It’s Monday morning. You’ve logged into your assist software program of alternative and are settling in to your first buyer dialog of the day. You have been hoping for a softball, however you rapidly notice that this isn’t one. Actually, every part is damaged and you are feeling like that meme with the canine and the burning home.
OK, OK. It’s not that dangerous, however you’re going to wish to loop in your growth workforce to determine what’s occurring.
Whereas there are various methods for assist, growth, and product groups to speak when there’s a bug, a characteristic request, or buyer suggestions to debate, probably the most dependable approach goes to be concern monitoring software program.
On this submit, we’re going to speak about how concern monitoring software program is used, share just a few software program suggestions, and clarify how integrating them with a assist platform like Assist Scout can enhance the problem monitoring expertise for each clients and staff alike.
How does concern monitoring software program work?
Although the particular consumer expertise will differ relying on the kind of device you select, concern monitoring software program at its core often works the identical approach:
A buyer or consumer submits a difficulty by way of a channel like electronic mail or chat.
The problem is documented in a ticket or job throughout the monitoring system.
The ticket or job strikes by means of the event workforce’s concern decision course of, every step captured within the monitoring software program.
As soon as the problem is resolved, the ticket or job is closed, and the accountable celebration reaches out to the one that reported the problem and lets them know the tip end result.
All through the method above, the standing of the problem is seen to everybody on the workforce, making it straightforward for people to step in and ease bottlenecks or present buyer updates alongside the way in which.
What’s concern monitoring software program used for?
Whereas the introduction to this submit — and even simply the phrase “concern” — may make you consider one thing unfavorable, that isn’t essentially the case on the subject of customer support or software program growth.
Assist and growth groups want to watch all suggestions, be it good or dangerous, in order that they will take motion on the data. Concern monitoring software program makes certain that precious data could be organized and addressed and never misplaced within the shuffle of each day work.
Under are a few of the methods concern monitoring software program can assist groups monitor each optimistic and unfavorable consumer experiences.
For monitoring the dangerous: Outage and bug monitoring
Though a large-scale outage in your product would announce itself fairly rapidly and clearly, smaller software program bugs may not be so apparent, particularly you probably have a number of individuals listening to from clients about them.
In case your workforce would not have a central place to create bug experiences, it’s more durable to acknowledge if a selected concern goes past, say, one buyer’s browser settings.
Bug monitoring techniques and concern administration instruments assist customer support groups:
Perceive how many individuals are experiencing a difficulty.
Share and repair product bugs.
Monitor progress and talk updates to clients.
Each firm experiences services or products outages. Nice concern monitoring software program helps you establish, prioritize, and repair these outages so you possibly can retain clients for the lengthy haul.
For monitoring the great: Characteristic requests and buyer suggestions
Whereas resolving a buyer’s unfavorable concern can take them again to a baseline stage of buyer satisfaction, implementing a characteristic they’ve requested for can carry them above the baseline.
With out aggregating requests, nevertheless, it may be exhausting to inform the distinction between one particular person’s need for ultra-specific performance and one thing that will enhance the app for a majority of your audience. Monitoring characteristic requests empowers you to assist your product workforce prioritize and plan your future product roadmap.
Don’t neglect: Monitoring buyer requests allows you to share the excellent news along with your clients whenever you implement options they’ve requested. Releasing a brand new characteristic doesn’t do you — or them — a lot good in the event that they don’t even understand it’s obtainable.
The very last thing you need is for them to leap ship to a different product for a characteristic that you simply even have.
Sorts of concern monitoring software program
There are a selection of various software program approaches to concern monitoring:
Devoted concern and bug monitoring instruments: Some merchandise are constructed particularly for concern monitoring. Their specialised characteristic units could be nice, however you’ll additionally have to increase your tech stack and rely extra closely on integrations.
Concern administration as a part of a multifunctional device: In case you’re already utilizing a mission administration, code administration, or “all-in-one” device, you may additionally be capable of use it for monitoring buyer points. This strategy shortens studying curves and centralizes every part in a single place.
Buyer assist platforms that combine with concern administration software program: Your engineers may have the options included within the merchandise above, however the assist workforce members are in all probability those figuring out the majority of buyer points. It usually is smart to make use of concern monitoring software program that integrates tightly along with your customer support software program so that everybody has what they should ship a optimistic buyer expertise.
