platform that was going to allow the business to grow through both usage and staffing numbers. We wanted something cost-effective but still offered standard features in an effective cloud-delivered solution but would still allow customization by our internal dev team, to derive better value from the service where it natively didn't do what we needed it to. FreeAgent was okay for a while, but Zoho Desk has allowed a vast improvement in our service offering to end customers.
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    Return on Investment
    PowerSchool Group LLC
    • There is also a positive impact on ROI for the school. Utilizing this software provides the school with the ability to increase the potential it receives in Title 1 funding. Title 1 funding is a major source of funding for inner-city schools in particular.
    • Normally, the IEP and tracking process is lengthy, filled with paper, and often takes more time than necessary. Utilizing this software speeds up the process and provides clear requirements to be met, which reduces the number of questions and confusing meetings or papers left in teacher mailboxes.
    • I have not experienced a negative return on investment with the software, because, without it, the paper trail would be too lengthy and the process would be much more convoluted, with long meetings, long sheets of paperwork, and missed deadlines due to a lack of clear collaboration.
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    Zoho
    • Zoho Desk has created an organised sytem of support which alows me to help my customers more efficiently.
    • By saving resolutions as articles, Zoho Desk has provided a training resource for current customers and support staff as part of solving problems.
    • All new customers become part of a database of customers who continue to receive support and education from forums created by the articles and customer questions.
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    ScreenShots

    PowerSchool Unified Classroom Special Programs Screenshots

    Screenshot of IEP Progress reportScreenshot of IEP considerations

    Zoho Desk Screenshots

    Screenshot of Log and monitor phone conversations, convert them into new tickets, or attach them to existing ones. Convert social media interactions and live chat into tickets at the click of a button.Screenshot of Bring a Help Center directly into a website to strengthen self-service. Chat with Zia, an AI-powered conversation assistant. Customers can chat with Zia right from a mobile app or website. Zia processes their questions and suggests appropriate solutions from the Knowledge Base.Screenshot of With advanced process automation, internal processes can be setup within the help desk, implement them automatically, and make sure that all processes are followed precisely.Screenshot of Instant responses for instant happiness. Respond to customers the minute they reach out with Zoho Desk's embeddable chat widget. Customers can get in touch with agents instantly, right from the Help Center, so agents can respond and help them find answers faster.Screenshot of Monitor a team's performance, customize and schedule reports. Custom dashboards can be created.Screenshot of Zia brings together predictions across anomalies, sentiment, trending ticket tags, and more into a common dashboard for decision-makers to consume. They can drill down further into the details from the same dashboard to investigate further.