Spoke is a great new ML-assisted service desk system!
May 27, 2019
Spoke is a great new ML-assisted service desk system!
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Spoke
Spoke is being used by our IT department, as well as subsets of HR and facilities. We initially looked at Spoke because we were unsatisfied with the way our existing ticketing software worked with communication channels such as Slack. We wanted a ticketing platform that would reach our team and our users where they communicated most, as well as one that was all inclusive and cost-effective -- a far cry from the prominent platforms of today, which have tons of add-ons and charge exorbitant costs for “agents." For an internal facing helpdesk, Spoke is cost-effective, easy to use, and easy to administer. As a new technology, they also have a short development cycle, and implement improvements and new features frequently, as well as taking the time to form relationships with their customers.
Pros
- Machine learning: Spoke learns the answers to common questions and will offer answers when people submit requests.
- Simple licensing: Straightforward, per-user licensing, that doesn’t require add-ons or hidden costs to use it fully.
- Great customer relationship: Spoke is a hands-on partner in our organization, listening to our feedback and implementing our ideas.
- Fast development cycle: The process, from the conception of new features to their general release, can be as short as a few weeks.
Cons
- Some limited functionality: As a new product, Spoke came to the table with a pretty limited set of features, but they are adding more all the time!
- Not suitable for customer-facing support! I don’t feel that this is a negative thing, but something for people to understand before they buy.
- Improved workload tracking: More requests are tracked because of available communication channels.
- Saved time with auto resolves: Because Spoke can answer common requests with no interaction from us, we have more time to spend on other work.
- De-formalising the ticket process: IT are people too! And now our users feel more comfortable when ticketing is simplified.
Spoke is just... easier. Easier to set up and easier to use, for both admins and users. We already have asset management and didn’t necessarily need our ticketing system to be directly connected to it. We wanted a product that was friendly to use, not crazy expensive, and didn’t require us to purchase an implementation package and/or a multi-day training package to roll-out. It’s not rocket science!
Spoke Feature Ratings
Evaluating Spoke and Competitors
Yes - We replaced Zendesk, and we wanted to replace it for a couple of reasons:
- Administering it and learning to administer it was incredibly tedious. There were so many options and plugins to add on more options, and it was a hassle.
- New features were almost always added for an additional cost, so we basically never got anything new because we didn’t want to spend the money.
- It was expensive. We were on grandfathered pricing that was much cheaper than current list prices, and it was still more expensive to have around a dozen agents than the pricing for 500 users on Spoke, which is priced per user.
- The admin UI sucked. Seriously, if looking at a something reminds me of Windows XP, it can’t be called modern.
- Price
- Product Features
- Product Usability
- Positive Sales Experience with the Vendor
We were blown away by how easy Spoke was to set up and use, and were willing to pay quite a bit for it. But then we discovered that it was actually less expensive than our current product, with no extra add-ons for premium features like auto-answer or limits on the number of agents. Incredible.
I mean... we could have evaluated more products, but we actually weren’t looking to replace or existing product when we stumbled onto Spoke. We tested, prepped, and rolled it out in less than four weeks. If your primary need is something that’s easy to use, this is it.
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