How Assist Scout helps with concern monitoring
One or two experiences of a bizarre habits taking place along with your product or app may be a fluke, but when it’s taking place repeatedly, it’s an indication that you’ve got a bug in your arms.
Whereas it’s tempting to depend on “vibes” on the subject of elevating a difficulty to the remainder of the enterprise, product homeowners need numbers, which is the place Assist Scout can turn out to be useful.
Assist Scout is a strong and intuitive buyer assist platform with all of the options you’d count on to see, like a shared inbox and information base performance. Assist Scout will also be a necessary piece of your concern monitoring system.
Establish and observe points
When your assist workforce makes use of a device like Assist Scout as its buyer communications platform, it’s simpler for them to establish points, observe them, and maintain clients knowledgeable alongside the way in which.
For instance, let’s say a buyer writes in a couple of bug in your cell app. They will’t appear to vary their password by means of the common movement. The agent on the case escalates the problem to your dev workforce and tags the Assist Scout ticket with “mobile-password-bug” earlier than asking the remainder of your workforce to be looking out for related instances.
Your assist brokers then tag each associated dialog that comes by means of with the identical concern. As soon as your engineers have squashed that bug, your buyer assist workforce can run a Assist Scout workflow that:
Targets all conversations with that tag.
Replies to let these clients know that the problem is resolved.
Closes the conversations in order that they’re out of your queue.
That type of workflow isn’t solely good for appeasing clients — it will probably additionally delight them. Think about releasing a extremely requested characteristic and having the ability to unfold the phrase to each buyer who requested for it!
Assist in prioritization and highway map planning
Assist Scout may enable you to establish the prevalence of bugs or characteristic requests that can assist you make the case for his or her prioritization. Studies could be filtered by tags and customized fields so you will get a full image of a difficulty or characteristic request’s affect.
Maintain your whole inner groups in sync
Assist Scout integrates with common software program utilized by product and growth groups. Think about how a lot sooner and simpler your suggestions loop can be if it seemed like this:
Buyer assist brokers create or hyperlink to current points immediately from the Assist Scout dialog window and might leap to these tickets within the concern monitoring software program with only one click on.
Product and engineering can see, in their very own instruments, what number of clients have reported a bug or requested a characteristic, due to the assist workforce linking conversations to these points.
Assist Scout alerts the assist workforce when a difficulty is resolved or a characteristic is launched, they usually can, in flip, rapidly replace clients.
Your buyer assist platform ought to assist shut the loop between clients, your product, and the groups supporting each, thereby growing buyer satisfaction, loyalty, and retention. Assist Scout does simply that.
Study extra about Assist Scout:
The 5 finest buyer assist concern monitoring software program
Now that you simply perceive the significance of concern monitoring in buyer assist, let’s check out 5 concern monitoring software program platforms. We’ll look at each their mission administration and concern monitoring skills, in addition to how they combine with buyer assist techniques.
1. Linear – Greatest for groups that dwell in Slack
Linear is a mission administration and concern monitoring system designed to assist your complete mission lifecycle. Because it goals to be your start-to-finish device, it has somewhat one thing for everyone in your workforce.
Product groups will benefit from the capacity to put in writing and edit product specs and documentation collaboratively. You’ll be able to go away inline feedback on these docs which could be helpful when hashing out the small print of a brand new mission, and there’s even a text-to-issue command that may flip your planning docs into concrete duties.
Linear additionally has analytics to assist see how completely different tasks join and match into your organization’s total technique. It’s straightforward to mix insights and create customized dashboards that measure issues like concern depend, triage time, effort, and cycle time. Whereas dev groups will admire analytics and a centralized spot for mission assets, they’re more likely to be extra excited in regards to the concern administration options.
There are the plain issues like the flexibility to assign points to the appropriate particular person or workforce, tag duties to remain organized, and assign precedence ranges so everybody is aware of what to work on subsequent. However there are additionally high quality of life options like a keyboard-first design, an integration with GitHub for automating pull requests, and an assortment of AI-powered options.
