Item: Grasshopper
Rating: 8
Author: Becky Jewell Laughton

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Our small organization uses Grasshopper across the board for business related calls and support calls.

The sales team and support team both use Grasshopper, as well as our executive team.

Grasshopper solves the problem of needing to have customer phone calls routed to the cellphones of individual reps, without revealing the personal cell numbers of each rep. Our organization is extremely 'on' and involved, and we like to use mobile phones and cellphones with our clients instead of desk phones.

Pros and Cons

Call forwarding - Grasshopper forwards calls to my cell easily
Voicemail transcription - if a customer leaves a voicemail, the transcription is pretty accurate and it is funneled into our ticketing management system, Intercom
Simplicity - There aren't a lot of bells and whistles on our particular Grasshopper plan, and I like it this way. It makes calling as simple as picking up the phone, instead of a heavy data entry task.

I think the interface UI could use a facelift designwise. Some users don't like changes, but perhaps Grasshopper could create a new look for the dashboard without changing the placement of buttons. It just looks a bit dated but not terrible.
What I like best about Grasshopper is it is very simple and there aren't a ton of UI options, but a more formal integration with Salesforce would be good. Right now I believe integration can only be made via third party apps.

Return on Investment

Grasshopper has been positive overall because it is inexpensive and agile/easy to use
Our customers are happy that they can reach us easily, and our reps are happy to use their phones mobilely
Integration with G-suite and intercom is great - saves time and keeps us from having to waste time logging calls

Alternatives Considered

Freshdesk and Zendesk

I like using Grasshopper for phone calls and Intercom for chat support more than I liked using Zendesk for calls.

Freshdesk was okay but it was not as good as Intercom. Overall I'd rather just have Grasshopper and Intercom working in tandem, because web based calling apps where I have to take calls on a computer can be a bit finicky. I just like how Grasshopper goes to my mobile phone with no fuss.

Other Software Used

UberConference, Zoom

Likelihood to Recommend

Grasshopper is great for small and agile teams who just need to make calls and get the job done. It's customizable and flexible and it is simple, great for a company of under 200 people where representatives want to be mobile, and who are very invested in their calls. IE, in a company where you're okay with taking calls later at night or on the weekend, Grasshopper is awesome.

I am not sure if Grasshopper would be my choice if I managed a company of over 500 people. I'd probably go for a more networked solution, but that said, as our company scales, we will continue to use Grasshopper.

Simple Solution for the Mobile Workforce

Overall Satisfaction with Grasshopper