There are many live examples of real businesses, big and small, that are using help desk software on their websites. In general, these businesses can be broken down into four groups.

1. Big enterprises
2. Small and medium sized businesses
3. Internet or software related businesses
4. Non-Internet related or software businesses

Let's see if we can spot any real live examples for each of the above groups.

For the first group, it's easy to see help desk software in place. Most of the big enterprises with a web presence use it nowadays. Just take a look at 2checkout.com, one of the largest credit card processors in the marketplace today. How about Amazon.com, Linkworth.com, and Clickbank.com? Each of these businesses earn millions of dollars in revenues and acquire thousands of customers annually. Obviously they must have some systems in place to handle all those email enquiries. The solution is having a good piece of help desk software to track all the emails. But what about small and medium sized businesses? What if I'm a one-man operation running a home based business? Will I need a help desk software?

That depends on the type of customer the business deals with and the rate at which the small business acquire customers. Help desk software is used for various reasons. Some businesses use it to collect feedback from the customers; some use it to provide IT support; while others use it to spot trends, etc. There are literally thousands of small and medium sized businesses (some home based) that rely on their help desk software to provide systematic support to their customers. These businesses are typically home based internet businesses, self employed business owners, or consultants. Just take a look at thehelpdesk.us, eplytomike.com, replytomichaelcheney.com, etc. These are individuals with online businesses setting up their own help desk support for their customers. They use it to handle pre-sales enquiries, provide support to existing customers, and basically just to build up a huge database of customers' concerns. Information like that is a gold mine for small business owners because they can now develop a product to address those concerns.

Help desk software is used for various reasons. Some businesses use it to collect feedback from the customers; some use it to provide IT support; while others use it to spot trends, etc.

For the third group, you just have to turn to the web hosting niche to see that help desk software is all around you. For Internet related and software businesses, having a help desk software is not an option. It's a must. With very little to differentiate between businesses, good customer support becomes a business tool to acquire a much needed business advantage. And having a proper professional help desk software in place to respond to customers in a timely manner is crucial. No one likes to lose customers to competitors.

But what about non-Internet related businesses? Are these businesses using help desk software to help them manage their customers?

When I say non-Internet related, I mean their products and services are not related to the Internet. But they can still be sold over the Internet. Customers still go to their websites and submit enquiries and ask for quotations. And quotations are delivered via email. Even educational institutions like business.unsw.edu.au, rcs.ou.edu, and ipac.caltech.edu are using help desk support softwares to handle their web enquiries. (Actually, my search came up with over 70k results, or organizations that are using help desk software.)

But it's no big surprise to see enterprises, both big and small, jumping on the band wagon and installing their own help desk software. That's because the practical uses of a help desk software is so obvious that it's hard to ignore the tangible benefits that are so glaring.

Let's recap. What's the whole point of having a help desk software? The whole point of having a help desk software is to be able to respond to enquiries in a timely fashion as the business grows. Good customer support shouldn't be sacrificed as the business expands. Otherwise, the attrition rate will go up, and the growth of the business will be stunted.

So any institution or business that's growing or expanding, and has an existing web presence (i.e. a website) should seriously consider having a help desk software in place. The size of the business doesn't really matter(after all, we've just seen big and small businesses leveraging on technology and having their own help desk software), as all businesses aspire to grow. If the business is ready to scale, and has a website already, then it's ready to have a help desk software to help support new and existing customers.

Finally, you have to ask yourself: Are you ready to choose now?

What type of software are you looking to download? Help desk software CD burning software Audio, video player Office software (e.g. MS Office) Free Internet browser Anti virus software