The AI can mechanically triage and label points based mostly on historic knowledge in addition to discover duplicate duties to keep away from further work, and the Pulse characteristic can summarize mission and initiative data so that you all the time know the place every part stands. There are additionally AI Brokers that may enable you to additional automate work — prebuilt ones for issues like Cursor, Git Copilot, and Codex, in addition to the flexibility to construct your personal.
Lastly, Linear has an awesome Slack integration. Its Asks characteristic permits groups to simply submit points from Slack. That is nice when somebody internally notices an issue and desires a fast approach to escalate it to the appropriate workforce.
Assist software program integrations
Linear has integrations for a number of assist desk platforms together with Zendesk, Intercom, Entrance, Salesforce, and Assist Scout.
The Assist Scout integration permits assist groups to create, hyperlink to, and evaluate Linear points from the dialog sidebar. This helps brokers escalate characteristic requests and technical points, monitor them as they transfer by means of the event course of, and maintain clients within the loop, all with out having to change instruments.
Linked Assist Scout conversations are listed within the related Linear duties in order that product and engineering groups can simply click on by means of to Assist Scout to learn the shopper’s authentic message, go away notes for the assist workforce, or ask follow-up questions.
As well as, if your organization makes use of Linear’s buyer requests characteristic, Assist Scout conversations will mechanically group by firm. That is useful for product and management groups, as they will view firm data, add notes, or request particulars to assist prioritize work based mostly on buyer demand.
Pricing
Free plan obtainable. View Linear’s present pricing. The Assist Scout integration is offered to anybody on a Plus or Professional Assist Scout plan.
2. Jira – Greatest for groups targeted on AI
Jira is likely one of the most well-established gamers within the concern administration sport. As a result of it’s been round for some time and has saved its give attention to concern and mission administration, Jira has tons of strong options.
There are the fundamentals like the flexibility to assign points and think about them as timelines or kanban boards, customized fields to trace objects particular to your group, and experiences — all of which assist your engineering workforce keep on high of their work and establish any dependencies or blockers that stand of their approach.
Collaboration can also be straightforward with Jira. You may make customized types to simplify the method of submitting requests to your workforce, and it’s potential to share content material calendars, launch bulletins, and mission documentation so that everybody is all the time on the identical web page.
Jira additionally has plenty of methods to make use of AI to automate duties and enable you to work extra effectively. Their AI part, Rovo, can do quite a bit. It could possibly establish dangers and developments, break down your work into extra manageable duties, present mission summaries, outline jargon for people who could also be new, and even examine your work earlier than you submit it, making certain that it’s able to go.
Rovo chat is one other characteristic that primarily behaves like a copilot. You’ll be able to ask the bot questions or use it to construct automated workflows by means of pure language prompts. In case you select to combine with different titles in your tech stack, it will probably additionally use these connections as knowledge sources to supply extra detailed and nuanced solutions.
Assist software program integrations
Talking of integrations, as probably the most well-known concern monitoring platforms on the market, Jira integrates with loads of assist platforms, together with Assist Scout, Zendesk, Intercom, Entrance, and Freshdesk to call just a few.
The Assist Scout integration permits your workforce to view, create, and hyperlink to Jira points from any buyer dialog. Identical to with the Linear integration, the Jira instances are proven in the appropriate sidebar. If you might want to deep dive, clicking the linked concern will take you to the ticket in Jira.
You can too arrange the combination in order that any time a Jira case is marked as closed, it would mechanically reactivate any linked Assist Scout conversations, making it straightforward to answer to affected clients and allow them to know that their concern has been resolved.
From the Jira facet of issues, you possibly can see all Assist Scout conversations which might be linked to a difficulty. Clicking on linked conversations launches Assist Scout in order that builders and product managers can simply evaluate the unique dialog, ask follow-up questions, or go away personal notes to your workforce.
Pricing
Free plan and trial obtainable. View Jira’s present pricing. The Assist Scout integration is offered to anybody on a Plus or Professional Assist Scout plan.
3. GitHub Points – Greatest for technical groups
Bugs require your engineering workforce to dig into product code, so it will probably definitely make sense to accommodate your points and your code proper subsequent to one another. You are able to do that utilizing GitHub Points, a characteristic included in all GitHub accounts.
