It’s no news that many businesses are still using Gmail to run their customer support services. But old systems have way too much historical data. So if you decide to move to a new one, you won’t be able to leave these records behind, and the migration process might turn into a nightmare.
Another point is that help desk platforms are getting more sophisticated, and you might be missing out on tools that can elevate the customer experience. Given that competition is tight, an improvement in this area can do wonders for your bottom line.
With Google upgrading their free G Suite to paid subscription services, there’s no better time to step up to the challenge. Keep reading to learn how you can simplify the migration of your data to a help desk system.
Why You Need a Gmail Data Migration Service?
Is your organization using G Suite’s free Google apps for business? If yes, you may have heard they won’t be free for long. Rebranded as Google Workspace, the free G Suite has been expanded to include more cloud-based productivity and collaboration tools. You’ll have to upgrade to a paid subscription by May 1, 2022, to keep your accounts. After that, you can continue using the services at no cost until July 1, 2022.
If you don’t update your accounts, however, Google will automatically upgrade your organization to a subscription plan that best matches the features you’re currently using. You’ll have to enter your billing information by July 1, or your account will be suspended.
Now that you’ll have to pay for the account, it's best to explore your options. Believe us, you don’t have to stick with Google. Like most businesses, you may have long considered managing your customer interactions from a help desk platform. How about making that happen now?
You may be worried about the data you’ll be leaving behind. It’s natural, as you can fully benefit from a help desk system only if you have all your customer service information in one place. The good news is that there are various ways to export data from your Google accounts.
Gmail vs Help Desk System: Which Is Better?
Although good ol’ Gmail might seem simpler, a dedicated help desk system will make customer issues or tickets much easier to manage. Let’s see how they compare.
Centralization
When you work with emails only, it’s difficult to track every issue. Customer representatives might fail to copy the right person. More often than not, you’d have to pore over several email threads to find specific information or come up with a resolution.
Equipped with a ticket tracking system, customer service tools keep all relevant information in a centralized location, allowing you to quickly check the status of an issue and make sure it’s resolved.
Professionalism
With so many options available on the market, help desk systems are no longer just for big players. Even small businesses can move away from traditional shared-inboxes and adopt software that will allow them to approach ticket resolution with greater professionalism and efficiency.
Empowering customers
Customers would like their issues to be resolved ASAP, even if it means doing the work themselves. Your customer representatives may not be available 24/7 to respond to emails, either. This is where a help desk system comes in. You can set up a knowledge base to let your customers pull up quick answers to their questions — no need to wait for an email response.
You’ll end up with a double benefit: helping customers fast and taking a load off your customer representatives’ tasklist.
Performance metrics
Beyond just tracking customer queries, help desk platforms also allow you to monitor your support agents’ performance. You can use Gmail to evaluate the responses of your customer representatives, but detecting trends and tracking KPIs won’t be as easy. Furnished with analytics and reporting tools, help desk software lets you take your performance tracking and improvement to the next level.
Prioritization
With Gmail, the tendency is to address issues as they come. Ticket tracking, though, allows your team to prioritize tasks properly. Tickets can be routed to the right tier level, so people with specific expertise could address the more complicated ones. The system minimizes the endless back-and-forth that comes with email correspondence.
Collaboration
When bundled up with the rest of the Google Workspace apps, Gmail can be a great collaboration tool. And just like Microsoft 365, it links up with word editors and spreadsheet and presentation software.
Still, shared inboxes make it harder to work in a team, especially when dealing with multiple customer problems every day. In this respect, a system that allows multiple agents to work on a single ticket at the same time beats productivity tools.
Continuity
Unlike Gmail, help desk platforms allow you to easily pass pending tickets onto other employees when a customer representative leaves or gets reassigned. Tasks can be delegated much more effectively to continue good work.
And now that we’ve convinced you of the merits of shifting to a help desk system, let’s figure out how you can migrate your data from Gmail to a help desk platform of your choice.
Data Export tool vs Google Takeout vs Help Desk Migration: The Best Way to Export Your Data from Gmail
Don’t worry, data exporting is sure to go smoothly with the right tool. Here are some options to consider.
Short Google Takeout Review
Pros
Google Takeout lets you export and download data from all Google apps associated with your account. The files are converted into .zip or .tgz formats.
This tool is often used to move large image collections, free up space on Google Drive, export bookmarks, transfer archives to other cloud services, or migrate blog posts to a new platform.
Cons
Google Takeout has certain downsides, though. First, you won’t be able to download files you don’t own. It will be a problem if you migrate data handled by many team members.
Second, extra-large files might be downloaded only partially. Third, if you lose internet access, any progress you made will be gone, and you’ll have to start over.
Verdict
There is a number of limitations that would prevent you from getting all the records related to customer service.
Quick Data Export Overview
Pros
While Google Takeout is designed for personal accounts, Data Export is there to help organizations export data from G Suite or Google Workspace. Domain’s super administrators can export all the user data to a Google Cloud archive.
The admins may also ask individual users to download their own data. But there’s a catch: this will only work if each user has their Google Takeout switched on.
Cons
Google Data Export has its share of shortcomings. It works only if you have held your account for 30 days or more.
And you’ll have to seek the assistance of Google Cloud Support if you’re dealing with more than 1,000 users. Should you lose your super admin privileges, any export process will automatically be canceled.
Verdict
The tool requires you to get every user to switch on Google Takeout, and the number of your users will make the process complicated.
Help Desk Migration Overview
Although you can successfully export or download the files using a Google Data export tool, you still have data mapping to worry about. Gmail data migration is often a lengthy process riddled with issues, including incompatible formats, mismapped data, and missing records.
Pros
Fortunately, Help Desk Migration ensures that your data reaches the target platform without remapping or data loss. The data’s destination can be mapped as you set up the migration. It means that a workable help desk tool will be there right after the process is completed.
You can create backup files while exporting the Gmail data as the tool supports CSV files.
With the Migration Wizard, you can export tickets, contacts, agents, ticket attachments, ticket notes public, ticket tags, ticket inline images, created at and updated at, and custom fields.
Cons
Help Desk Migration is fully functional, yet it is pending review by the Google team. So you need to do a few more button clicks to connect your account to the Migration Wizard. If you're a GSuite user, follow this guide to connect your account.
Verdict
Automated Gmail export straightly to a help desk platform along with mapping. The migration service supports many platforms, including the most popular ones like Zendesk, Freshdesk, and Jira Service Management.
Recap
A proper help desk system is a path towards excellent customer support. It will elevate the experience for your customers and boost your agent’s productivity and performance. Before you know it, you’ll be seeing improvements in your bottom line.
Complications associated with data migration may have been keeping you from making the shift. Help Desk Migration software simplifies the process for you, so nothing is holding you back from taking the leap. Sign up here to get the ball rolling.
