Why we moved from salesforce's desk.com to freshdesk

We recently moved eLagaan's support system from desk.com to Freshdesk. We just wanted to share our experience and reasoning of why we did this.

eLagaan was using Assitly which later became Salesforce's Desk.com. However we were not too happy with some of the missing features, but we were hopeful that the big daddy Salesforce.com will invest more money and we should have some of these obvious features.
But after waiting long enough, we started looking around for a better solution to enhance our user experience. We looked at many systems including revisiting desk.com, zendesk, OTRS, zoho & freshdesk.

desk.com has some good features. However some of the things that bothered us was:
1. Slow in feature releases
2. No way to allow customers to review their support request (past & new thru web)
3. Cost was high, add another agent and you pay $49/month

So why Freshdesk apart from the fact that they have a fresh design and a intuitive interface:
1. We needed a way for our customer to review and comment on their case. Freshdesk does an awesome job creating a login id for every case that opens
2. Price, we just loved the fact that first agent is free & any additional are $9/month. Hence overtime as we grow, our price is going to be manageable.
3. They seem to be adding features faster then anyone else. It shows they are hungry, and we will probably see more innovation from them in the future. In case of desk.com we saw the feature additions were more towards things like salesforce api etc, which are great features, but being a startup we needed more features locally then integration

Ofcourse there are few areas we would like Freshdesk to improve on (I don't think others have it either):
1. A way to open tickets via sms or notify people/agents via sms on updates
2. A good way to open case when called via phone (its not very complicated guys)
3. A way to subscribe users who open a case with us to a mailing list
4. Mobile support - don't need an app, but optimize it for mobile web

Overall we are very happy with Freshdesk for providing a great service for very reasonable price, thank you Freshdesk !

And in this war of Freshdesk Vs Desk.com , Freshdesk has our business !

eLagaan to Sponsor Startup Weekend Delhi Education, India - Apr'2012

eLagaan is happy to be a sponsor company registration & other business services in the upcoming Startup Weekend Delhi Education to be held on April'13 - April'15 2012.

About Startup Weekend Delhi Education:

Startup Weekend Education is an innovative, non-profit, community-building event that brings together entrepreneurs of all backgrounds including software developers, designers, marketers and educators to build teams and credible businesses over an intense 54-hour weekend. Attendees have 60 seconds to make a pitch (optional), the pitches are whittled down and teams form around the top ideas. Next the teams proceed through a rapid roller-coaster of idea refinement fueled by expert coaching and customer validation. Finally, the weekend culminates with demonstrations of sustainable solutions to education problems in front of a panel of judges and potential investors. We tackle big problems like communication, access, cost, delivery methods and content availability all in the pursuit of making the act of teaching and learning more effective and accessible to all.

For more details visit http://delhiedu.startupweekend.org/

eLagaan to deliver a workshop at TiE, Bangalore on "Business Structure for Startups"

eLagaan will be delivering a workshop about "Business Structure For Startups" on March 21'2012 at TiE, Bangalore. Its a great workshop for entrepreneur's who are looking to start a company soon, or have have just started their business.

Short Introduction to the topic :

Entrepreneurs tend to overlook lots of factors and issues while setting up their new venture/ business. In today’s agile scenario, similar ignorance could be very expensive. Attend this workshop to know what it takes to structure your business and how a business structure impacts you in short term and long term.

Take aways from the workshop:

Strategic view of various legal and compliance issues related to doing business in India.

For more details please visit http://bangalore.tie.org/event/8/business-structure-startups .

Pricing (charged by TiE):

Member : Rs 550/-

Charter Member : Rs 550/-

Non-Member : Rs 1,000/-

Location

TiE Office

3rd Floor,'A' wing, Divyashree Chambers, Langford Road,

Shantinagar, Next to Karnataka Hockey Stadium

Bangalore 560025

India

To learn about TiE bangalore visit http://bangalore.tie.org/

Listen to eLagaan on Mera Sangeet's - Chai & Chat with Kanwal on NRI issues

NRI's, eLagaan team will be talking at the upcoming radio show at Mera Sangeet, Chai & Chat with Kanwal !

