We released Zulip Server 2.0.2 today. This is a bug fix release, containing a dozen cherry-picked changes since Zulip 2.0.1.

As we add more technology to our lives to meet our business needs, the customer support software system has become increasingly essential. It’s now much more than just a ticketing system! It’s evolved into a vital supply of customer data and information. As you evaluate your own customer-centric systems and processes, here are 11 must have features to look for in a customer support software system…

Not that long ago, a company’s board of directors would meet once a year to be briefed on cybersecurity. The discussion would be brief, and it certainly wouldn’t be strategic. Today, things have changed. Boards not only have a responsibility to protect shareholder value (by protecting company assets held digitally), but there are also regulatory and personal liabilities that could come from a data breach.

Good customer support is all about being able to deal with requests quickly. On social media, for example, customers expect responses to their support questions within 24 hours. Every retail support team out there eventually hits a point where the volume of support tickets it receives becomes too much. If your team hasn’t yet, it will in the future. And when that happens, you might not be able to respond as quickly as your customers expect you to.

Pushover 3.4 has been released today for iPhone and iPad, Android, and Desktop, and brings full support for animated GIFs and monospace text support. Many Pushover users rely on our e-mail gateway to receive Pushover notifications from e-mails sent out by devices that don't directly support Pushover, such as security cameras.

Providing great customer service is one of the best ways for a company to achieve success and ultimately, grow. But with that growth comes the challenge of maintaining it without sacrificing the very things that made you successful in the first place. And since having a bigger team doesn’t automatically mean you’ll perform better, companies that scale well learn to strategically organize their support team in a way that increases efficiency and reduces costs.

As a support agent, there aren’t many things as serious as hearing there’s downtime. If the very word made you sit upright, you know exactly what I’m talking about.

The modern workforce looks a lot different than it did even a decade ago. If employees actually go to a physical office, their workplaces are often defined by open concepts, collaboration and frequent communication. None of this is by accident. Studies consistently show that happy employees are more productive employees, and autonomy and access are two factors that can make employees happy.

Nearly every single company uses email as the main platform for communication. The problem? Emails are among the easiest platforms to hack, intercept and carry company-debilitating viruses. Unfortunately for businesses, emails and free app communications will pose a permanent risk to companies who wish to maintain uninterrupted regular day-to-day operations.

Happy customers are key to business success, whether you are a small company or a large enterprise. Though the end goal is the same, how SMBs achieve customer satisfaction differs from their enterprise counterparts. Small and medium business can’t afford to provide the same comprehensive customer services enterprises do, so SMBS must maximize their customer service investments.