Zammad has established itself as our main tool for customer support

Why Zammad?

In today's time, awareness of digital sovereignty is stronger than ever, and the demand for alternative and independent IT solutions is steadily increasing. In the past, Open Circle used Kayako as a helpdesk tool for managing and monitoring support tickets, which was integrated with the company's cockpit - the customer and management portal. However, Zammad was not unknown: Open Circle was formed three years ago from the merger of two IT companies, with the smaller company already successfully using Zammad.

"When a life cycle of the previous tool was due, we seized the opportunity and evaluated Zammad, which some of us were already familiar with. It quickly became clear that Zammad not only had a more modern look and feel but could also be easily integrated into our existing systems. Moreover, as an open-source tool, it aligns perfectly with our company values, not least because digital sovereignty and self-hosting are important criteria for us. The cloud licensing model of Kayako was no longer an option", Pascal recalls.

How did the transition go?

A longer testing phase was not necessary since Zammad had already proven itself, and some of the employees had prior experience with it. Nevertheless, there were the usual challenges that come with such a transition. One of these challenges was the difference in how the two tools functioned, which required adjustments in workflows and corresponding training.

Thanks to the flexibility of Zammad, some features, such as team-related ticket statuses, could be recreated without much effort. Therefore, the transition overall was straightforward", Pascal explained. "The functionalities we had partially replicated from Kayako, which were known and valued by the team, could all be phased out during an optimization round a few months later. They became unnecessary in the Zammad workflow that had been internalized in the meantime.

How is the daily routine with Zammad?

Zammad is used across various teams at Open Circle. In addition to the support team, the helpdesk is also utilized by the accounting and procurement teams for task management and communication with suppliers and customers.

With over 50 closed tickets per day, the support team is, of course, the primary user. The helpdesk has significantly improved communication with customers and collaboration among support staff: "Since implementing Zammad, our support has become considerably more efficient, not least due to the reduction of other tools and the ability to handle many work processes directly through Zammad."

In addition to channeling and addressing customer inquiries, the helpdesk also serves to track the workload and the services provided. For Pascal, this is a clear benefit of Zammad: "It creates transparency towards our customers, and we can quickly and easily generate reports within the ticketing system."

What is the verdict?

The teams at Open Circle that use Zammad daily wouldn't want to do without the helpdesk anymore. On the contrary, they are still testing additional features and exploring the full potential of Zammad. This requires additional effort, which Pascal views positively: "In the long run, it pays off. The more successfully we can map and optimize our processes in Zammad, the more efficient and profitable we become. This makes Zammad a crucial contributor to our business goals."

What does the future look like?

Zammad is set to become the primary tool for support in the future. However, one important feature was still missing - advanced time tracking directly within the helpdesk. "So far, the support team manually transferred the recorded times into the RTM tool, a time management system we use for reporting." That's about to change, as Zammad 6.1 now brings the solution, in which Open Circle was involved as an input provider and sponsor. We at Zammad are very proud of the collaborative implementation and grateful to Open Circle for sponsoring the Time Accounting Feature.