5 Best Halp Alternatives

1. Thena

Thena is an excellent Halp alternative for internal help desk solutions. The tool enables employees to submit ticket requests without leaving their Slack workspace. As more than 70% of employees planning on continuing to work remotely, the lengthy self-service forms and endless back and forth on IT tickets need to be addressed with speed. Thena uses conversation threads to identify potential issues and flag them to your relevant teams for action.

Key Features

With the help of Thena, you can set up several employee experience-focused channels from HR to Finance and IT to provide full 360 support to your workforce and create a smoother onboarding experience. As a Halp alternative, Thena helps to remove the risk of tickets getting lost in the system, integrating all requests into a Kanban board view where your service teams can review and triage all requests.

You can also configure your helpdesk platform without ever needing to leave Slack. Anything from auto-assign automation to auto responses and request detection can be adjusted easily with simple commands.

In addition, with assigned Requestor and Agent views, the internal helpdesk experience can be fully customizable, adding personable emojis to mark the stages of requests. Thena’s internal help desk solution is optimized for remote-first teams, providing a minimally disruptive and collaborative environment where logging issues and assigning them to relevant team members is intuitive and straightforward. 

Finally, if you find any areas for development, Thena’s outstanding customer service provides fast and efficient responses, fine-tuning future product enhancements.

Pricing

Thena has a variety of pricing plans that can fit any budget. From the Free Forever plan that gives you access to up to 20 Slack Channels to the Enterprise packages, all organizations can find the most suitable solution for their needs. Manage help desk communication on Slack at scale with team packages customized by the number of channels starting from $480 a year. 

G2 Score: 4.8/5

2. ProProfs Knowledge Base

ProProfs Knowledge Base is another Halp alternative that focuses on a private and public knowledge base for employees or customers. Developing an in-depth knowledge base benefits your target audience and organization, from improving team collaboration to reducing potential customer tickets. The solution supports various languages and has a customizable, easy-to-use platform.

However, ProProfs Knowledge Base is limited to document-based collaboration without the valuable features of a ticket system, live chat, or project management. 

G2 Score: 4.6/5

3. Zoho Desk

Zoho is a cloud-based help desk software that is easy to use. The application seamlessly integrates with other Zoho products, such as their Zoho CRM system (only available on paid plans). The software features tools such as ticket prioritization of overdue tickets, quality metrics tracking, and Knowledge Base access.

Although Zoho offers a 25-day trial and a free plan with limited features, their more advanced features are only accessible on their highest-price plan. Customization options can be limited compared to competitors. While the interface of Zoho Desk is primarily user-friendly, it might not be easy to navigate the more advanced options of the software. 

G2 Score: 4.4/5

4. SolarWinds

If your help desk needs are focused on IT-related requests, SolarWinds might be a robust Halp alternative for you. The tool allows users to complete service-related online requests through a self-service portal. It also enables some level of automated ticket routing to reduce manual project management and enable workflow automation.

Through SolarWinds you can track your IT hardware and software throughout its life cycle to cover your IT needs, ensuring your organization runs smoothly. The web application can sometimes experience syncing issues, and while it allows customization, this solution might not best suit beginners as their dashboards can often be complicated. 

G2 Score: 4.3/5

5. Freshservice

Freshservice is a cloud-based help desk solution focused on incident management. Similarly to SolarWinds, Freshservice’s primary customer base is IT organizations, providing a configurable platform that includes tools such as logging, self-service portals, analysis, and workflow automation with potential add-ons such as SaaS and project management.

Freshservice does not offer a limited free plan. However, it does feature a 21-day free trial. Permission management features can be complicated to operate, and its filtering capabilities, alongside analytics-linked data syncing, may occasionally be time-consuming.

G2 Score: 4.6/5

Weighing the Options: Halp's Pros and Cons

Halp, a conversational ticketing system integrated with Microsoft Teams, has seen its popularity rise in recent years. However, before committing to this platform, it's crucial to weigh the potential benefits (pros) and drawbacks (cons) to determine if it aligns with your specific needs and budget.

Pros:

• Seamless Microsoft Teams Integration: This is arguably Halp's biggest advantage. If your team already heavily utilizes Teams for communication and collaboration, Halp integrates seamlessly within the familiar interface. This eliminates the need to switch between platforms, streamlining workflows and boosting productivity.
• Simplified Ticket Management: Halp uses a conversational approach, allowing users to create and manage tickets directly within chat conversations. This can feel more natural and intuitive compared to traditional ticketing systems with distinct forms and menus.
• Enhanced Team Efficiency: By centralizing communication and ticket management within Teams, Halp facilitates improved collaboration between support agents. Team members can easily share information, discuss solutions, and escalate issues within the same chat, saving time and effort.
• Improved Customer Experience: The conversational design of Halp fosters a more personalized interaction with customers. Agents can have natural, back-and-forth conversations with clients, potentially leading to faster resolution times and increased customer satisfaction.
• Cost-Effectiveness: Compared to some established help desk solutions, Halp offers a relatively affordable pricing structure, especially for smaller teams or those on a tight budget.

Cons:

• Limited Features: While Halp excels in ease of use and integration, it may lack some advanced features found in other ticketing systems. For example, complex reporting, automation capabilities, and customization options might be limited or non-existent in Halp.
• Scalability Concerns: As your team or customer base grows, the simple, conversational approach of Halp might become cumbersome. Managing numerous concurrent chats and tracking issue resolution may become challenging without the structure and organization offered by more robust ticketing systems.
• Security Considerations: Some user reviews raise concerns regarding the platform's security and data privacy practices. It's essential to thoroughly research Halp's security measures and compliance certifications before entrusting sensitive information or customer data to the platform.
• Reliance on Microsoft Teams: If your organization does not primarily rely on Microsoft Teams for communication and collaboration, utilizing Halp might seem unnecessary or even disruptive. Integrating a separate ticketing system with your existing workflow might be more efficient in such scenarios.
• Limited Customization: Halp offers a limited degree of customization options compared to other ticketing systems. This might be a disadvantage if you have specific workflows or branding guidelines to adhere to.

Comparing Communication Features: Slack vs. Halp (with Thena.ai Integration)

FAQ's

What are the key considerations when choosing a Halp alternative?

• Integration with Slack: Ensure seamless communication and workflow by prioritizing a system that integrates with your existing Slack platform.
• Essential features: Prioritize features like ticketing queues, automated receipts, and robust analytics to manage requests, confirm with customers, and gain valuable insights.
• Budget: Consider your budget constraints and choose a solution that aligns with your financial resources.
• Team size: Select a system that can accommodate your team's size and workload effectively.
• Desired features: Identify the specific features and functionalities crucial for your specific needs.
  

What are the advantages of Thena.ai?

Thena.ai focuses on Slack integration for marketing teams, enabling campaign creation and management within Slack. It provides pre-built templates, audience segmentation, and scheduling functionalities.

It’s a Wrap

It can take time to decide which help desk solution fits the needs of your business. Depending on the type of help you need, Thena can cover all your needs. Say goodbye to lost tickets and complicated internal issue management. Thena will pick up the slack with your employees.