GitHub is understood for its model management, and it allows builders to immediately hyperlink between points and the code adjustments that resolved them, making a digital path for anybody to observe sooner or later. GitHub’s continued enhancements in mission administration options are additionally making it simpler for different groups to do extra of their work alongside the engineering workforce.
Plenty of the particular options in Points are similar to what we’ve already mentioned with Linear and Jira. You’ll be able to create points, break them down into sub-issues, and assign both kind to particular individuals in your workforce. You’ll be able to view points as an inventory, board, desk, or roadmap, and you may even create and save customized views.
Collaboration in GitHub is very easy. You’ll be able to tag individuals in feedback, add attachments, and see essential occasions — commits, pull requests, releases, and deploys — all in a single timeline. You can too entry points from nearly anyplace (together with a terminal window) and use both WYSIWYG controls or GitHub Flavored Markdown, whichever most closely fits your workflow.
When it comes to automation and insights, GitHub has workflows and reporting dashboards. It’s a snap to arrange easy if/then guidelines to assist transfer points by means of the decision course of, and also you’re capable of create reporting dashboards that allow you to glean insights by interplay, cycle, milestone, or customized area.
To be clear, GitHub nonetheless feels very very like a device for growth groups. Much less technical groups may take some time to really feel comfy with the interface, terminology, and processes. Then again, understanding one’s approach round GitHub can solely add worth within the tech world, particularly for assist workforce members desirous about transferring into extra technical roles.
Assist software program integrations
Since nearly each developer and firm makes use of GitHub in some capability, many assist desks provide integrations. Assist Scout, Zendesk, Freshdesk, HappyFox, and Intercom all have them.
The Assist Scout integration means that you can hyperlink conversations to current GitHub points or create new ones from the Assist Scout sidebar. You can too click on by means of into GitHub to evaluate the problem in additional element.
Inside GitHub, you’ll be capable of see which Assist Scout conversations are linked to a particular case.
Pricing
Free plan obtainable. View GitHub’s present pricing. The Assist Scout integration is offered to anybody on a Plus or Professional Assist Scout plan.
4. Zoho BugTracker – Greatest for collaboration
Zoho is perhaps finest recognized for its CRM and assist device (Zoho Desk), however its bug monitoring software program definitely has its followers, too. Zoho BugTracker has a good give attention to concern monitoring, which suggests it’s constructed from the bottom up with options particular to that goal.
The default views and fields in BugTracker are useful out of the field, and you may customise them additional to satisfy your workforce’s wants. Automations can guarantee nothing will get left behind and also you meet your service stage agreements along with your clients.
BugTracker’s collaboration options are notably fascinating. With boards and chat embedded proper within the device, you possibly can maintain communication about your points in context.
There are some further good touches, like time monitoring that integrates with Zoho Bill, so you possibly can simply invoice your shoppers to your work. In case you’re intrigued by the inclusion of debate boards for collaboration otherwise you’re already within the Zoho ecosystem, BugTracker is perhaps the right device for you.
Assist software program integrations
Whereas BugTracker does provide a Zendesk integration, its large draw is that it seamlessly integrates with Zoho’s customer support software program, Zoho Desk.
From any Zoho Desk ticket, you possibly can hyperlink to an current bug, file a brand new one, or see any bugs which have already been linked to the case. From inside BugTracker, engineers can see which tickets have been linked.
One good characteristic of this integration is that at any time when a linked assist or bug ticket is up to date, the remark is pushed to the opposite platform. For instance, if a buyer wrote in to report that they’re having hassle logging in and also you created a BugTracker concern for it, if the shopper writes in once more with further particulars or screenshots, the data can be pushed to BugTracker so your growth workforce can evaluate.
Likewise, in case your engineers have questions for the shopper, they will ask them from BugTracker, they usually’ll be pushed into Zoho Desk as a personal observe so your workforce can attain out to the shopper for the extra data.
Pricing
Free plan obtainable. View Zoho BugTracker’s present pricing.
5. Bugzilla – Greatest open supply choice
Bugzilla is an old style bug monitoring software program — it’s really been round since 1998! It was one in all Mozilla’s first merchandise, and in 2026, it nonetheless stays a preferred alternative for individuals who want to go the open supply route.
As you possibly can in all probability think about, Bugzilla has most of the identical options as the opposite instruments we’ve mentioned. You’ll be able to:
Create points (in device or by electronic mail) and assign them to a developer.
