Ian Landsman is Starting From Scratch, January 25, 2007:
Bringing HelpSpot to the Masses
If you're in the market for a powerful and user friendly Help Desk solution, please take a look at my company's flagship product HelpSpot.
One of the problems with HelpSpot has always been that it has a pretty big list of requirements. You need a web server, PHP, a database, Zend Optimizer all installed and running smooth. Granted there are a lot of organizations out there that have this all setup and ready to go. It’s not a very unusual setup, just a pain if you don’t have it.
A bigger problem is if you’re a help desk manager and you have no power over IT. You can’t tell them to install these things just to try some software. Even if you know your company has this software all setup it’s often .... unpleasant .... to deal with IT, especially for trial software which you may not even purchase.
I was OK with these limitations in the early versions of HelpSpot. In fact I thought they were a benefit in some ways in that it kept out people who weren’t ready to get dirty with a new software product. Now though, HelpSpot has matured. It still has a long way to go, but it’s definitely ready to reach out to less technical customers. Part of doing so it making it easier to try HelpSpot. With that goal in mind I’ve kicked off a couple of new programs in the past few months which have really helped out a great deal.
The first initiative was the creation of a Windows installer for HelpSpot. The installer will install Apache, MySQL, Zend, HelpSpot, create your database, setup automated tasks and get you ready to roll in just a few clicks. It will also hook into IIS and MS SQL if you prefer that over Apache. It’s not perfect yet, but for the most part it works very well. The great folks over at BitRock put the installer together and did some custom work just for HelpSpot to add the IIS/SQL Server hooks. If you’re looking for an installer for your application I definitely recommend you check them out.
The installer is great, but still requires server access. What about the poor help desk manager who wants to know the product he wants to purchase before approaching IT? Well for him there is now a hosted trial option. When you sign up for a trial you can request that it be hosted on UserScape servers. Nothing to setup or install. You get an access email and you’re off and running with your trial.
In the one month hosted trials have been available they’ve been a huge hit. There’s already been about $7,000 in sales directly attributable to the hosted trial option. In fact, it’s so popular that I’ve just ordered a big beefy Dell server to take over for the old and small server I rented from my colo facility.
I have to say that I highly recommend providing a hosted trial option if you sell a (downloadable) web based software product. I also want to emphasize that this is nothing like a “demo” that’s open to everyone and is a big mess. Each hosted trial is custom for just that company and gives them a fresh clean installation with their own email account and is fully configurable.
One of the things I’m enjoying most is that since implementing this I’m doing a lot less installation support. Rather than folks trying to get something installed which they don’t have the time, ability, or inclination to do they’re using the hosted option. This is great and means less support for me and a better experience for them.
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In an unrelated note, if you’re in the market for a new server you should head over to Dell in the next week or so. They’re running a bunch of specials. I received 2gb of free memory, faster drives, a free RAID controller, and since my server cost more than $4000 when I put it in the cart they gave me $1000 off instantly! It’s practically free.
Discussion
I know you're against becoming an ASP but this just seems like a path down the slippery slope to a hosted model. If the guy can't get support from IT then won't he ask why you just can't host the app for him? [Somebody must have asked for this by now!]
Created by Beanbrain on 01.25.2007 3:48 pm
Nope, because I already have a solution for that. ValiantHost will host and manage your HelpSpot installation so if they don't want to deal with IT at all they don't have to. Many customers are doing this.
Also it's not really IT's fault. When a customer is researching help desk products they might test out 10 different ones. Having to go to IT for each one is a burden for IT. This helps eliminate that as being a reason to skip over HelpSpot.
Created by Ian on 01.25.2007 3:52 pm
Ian
1. Can you recommend an easy way to wrap up an RPM installer for linux? We also use Zend and have similar requirements for our system as you do, and an RPM installer would be cool (I think?) if it were easy enough to set up and manage.
2. For our products, the hosted solution outsells our license sales almost 10 to 1. Ganted, our end-users are less technical (presumably) than yours, but it's the conveniece that makes the difference.
If you are selling your helpspot app for $200 per named user, consider selling a HOSTED 'subscription' for $100 per user per year (for example), along with free upgrades and support. I think you may find this to work for you, makes it more accessible to customers, they can pay less up front and do nothing for setup, and it keeps the residuals (spelling?) coming in year after year.
We use the helpspothosting for our helpspot license. The difference is, we only pay a web hosting fee (like $10 a month or something), and only pay you once for the software. We also carry support each year. Would be easier if we just paid you each year all the money ($10 x 12, plus support cost, = roughly my proposed 'subscription' price I believe).
Anyway, good topic -
Created by OneNerd on 01.25.2007 4:52 pm
We don't have an RPM installer for HelpSpot. For now the installer is only for Windows since the Linux folks seem to be OK with doing the installation for the most part. I think the BitRock guys also do Linux installers though.
I may look at providing a hosted product at some point, but right now I'm happy growing the download business.
Created by Ian on 01.25.2007 5:32 pm
Ian - thanks for the kind words! We are glad to hear that you are happy with the installer.
OneNerd - We do build installers for Linux, as well as other platforms, such as Solaris and OS X. There are a lot of different things we can do. If you'd like to discuss different options, please drop me an email.
Created by Erica on 01.26.2007 6:06 pm
I understand that BitRock creates Apache, MySQL and PHP installers for a commercial product. But I also know that MySQL imposes licensing limitations when bundled with a commercial product. In such case, it no longer is a GPL license, but rather a costly commercial license of about 300 EURO per server.
MySQL.com isn't providing any special offerings or support to Micro ISVs (to the best of my knowledge). And I think they should. First, they need to create a small footprint MySQL lite database for easily embedding it in commercial products, then I believe they should also provide special offers for Micro ISVs to purchase a distribution license.
Anyway, does HelpDesk have MySQL embedded within the installer? And how was the commercial licensing scheme handled?
Created by Basil A,Musa on 01.29.2007 9:52 pm
Hi Ian,
I'd like to know how important is support for IIS and MSSQL when you are targeting Windows users?
IIS itself is not a problem when you know a few tricks, but MSSQL would require a separate installation routine, database abstraction layer you are using needs to support it, you have two platforms for tests etc. Its not a kind of work that I'd like to do if it wont pay back...
Created by Ilija Studen on 01.30.2007 6:48 am