Zendesk Brings Help Desk to the iPad

With today’s release of a help desk application running on Apple’s iPad, Zendesk is helping to shake up the classic image of help desk support as someone crouched over a monitor with a headset.

The company said that in addition to moving its help desk app to another mobile platform, Zendesk for iPad also has new features. For example, the mobile help desk app includes access to a real-time list of the tickets assigned to help desk agents and the ability to easily bookmark a ticket to respond to it later, or use it for future reference.

Zendesk’s chief operating officer, Zack Urlocker, said his company equipped its own support team with the iPad help desk app to good effect.

“This is not a port, it’s a hundred percent native iPad application,” Urlocker told InternetNews.com. “It’s a really nice interface and fits well with our mobile strategy, which is that you should be able to offer service and support to customers anytime you need to wherever you are. With the iPad help desk app, you could be home on the couch or riding on a train and still be able to check in.”

Zendesk for iPad has both traditional reactive and newer proactive features for help desk personnel. For example, agents can proactively check Twitter for complaints about a product or service. “We let you bring that into the knowledgebase in a unified way,” said Urlocker. “You see someone complaining about something on Twitter, you can send them a direct message and convert it to a help desk ticket and then we give you options to follow up via email or IM and keep all that information in one place regardless of where the conversation happens.”

The help desk app is also designed to facilitate sending bulk responses to multiple users with similar issues. For example, a common solution might be a shortened URL of an article explaining a fix from the company’s knowledge base.

Urlocker also said Zendesk integrates with other cloud-based services like Salesforce, Google Analytics and 60 other systems.

Zendesk for iPad is the company’s first tablet version of the company’s help desk software which already is available for BlackBerry, iPhone and Android devices. Zendesk said it’s had over 80,000 downloads for the mobile version and is the leading provider of Web-based help desktop software used by more than 5,000 businesses including Adobe, Rackspace Cloud, Groupon, OpenTable and Twitter.

Zendesk is available for a free 30-day trial. A $9 per agent, per month Starter version covers basic mail and Web help desk features for up to three agents. The more advanced Regular and Plus versions are $29 and $59 per agent per month with an additional discount for annual billing.

Zendesk for iPad

David Needle is the West Coast bureau chief at InternetNews.com, the news service of Internet.com, the network for technology professionals.

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