Create customized fields to seize data distinctive to your group.
Change the usual growth workflow to raised meet your wants with customized statuses.
Create experiences to watch progress.
There are distinctive options, too. You’ll be able to view bugs in an iCal view or entry the bug record in Atom to be able to subscribe to a difficulty search prefer it’s a feed. You can too schedule experiences to hit your electronic mail inbox as usually as each fifteen minutes, so that you don’t must examine the system for standing updates.
There’s a time monitoring characteristic that may estimate how lengthy it ought to take to repair a bug, observe your time spent, or set a deadline for when the work should be accomplished.
Most likely one of many extra uncommon options is the flexibility to “watch” somebody in Bugzilla. When the characteristic is activated, you obtain each electronic mail they do. Which will sound creepy, however it will probably really be fairly helpful when masking teammates who’re out of workplace, making certain that nothing falls by means of the cracks.
Much like GitHub, Bugzilla is just not going to be the appropriate alternative for non-technical groups. It must be self-hosted and requires growth know-how to implement, use, and preserve. Nonetheless, for builders who like simplicity and independence together with a lean price ticket (free), Bugzilla will be the proper alternative.
Assist software program integrations
Although a few third-party corporations have created connectors for instruments like ServiceNow and different ITSMs, there actually aren’t very many plug and play integrations for assist platforms.
Nevertheless, if you wish to use Bugzilla along with your assist desk, you need to be capable of use the APIs for Bugzilla and your chosen assist desk to create an identical type of connection as the opposite titles on this record provide.
Pricing
Free
Concern monitoring software program is crucial, but it surely’s solely a part of the puzzle
Instruments like those we’ve talked about are actually useful on the subject of managing points from buyer experiences by means of to resolutions. However along with the software program, you might want to have good processes in place to get probably the most from it.
Listed here are just a few finest practices on the subject of concern administration in assist:
Earlier than escalating, do your due diligence. It may be straightforward to see a troublesome case in your assigned queue and panic escalate to your nearest developer. Nevertheless, you need to all the time do your finest to resolve the case by yourself. Dig into all obtainable assets like information base articles and saved replies for troubleshooting concepts. And don’t neglect to take a look at previous conversations to see if this has occurred earlier than and, in that case, how the problem was resolved.
Arrange your workforce for fulfillment. In fact, some issues are new. If you might want to escalate to engineering, give the workforce a head begin by together with as many particulars as potential when opening a ticket. For a case like our cell app bug, offering the working system, system mannequin, and app model can be actually useful. Additionally element every part you tried in your finish, together with whether or not or not you have been capable of replicate the habits.
Don’t go away your clients hanging. In terms of maintaining clients comfortable, communication is vital. As soon as the problem is handed off to the opposite workforce, let your buyer know that the problem has been escalated and that you’ll observe up with them as quickly as you hear again. If potential, present a timeline for after they can count on an replace.
Maintain excellent points in your radar. Generally groups can get busy, and points that are not pressing can get pushed to the again burner. Create a workflow (or use a characteristic like snooze) to periodically change excellent case statuses to open. If there’s no replace from the dev workforce, click on into the ticket in your concern monitoring software program and ask them for one.
At all times shut the loop. As soon as a bug is mounted or a requested characteristic has been launched, all the time attain again out to the purchasers who reported the problem or requested the performance. The onus ought to by no means be on the shopper to examine your app’s standing web page or ship you one other electronic mail. Following up with clients builds belief, and it’s simply the appropriate factor to do.
Another factor to bear in mind is that concern monitoring in customer support is a gaggle mission. Engineers will be the ones that finally repair the shopper’s drawback, however you’re going to be proper there with them, gathering particulars, asking follow-up questions, and reporting again to the shopper as soon as the issue is solved.
As such, the final piece of recommendation we’ve got is to work along with your engineering and product groups to align on the appropriate escalation course of. All of you already know what you might want to do your finest work, so guarantee that the method in place respects your whole wants whereas maintaining buyer expertise on the heart of no matter you select.
With the appropriate instruments and a superb escalation system in place, you’ll be capable of ship the excessive stage of service your clients count on, all whereas being a superb accomplice to the colleagues that enable you to make it occur.
