what is the best software to manage these tasks?

[-keevill-]

This is what we are doing now and then how we *think* we want to manage our
daily office functions.
We currently receive enquiries -sometimes price enquiries sometimes just
information requests- and each of these emails are received every person in
the office team in their Outlook email box.
Someone starts to deal with an enquiry and in order that others don't also
deal with it, they cc their replies to all the others in their office.
Sometimes other people have to take over the enquiry if the original person
is not in the office and they in turn cc any replies to all the others. This
is manifestly inefficient in many ways as is obvious.

We think we would like to handle things like this.


When an enquiry comes in, it is automatically assigned a ref code/number and
it remains in a sort of central email box where all can view it and all
correspondence and action related to it. Then someone will start to handle
the request and it should be apparent to the other people in the office that
it is being handled by whoever.
Managers should be able to see if an enquiry is being dealt with .
Anyone should be able to take over the enquiry if the original person is
absent or busy on another task
So if the client calls the office for example, anyone of the team can
instantly see its state of action.
What advice can anyone give me to get on the right track here?
Am I looking something like ACT or another customer management software
solution ?
Outlook shared calendar was suggested but I am not convinced that is the
right tool for this job.
We are not running Exchange Server , just standard POP accounts with Outlook
2003/2007 on the workstations
Any advice with regard to finding the correct procedure with the right
software is greatly welcomed.


We are a small office with just about 10 people dealing with the tasks.

 

[Paul Randall]

I'm no expert on this subject, but here are some questions I would need
answered in order to better understand what is needed.
You say there are about 10 people handling the enquiries.
How many new enquiries (lets call these cases) on average occur per day.
How many followup enquiries on average occur per day.
What are your criteria for saying a case is closed?
What percentage of cases are closed in 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 20 days? (or
whatever time spans are appropriate)
Do you archive or toss the complete cases?
Do you have a database or or want one to help handle cases based on key
words or something?

-Paul Randall

 

[-keevill-]

Thanks for replying first !
Pls see my answers/comments inserted into your text.

I'm no expert on this subject, but here are some questions I would need
answered in order to better understand what is needed.
You say there are about 10 people handling the enquiries.
How many new enquiries (lets call these cases) on average occur per day.

10 people responsible for handling but they also do other jobs. There are
perhaps not more than 20 per day. They come from no more than 10 of our
customers. i.e each customer submits multiple enquiries.Therefore the
tracking is not so much as tracking the *customer* more like tracking the
enquiry .

How many followup enquiries on average occur per day.

typically a case would develop into a 'to and fro' email dialogue with extra
questions and replies bouncing back and forth. This would go on perhaps for
2 days to even a week before the case is completed.

What are your criteria for saying a case is closed?

When either the customer says 'yes' or if he goes cold and emails dry up and
we assume he has found a deal elsewhere.

What percentage of cases are closed in 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 20 days? (or
whatever time spans are appropriate)

probably 50% closed within 7 days.Others can go on for a month but only 10%
I am guessing.

Do you archive or toss the complete cases?

We archive the lot but only in Outlook email on each users PC. This leads to
confusion where we have to scurry around from machine to machine in order to
find out which person or persons dealt with the enquiry.

Do you have a database or or want one to help handle cases based on key
words or something?

Yes I think so . Perhaps something where an email enquiry is handed out a
case number and all corres related to the enquiry is kept on a central
server. Then we can instantly see if it is in pending awaiting info or if
it's being dealt with . Other staff should be able to take over and
instantly see the state of play.

 

[cf]

Don't know if this will be of any help, but possibly something like a Help Desk Management program, such as

http://www.perldesk.com/

HTH

cf <[email protected]>
I may be dumb, but I'm not stupid.
Terry Bradshaw
--
let it be known on Sat, 15 Sep 2007 11:11:25 +0700
"-keevill-" <[email protected]> scribed:

|Thanks for replying first !
|Pls see my answers/comments inserted into your text.
|
||> I'm no expert on this subject, but here are some questions I would need
|> answered in order to better understand what is needed.
|> You say there are about 10 people handling the enquiries.
|> How many new enquiries (lets call these cases) on average occur per day.
|
|10 people responsible for handling but they also do other jobs. There are
|perhaps not more than 20 per day. They come from no more than 10 of our
|customers. i.e each customer submits multiple enquiries.Therefore the
|tracking is not so much as tracking the *customer* more like tracking the
|enquiry .
|
|
|> How many followup enquiries on average occur per day.
|typically a case would develop into a 'to and fro' email dialogue with extra
|questions and replies bouncing back and forth. This would go on perhaps for
|2 days to even a week before the case is completed.
|
|
|> What are your criteria for saying a case is closed?
|
|When either the customer says 'yes' or if he goes cold and emails dry up and
|we assume he has found a deal elsewhere.
|
|
|> What percentage of cases are closed in 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 20 days? (or
|> whatever time spans are appropriate)
|
|probably 50% closed within 7 days.Others can go on for a month but only 10%
|I am guessing.
|
|> Do you archive or toss the complete cases?
|
|We archive the lot but only in Outlook email on each users PC. This leads to
|confusion where we have to scurry around from machine to machine in order to
|find out which person or persons dealt with the enquiry.
|
|> Do you have a database or or want one to help handle cases based on key
|> words or something?
|
|Yes I think so . Perhaps something where an email enquiry is handed out a
|case number and all corres related to the enquiry is kept on a central
|server. Then we can instantly see if it is in pending awaiting info or if
|it's being dealt with . Other staff should be able to take over and
|instantly see the state of play.
|
|
|
|>
|> -Paul Randall
|>
|> |>> This is what we are doing now and then how we *think* we want to manage
|>> our
|>> daily office functions.
|>> We currently receive enquiries -sometimes price enquiries sometimes just
|>> information requests- and each of these emails are received every person
|>> in
|>> the office team in their Outlook email box.
|>> Someone starts to deal with an enquiry and in order that others don't
|>> also
|>> deal with it, they cc their replies to all the others in their office.
|>> Sometimes other people have to take over the enquiry if the original
|>> person
|>> is not in the office and they in turn cc any replies to all the others.
|>> This
|>> is manifestly inefficient in many ways as is obvious.
|>>
|>> We think we would like to handle things like this.
|>>
|>>
|>> When an enquiry comes in, it is automatically assigned a ref code/number
|>> and
|>> it remains in a sort of central email box where all can view it and all
|>> correspondence and action related to it. Then someone will start to
|>> handle
|>> the request and it should be apparent to the other people in the office
|>> that
|>> it is being handled by whoever.
|>> Managers should be able to see if an enquiry is being dealt with .
|>> Anyone should be able to take over the enquiry if the original person is
|>> absent or busy on another task
|>> So if the client calls the office for example, anyone of the team can
|>> instantly see its state of action.
|>> What advice can anyone give me to get on the right track here?
|>> Am I looking something like ACT or another customer management software
|>> solution ?
|>> Outlook shared calendar was suggested but I am not convinced that is the
|>> right tool for this job.
|>> We are not running Exchange Server , just standard POP accounts with
|>> Outlook
|>> 2003/2007 on the workstations
|>> Any advice with regard to finding the correct procedure with the right
|>> software is greatly welcomed.
|>>
|>>
|>> We are a small office with just about 10 people dealing with the tasks.
|>>
|>>
|>
|>
|
|