Press Release

Zammad 4.0: Helpdesk System Improves Collaboration and Reporting

· On March 25, 2021, Zammad will take the next step with its version 4.0 and release new reporting options, helpful integrations, a mentions / watch function, and an improved responsive design. Thus, the open-source solution is increasingly positioning itself as a clear alternative to the big players on the market.

  • The alternative to Zendesk and OTRS now integrates even better into enterprise environments
  • Fourth consecutive year of stable customer and revenue growth of 80 percent
  • Right on trend: Zammad impresses as permanently free-to-use open-source software

Today, Zammad introduced version 4.0 of its helpdesk and IT support solution. The developers have focused on features for use in an enterprise environment, improving collaboration and reporting. Key highlights include "mentions" and significantly more comprehensive reporting. Service agents can now tag colleagues directly in the body text of an existing ticket for joint problem-solving. This relieves the second-level support, and more complex requests will quickly reach the appropriate contact person. In addition, Zammad customers can now create organization-specific reports and evaluations with just a few clicks and export the information they contain or integrate it into external dashboards. This is made possible through the integration of Grafana and Kibana. Organizations can, for example, evaluate resolution times and service quality, identify recurring issues and the associated problems, or provide management with a report on the utilization of their service desk.

Customer Quote

PCO AG has already tried the new functions of Zammad 4.0 in the beta phase and is pleased with the increase in efficiency they have seen: "In our large team, the Mentions feature leads to a significant increase in productivity, as agents now stay informed even without being assigned a ticket, and can provide immediate assistance. It's also easier for our agents to find tickets that take longer to process and to add information to them," says Tobias Riedl, Customer Support at PCO AG, developer and producer of high-end camera systems.

Open Source Success Story: Growth and Further Development

The numbers show that Zammad is on the right track with its strategy: "We have been able to increase the number of customers and sales by 80 percent per year for the fourth year in a row, and our entire team is very proud of this result," says Martin Edenhofer, founder and CEO of Zammad. "We started Zammad four years ago in the very competitive market of helpdesk solutions. Reliability, innovation and trust are what count most for success. We have received a lot of positive feedback and have been able to impress with regular innovations, top support and our long-term Zammad foundation."

The Most Important Features of Zammad 4.0

  • Collaborate and delegate faster with the Mentions and Watch feature: By entering @@Name, the relevant colleague is tagged and automatically receives a notification. They can follow the ticket as an observer and collaborate on a solution. Once this is done or the issue is no longer relevant, they can "unfollow" it at any time.
  • Advanced reporting through integration with Grafana and Kibana: The new release offers extensive, individually configurable reporting on all information stored in Zammad through integration with Grafana and Kibana. Thus, pre-built dashboards can be branded with company branding and saved in various formats or transferred to third-party systems.
  • Graphical evaluations through integration with Grafana: Trends and developments can be forecast through a modern graphical representation in Grafana. Grafana is able to evaluate data from numerous sources such as InfluxDB, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Prometheus and Graphite. Users receive meaningful and understandable insights into the company's key performance indicators (KPIs) and performance - and can insert them directly into management presentations.
  • Integration for GitLab and GitHub: The new integration with the popular code repositories connects GitLab and GitHub issues to Zammad tickets for greater clarity and efficiency. As a result, a support agent can directly see the correlations with customer requests/issues and provide feedback directly to the customer when issues are resolved.
  • Better responsive design for mobile devices: The responsive design of the user interface has been significantly improved using modern CSS. This allows users and service agents to use Zammad even more intuitively on tablets and smartphones, and to find and provide information more quickly.

A list of all features and changes can be found in the release notes.

What is Zammad?

Zammad is a web-based helpdesk and support system. It works with any modern web browser and has various features that allow organizations of any size to receive, process, and efficiently resolve requests. The key advantage: Thanks to its intuitive user interface, Zammad can be used without expensive training. The modern web app bundles all requests in one central location, so that employees or teams can receive enquiries in many different ways, such as email, phone, Slack, chat, Facebook, Telegram, or Twitter, answer them, or delegate them to their colleagues. A modernly designed dashboard informs management in real time about the current numbers, provides information about existing tickets, their processing status, and the latest actions. Customers can also view the status of their requests at any time.

  • 2020
    No cloud constraint: customers will always have the freedom to self-host Zammad; Nextcloud integration; connection to ServiceNow.
  • 2019
    Four years, over four hundred paying customers, 300,000 downloads; Version 3 with integrated knowledge base.
  • 2017
    With version 2, Zammad sets out to become an OTRS alternative; LDAP and Exchange integration; migration wizards.
  • 2016
    Leaner, more modern, more user-friendly, and with a clear promise: "Forever Open Source" - Launch of Zammad as the ticket system of the future; first feature update with Slack and Sipgate integration as well as REST API.

Price and Availability

Zammad 4.0 is already available and, as open-source software, completely free of charge for self-hosting. At https://zammad.org/, in addition to the source code, ready-made installation packages for CentOS, Debian, Ubuntu as well as ready-made Docker containers can be downloaded.
Zammad's cloud solution can be found at https://zammad.com/ and is available in various configurations. Depending on requirements, customers can opt for the Starter, Professional, or Plus packages, book them online, and go live within a very short time. The cloud version of Zammad is hosted exclusively in German data centers and is also available with a Data Processing Agreement and ISO 27001 certification.
Prices range from EUR 5 to EUR 26 per agent per month, depending on the package and payment method. For operation on company-owned servers (On-Premise), Zammad offers various support packages. Prices start at EUR 2,499 per year. Further information on prices and services can be found here.

The Technical Basis

Launched in October 2016, the open-source software is based on current web technologies such as WebApp/HTML5, WebSockets, and REST in the frontend and relies on Ruby on Rails in the backend. Thanks to its fully comprehensive REST API, Zammad can be easily implemented in existing system environments. In addition, solutions such as Slack, Asterisk, Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft Active Directory (LDAP), Clearbit, sipgate.io, Placetel, Twilio (SMS), GitHub, GitLab, i-doit, Monit, Nagios, Zabbix, Check_MK, and Icinga can be integrated into Zammad.

Source Code Owned by a Foundation

Zammad is (and will forever remain) open-source software. The associated source code is licensed under GNU AGPLv3. It is available for download on GitHub and can be used free of charge and developed further independent of manufacturers. The owner is the Zammad Foundation. By taking this step, company founder Martin Edenhofer has ensured from the outset that the software remains open-source and that users are free to decide at any time whether they want to host it on their own server systems or operate it from a cloud provider of their choice. You can find more information about the Zammad Foundation here.

About Zammad

Zammad is the most popular open-source helpdesk and customer support platform for businesses of all sizes and industries. The numerous smart features and integrations set Zammad apart from other vendors. The ticketing system is based on the familiar use of web browsers, tablets, or smartphones and can be easily operated by everyone. Behind the project is an experienced team of developers led by Martin Edenhofer, who already launched the successful ticket system OTRS in 2001, among others. Zammad GmbH's customers include DeLonghi, the Swiss large-format printer manufacturer swissQprint, Gansel Rechtsanwälte, the photo printing specialist myposter, the Linuxhotel in Essen, and one of Germany's leading media companies.

Signup
Together we turn your customers into fans.
Start free trial!
Newsletter
All releases and news directly in your inbox.
Subscribe to the newsletter