CRM Zen Show Episode 322 - Luke, IM Your Father...of Customer Support

[@SparkleAndShineToday]

any idea what the difference is between the new Chat Widget IM in Desk and Live Chat in Sales IQ? Is it just bringing web chat into the Unified IM channel leaving Live Chat to become obsolete or is there more to it?

[@Zenatta]

Hi Sprarkle! So, I just went down the rabbit hole on this... My understanding is that, up until now, essentially all LiveChat in Desk was handled via a SalesIQ integration. Now, Desk is rolling out it's own version of LiveChat on the same platform as SalesIQ, but completely hosted in Desk. Because of this split, there may be features that are only released for one of the two platforms. Honestly, it's a bit tricky to decide which one would be best for a particular use-case. I think, for now at least, I'd recommend sticking with the SalesIQ integrated LiveChat. My main reason for this is that the dataset provided is more robust, as it connects the Chat data more directly to that Visitor's full history on the your website.

[@SparkleAndShineToday]

@@Zenatta I asked the Support crew at Desk. Their response was "The main goal of introducing this feature in Zoho Desk is to provide users with a seamless and streamlined experience by consolidating all channels in one place within Zoho Desk, eliminating the need to switch between different apps. From a development perspective, business messaging is built on the same platform as Zoho SalesIQ and it’s not a redundant effort. Although it may appear similar to Zoho SalesIQ, business messaging offers native features that bridge many gaps. This release is just the first phase, with many more functionalities planned, such as automations and more." So largely sounds like they are bringing live chat into the IM channel and modernising the experience. Gonna hold off for a while. Zoho has a tendency of rolling things out prematurely.