By Patrick Clements
Remember those old Apple "I'm a Mac"/"I'm a PC" commercials where a 'square' John Hodgman (playing the PC) compared himself to the 'hip' Mac, played by Justin Long?
The idea was to portray Mac users as cool and trendy and PC users as bloated and slow as their Windows machines. Some found the ads super funny. Justin Long has since remarked in several interviews that the most hilarious commercials they taped were nixed by Steve Jobs himself because he didn't want the comedy to take away from Apple's products (not a very cool thing to do if you ask me!) .
Too soon for mid 00's nostalgia? Check out the "I'm a Mac" commercials.
Is it Cool To Say You're Cool?
Some viewers were not impressed with the commercials at all. All the commercials did was cement the reputation that some Mac users already had at the time (of being computer snobs). The fact that these ads came out during a time where beer and coffee snobs (using Macs) seemed to be popping out of the woodwork probably didn't help either.
But the big elephant in the room that seemed to go over Apple’s head was that if you have to keep calling yourself ‘cool’, then perhaps you’re not as cool as you think?
The point is that people (and particularly entrepreneurs and business owners) don't pick software (or hardware) because it's hip or cool. They choose software because it does the job at hand. Entrepreneurs and small business owners buy software that makes their life easier by helping run their business more efficiently. Ease of use, a low learning curve, the efficiency of its tools, and cost will always trump a software's usefulness to me over how hip or cool it is (or it’s perceived to be).
That's why when we set out to design SherpaDesk, we wanted to deliver a PSA software that gives our users time to focus on their businesses, not wasting it managing a support tool.
If our users thought we were cool because we designed SherpaDesk with their needs in mind, then it's a bonus. We'd rather be reliable and easy to use than 'trendy’ or ‘cool’.
We also designed SherpaDesk to be cloud-based and our team works hard to make sure that our mobile app provides the same functionality that our desktop does so that you can be as efficient in the field as in your office. We've also made sure that SherpaDesk integrates seamlessly with Quickbooks, XERO, FreshBooks, NinjaRMM, because that’s what our users need.
For these reasons (and a few more below), you will find more than a few incentives to switch to SherpaDesk from Autotask today, and not just because of the ‘it’ factor.
We've Designed SherpaDesk To Be Easier To Use than way-too-complicated Autotask
Your time is one of your most valuable resources, and like money, it's finite. As an entrepreneur, you need to focus on growing your company, not wasting time managing your support tools.
When we launched SherpaDesk, it was imperative that we created a tool that was easy to set up and implement. That's why we've designed SherpaDesk for simplicity and ease of use from the ground up. SherpaDesk’s low training curve means that integrating it with your business processes is a matter of days, not weeks (or even months). We make it easy to create support tickets, and our deep API integrations with the leading business solutions give you time to focus on what you love: Growing Your Business. Not wasting time on things you don't.
We've Designed SherpaDesk To Be More Personal For Your Customers
Your customers are the crucial focus of your business. That's why we've made sure that SherpaDesk integrates seamlessly into your email system so that conversations with customers get added to a ticket's history log. Multiple drop boxes mean you can have your customer questions routed to live technicians, and server alerts routed to another team.
We’ve also designed SherpaDesk with customizable and dynamic support forms, custom email templates and a white label support portal to make it more of a unique experience for your customers.
By integrating your customers into the support process and allowing them to stay current on support requests, and project updates, this will keep your customers informed and happy. And happy customers are the best brand ambassadors entrepreneurs and business owners can get!
We Built SherpaDesk With Small Teams In Mind
Your team is busy and needs to be able to respond to customer issues quickly while at the same time logging billable (and non-billable time) and tracking their expenses. That's why we've designed SherpaDesk to be lightweight enough to smoothly perform critical functions, but robust enough to manage all your pressing business needs, not only on a desktop, but by offering full functionality on mobile as well. This makes your team mobile and able to respond to your customer's issues on the go.
SherpaDesk is Affordable & Offers Straightforward Pricing
One of the biggest sins of the software-as-a-service world that we wanted to avoid from day one was hidden pricing (and forcing our users to talk to a salesperson before seeing a quote.)
Entrepreneurs and small business owners are busy people, so we don't want to waste their time.
Entrepreneurs and business owners are also more informed than ever, with countless review sites, blogs, and subreddits discussing the features SherpaDesk or any other software has to offer in order to run their businesses better.
That's why we decided that SherpaDesk's first tech license will always be FREE, and then for each additional agent only $39/month. This includes time tracking, mobile device access, and our third-party integrations. No initiation fees or annual commitment.
SherpaDesk Gets Great Reviews
Not to toot our own horn (because if you have to say you're cool, you're probably not that cool, remember?) but we do get reviewed by some of the top software review sites and...let's let the reviews speak for themselves.
Top 10 Most Researched Software Award by SaaS Worthy
Autotask vs SherpaDesk by Trust Radius
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