what is the best software to manage these tasks?

[Guest -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.

[Guest Paul Randall]

Re: what is the best software to manage these tasks?

 

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-" <keevill@yahoo.com> wrote in message

news:eEaJaa09HHA.4784@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...

> 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.

>

>

[Guest -keevill-]

Re: what is the best software to manage these tasks?

 

Thanks for replying first !

Pls see my answers/comments inserted into your text.

 

"Paul Randall" <paulr901@cableone.net> wrote in message

news:OwWl%23y09HHA.4476@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...

> 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

>

> "-keevill-" <keevill@yahoo.com> wrote in message

> news:eEaJaa09HHA.4784@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...

>> 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.

>>

>>

>

>

[Guest cf]

Re: what is the best software to manage these tasks?

 

 

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 <cfnews@NOcharterSPAM.net>

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-" <keevillus@yahoo.com> scribed:

 

|Thanks for replying first !

|Pls see my answers/comments inserted into your text.

|

|"Paul Randall" <paulr901@cableone.net> wrote in message

|news:OwWl%23y09HHA.4476@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...

|> 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

|>

|> "-keevill-" <keevill@yahoo.com> wrote in message

|> news:eEaJaa09HHA.4784@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...

|>> 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.

|>>

|>>

|>

|>

|

|