Introducing HelpSpot Hosting
Ever since we rebranded as EllisLab we’ve been looking for people with products, services, and a business mindset that fit with our community. We’re happy to introduce Ian Landsman, the owner of UserScape and its chief product, HelpSpot, “A help desk software solution, built for ease of use.”
We’ve known about Ian through his blog (powered by ExpressionEngine), where he writes intelligent things about doing business on the web, and through his use of CodeIgniter. When Nevin (CTO of EngineHosting) pointed out that Ian needed a new hosting solution for HelpSpot, we contacted him right away. Ian turns out to be as cool as we hoped and we quickly worked out a solution for his HelpSpot customers.
We think that working with Ian will lead to good things for the UserScape and EllisLab communities and hope that offering hosting is just a first step in this relationship. You can read Ian’s thoughts about it on his blog.
The interview below details Ian’s adventure from accountancy to web application development.
EllisLab: Hi Ian, thanks for doing an interview. What’s your background and how did you get started in application development?
Ian Landsman: I actually have a pretty varied background from Office Depot store manager to Academic Technology Director for a small NY college. My college degree is in Accounting, which has actually served me really well. Accounting is surprisingly like programming in terms of mindset. It’s also been very handy to have that background when starting UserScape. When you’re bootstrapping a company you need to wear every hat so I think having a background that’s exposed you to many different types of businesses is a huge help.
In terms of application development I really got started with that in earnest during my time with Pearson Education, a large textbook publisher. There I worked on many large scale systems serving hundreds of thousands of customers. From there I ended up doing a lot of consulting and freelance application development while working my day jobs until taking the plunge with UserScape two years ago.
EllisLab: Why did you start UserScape? What makes HelpSpot different?
Ian Landsman: I’ve always wanted to start a business. I’ve probably started developing 5-6 products over the years, but I would abandon them part way through development for one reason or another. I think it was mostly because I started developing without really understanding the industries I was developing for. Since I didn’t have a full understanding I would get scared part way through and abandon ship. With UserScape I really researched the help desk software industry thoroughly before I wrote one line of code. That deep understanding really allowed me to push through knowing I was going in the right direction. There was a real market need for a help desk software package priced between $99 unlimited user scripts and $100,000 enterprise software.
HelpSpot has a lot of unique features, the ones I’m most proud of though are it’s simplicity and it’s filtering power. I really wanted HelpSpot to be very easy to start using without any formal training. Most help desk packages really need training to use right and often training is a required part of the purchase by the vendor. I wanted most help desk users to be able to jump in and at least be able to create and manage requests without a big learning curve and I think we’ve been successful in that. There’s a lot of power in there, but it’s below the surface and unfolds as you delve deeper into it.
The filtering is a unique feature that is really key in most HelpSpot installations. Request filters allow staff to create filters or queues on the fly that enable them to see the requests in the system in nearly unlimited ways. There’s literally millions of possible combinations which you can use to pull out just the requests you need to see and you can save those filters for quick access in the future.
EllisLab: What HelpSpot feature makes you most happy?
Ian Landsman: Possible the most innovative feature in HelpSpot is the Live Lookup API, I really love this feature. Almost all help desk packages require you to upload your customer data into them if you want to be able to access that data while working on a request. This creates a lot of headaches trying to keep this data up to date and you inevitably can’t get all the data you need into the software. Live Lookup is a very simple XML API that allows HelpSpot to query your customer data system (any customer data system) in real time. So HelpSpot can display customer details on any data your staff needs without any data syncing or any worries about data being outdated.
EllisLab: Is there a HelpSpot feature that nobody seems to use but really should?
Ian Landsman: One that I think doesn’t get enough use is reminders. HelpSpot can send reminders to you for things you need to follow up on with a request or check on, perhaps a note on when to contact someone back, things like that. I really blame myself for this though as the interface isn’t that great for reminders. Version 2 of HelpSpot addresses this issue and makes reminders much easier to use.
EllisLab: What’s been the biggest surprise since getting into the Help desk business?
Ian Landsman: The biggest surprise to me has really been that the research I did initially was actually correct! There really was a need for a solid middle tier product. Sales have progressed much faster than I expected, especially considering HelpSpot doesn’t do any real advertising. It’s all been people discussing it on their blogs or traditional word of mouth.
EllisLab: We are certainly familiar with that advertising model! What’s next for HelpSpot?
Ian Landsman: Right now production is full speed ahead on version 2. I don’t like to give a lot of details on specific features, I’d rather under promise and over deliver. A few key features though are support for displaying and sending HTML emails and a full API for accessing HelpSpot programatically.
EllisLab: Thanks for the interview Ian. You can find more information on HelpSpot at UserScape and keep track of Ian on his blog.