We will talk about various NRI related queries related to taxation, starting a business & much more. Some of the topics covered would be:

1. PAN Card - What is it, why you need it & how to get it

2. Digital signature

3. Form 15-CA / Form 15-CB for repatriating your money from India to your country

4. Starting a business in India for NRI & Foreigners

5. Basics of business structures

6. What does it take to run a business in India, licences, returns, taxes, payroll and many more

7. Import Export Licence

8. Tax returns for NRIs in India

The interview will be airing on Tuesday, March 20. The show timings would be:

US Times (Eastern Times) - 11:00 AM, 3:00 PM, 8:00 PM, 12:00 AM, 5 AM

US Times (Pacific Times) - 8:00 AM, 12:00 PM, 5:00 PM, 9:00 PM, 2 AM

India Times - 8:30 PM, 12:30 AM, 5:30 AM (Saturday), 9:30 AM, 2:30 PM (Sunday)

For more details please visit http://www.merasangeet.com/content/navin-kumarco-founder-vikash-r-headusa-operation-elagaancom-our-radio-show-chat-and-chai

About Mera Sangeet:

Mera Sangeet is 24 X 7 Bollywood music, live RJs news and more. Listen and feel the difference. Their RJ’s will delight you with engaging programs, interviews and talk shows, blogs, forums, Bollywood news and much. Find out more about them at http://www.merasangeet.com/

And to follow the work of the very dynamic Kanwal visit http://www.merasangeet.com/hindi/radio/rj/blog/kanwal

eLagaan to sponsor Khantastic Music Concert - Santa Clara, California

eLagaan is proud to be a sponsor of upcoming - the EasternWinds Khantastic Concert at the Santa Clara Convention Center, California, a show by Eastern Winds Music Band.

And it's all for a good cause...Part of the profits from the Khantastic Music Concert will benefit
the Akshaya Trust, Madurai Tamil Nadu. The Akshaya Trust was founded by Mr.
Narayanan Krishnan, recepient of the CNN 2010 Hero Award.Unwind and relax with

some good music!

CNN Hero Narayanan Krishnan gave up a career as a chef to feed the homeless three meals a day in Madurai, India. Meet Narayanan Krishnan in person on Sat March 24 at the EasternWinds Khantastic Concert. Santa Clara Convention Center Theater. 3:30 - 7:30 PM. Tickets $20, $15, $10 at www.easternwinds.org

eLagaan to participate in Santa Clara University's Startup Expo

eLagaan is happy to announce that we will be participating in the upcoming Startup Expo @ Santa Clara University at the heart of Silicon Valley, California. The event is being organized by the Santa Clara Entrepreneurs Organization (SCEO), SCU's career center & Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE), as an effort to connect the Student of the prestigious university with the up & coming Statups.

We invite all the Santa Clara University students to come chat with us & learn about the next cool thing we are working on. And hopefully some of you may end up working with us !

To lean more about the event visit http://bit.ly/xPGe08

About Santa Clara University :

Located in the heart of California's Silicon Valley, Santa Clara University offers a rigorous undergraduate curriculum in the arts and sciences, business, and engineering. It has nationally recognized graduate and professional schools in business, law, engineering, pastoral ministries,counseling psychology, education and theology.The 8,846-student, Jesuit, Catholic university draws on a more than 450-year-tradition of educating the whole person for a life of service and leadership. This diverse community of scholars, characterized by small classes and a values-oriented curriculum, is dedicated to educating students for competence, conscience, and compassion.

Santa Clara University, founded in 1851 by the Society of Jesus as "Santa Clara College," is California's oldest operating institution of higher learning. It was established on the site of Mission Santa Clara de Asís, the eighth of the original 21 California missions.The "college" originally operated as a preparatory school and did not offer courses of collegiate rank until 1853. Following the Civil War, enrollment increased and by 1875, the size of the student body was 275. One-third of the students were enrolled in the collegiate division; the remainder attended the college's preparatory and high school departments.

Santa Clara experienced slow and steady growth during its first 60 years, becoming "The University of Santa Clara" in 1912, when the schools of engineering and law were added. In 1925, the high school was separated from the University taking the name of Bellarmine College Preparatory in 1928.The Leavey School of Business opened in 1926 and within a decade it became one of the first business schools in the country to receive national accreditation.For 110 years, Santa Clara was an all-male school. In 1961, women were accepted as undergraduates and Santa Clara became the first coeducational Catholic university in California. The number of students tripled over the next decade. The size of the faculty also tripled and the University began the largest building program in school history, building eight residence halls, a student union, and the athletic stadium.In the early 1970s, the Board of Trustees voted to limit the size of the undergraduate population, an action that was intended to preserve the character and ensure the quality of the University for generations to come.In 1985, the University adopted Santa Clara University as its official name.

The 106-acre campus is located in Santa Clara, Calif., at the southern tip of the San Francisco Bay, approximately two miles from San Jose International Airport. The University enjoys a moderate climate year-round; the sun shines approximately 300 days a year.At the center of the campus is Mission Santa Clara de Asís, surrounded by the roses and palm trees of the historic Mission Gardens. The more than 50 buildings on campus include residence halls, two libraries, a student center, and extensive athletic facilities.