Relativity - Blog #Client Support

Thirty Years of Relativity

Mon, 01 Sep 2025 10:22:12 +0000

1995 To Now: How It Came To Be

1995. The year Windows 95 was released, the year Friends debuted in the UK, and the year that Relativity was founded! That’s right, this September, Relativity turns 30! It’s been a fantastic 30 years of helping clients and connecting with our local community, and we’re so grateful for all the fantastic people we have met over the years from clients, to colleagues, to friends. It’s also been a very busy, hectic 30 years, and in that time Relativity has morphed, changed, and adapted, alongside the fast changing technological world around it. So really, where did it all begin?

Take a little look at our logos! We've obviously had some pretty big changes over the last 30 years!

The Beginning

In 1995, Relativity Limited was incorporated! Gordon started working out of his home office with no plans and no idea what relativity would become. He started with one client, who is still a client to this day, and entered the world of being a small business. The set up came with all the struggles of starting a small business, but it also came with all the excitement of doing what worked for him. There were bumps, there were learning curves, but there were also great successes, and the satisfaction that would come from starting to do what he loved. And so, Relativity started doing what it does best: supporting small businesses and people with software development and online systems.

Making Connections

After 12 years in business, an opportunity arose. An opportunity to work with a brilliant suite of systems, and offer specialised help in the software field. Gordon discovered Zoho, and its wide range of systems and applications, and saw the potential that they had. And so, in 2007, Gordon became a Zoho Partner, and started working with clients to customise Zoho applications and personalise systems to work for them. Not long after, the full business shift was made, and Relativity became a company that worked solely in the Zoho suite, supporting Zoho users across the UK & across the world. In 2015, Gordon attended the first Zoholics UK, networking with other professionals from the UK, as well as experts from the Zoho team across the world. It was a fantastic opportunity to meet so many wonderful people, and has become a highlight of the business calendar as he continues to attend each year.

Relativity Now

Racing into the present, Relativity is a very different company to where it began. Since 2018, we’ve helped on average 57 Zoho customers per year, and cover 30 of the Zoho Apps, in addition to Zoho One. As a member of multiple local Chamber of Commerces, Gordon remains active in the local business community, working on local levels as well as the national and international levels that he’s interacted with from the conception of the company. Going into this month, we’re extremely excited to be attending Zoholics UK next week in Birmingham, as well as continuing to work with our wonderful clients to provide some of the best software solutions out there. We are so unbelievably excited to get to celebrate our 30th anniversary this year, and know that we’ve had 30 years surrounded by incredible clients, colleagues, and friends.

So… What’s next?

Well, we keep doing what we’re good at! We are so lucky to have a fantastic, committed client base, and we will continue to provide excellent support and customer service, helping small businesses to streamline their online systems and take one more problem off of their very busy plate. Whether you’ve been with us since the very beginning, or if you’ve only been working with Relativity for a little while, we promise to maintain the excellent service that we’ve been providing for 30 years, and keep changing the way that businesses look at their CRMs.

We’ve been in business for 30 years, so we know what we’re doing, and we have no plans of stopping. If you’re looking for a company to support you and your business, then reach out for a free consultation to hear about all the work Relativity does, and how our team could support you and your business. We cannot wait to hear from you!

Help Desk Management Software From Zoho Desk

Wed, 27 Jul 2022 00:43:25 +0000

Zoho Desk will enable you to efficiently manage your customer support activities. It is designed for all sizes of business and is easy to use. Zoho Desk addresses customer service challenges in real time. Our last article talked about customer feedback surveys, social media monitoring, community forums and Short Message Service (SMS). Before that we discussed other client support tools in detail including email automations, Chatbots, live chat and FAQs. This time we look at the key features of Zoho Desk, what people are saying about Zoho Desk and how we can help you.

Features of Zoho Desk

Prioritise, manage and close your customer support tickets
Create a Help Desk solution for your team
Provide a Help Centre
Manage contracts and service level agreements
Create standard and customised reports
Customise your desk

Ticket Management

You will be able to check customer requests across channels, brands, products, departments and more, all in one place. Irrespective of the channel of communication, your customers choose, you will be available for them. This can be via email, telephone, social media, live chat and more.

Help is Available to the DIY Customer

Customer self-service capabilities can be embedded into your website and mobile apps within the ASAP plugin. Clients will be able to browse your Knowledge Base, post to interact with your user community and chat with Zia, an AI-powered conversation assistant.

Empower Your Team and Automate Repetitive Tasks

Using Zoho Desk will improve team productivity, as they will have everything available at their fingertips to collaborate, communicate and secure customer relationships. Processes can be managed efficiently and effortlessly with repetitive activities automated to save time, effort and costs.

Analyse Team Performance and Customise

It’s key to know what is working and what isn’t and take action. Reports and visualisations can be created to monitor your team’s performance. You will also know how long tasks take, which will help with invoicing clients. Your help desk can also be customised so that it matches your brand personality.

Offer Help to Your Customers Securely

With Zoho Desk, customer data will be protected whilst giving your team all the information they need.

Roles – define your company hierarchy for better data flow
Profiles – specify access for various roles
Data Sharing – control who can access data within each module
GDPR – stay compliant
Field Level Security – define who can view and modify data

What are People Saying About Zoho Desk?

“Zoho Desk is the most full-featured help desk you can buy for the money. It is at the top of our help desk list for one very simple reason: it has an Impressive list of features and the most competitive price on the market.”
PC Magazine

“Zoho Desk offers an omnichannel ticketing system that is equipped with agent collaboration and productivity tools to make customer support processes faster and more efficient. It is recommended for start ups and small support teams looking for free support solutions with self-service and SLA features. It also offers scalable paid plans suited for growing companies and enterprises.”
Fit Small Business

“Should you invest in this help desk platform? If you have a growing business and want to develop a solid customer support system – the answer is YES. Our comprehensive review proved that Zoho Desk is an amazing platform where you can service your stakeholders better. Bye-bye bad customer service.”
techjury

How Can Relativity Help You with Zoho Desk?

Zoho Desk is web-based help desk software, which is available for FREE for up to three agents and scalable as you grow. It is feature rich to increase the productivity of your team. Customisation will allow you to determine the most suitable page layouts and you will have the capabilities to add fields, create tabs and edit templates to suit your business. To find out more about managing your customer support activities with Zoho Desk, call Relativity, the business technology specialists on 01825 280123 or email info@relativity.co.uk for more information.

Read our other recent posts:

https://www.relativity.co.uk/four-client-support-software-tools/

https://www.relativity.co.uk/four-customer-service-support-channels/

https://www.relativity.co.uk/zoho-zia/

https://uk.pcmag.com/cloud-services/89107/zoho-desk

https://fitsmallbusiness.com/zoho-desk-review/

Four Client Support Software Tools

Fri, 15 Jul 2022 15:39:19 +0000

Which client support software tools are best for your business? In the latest article from Relativity, the business technology experts based in East Sussex, we look at four of the most frequently used forms of customer service automation. Last time we looked at email automations, Chatbots, live chat and FAQs. This time we consider customer feedback surveys, social media monitoring, community forums and Short Message Service (SMS).

Four Examples of Client Support Software Tools

Client feedback surveys
Social media listening, monitoring and responding
Community forums
SMS messaging

Client Feedback Surveys Provide Useful Insights

It seems that they have been around since the ‘dawn of time’, but client feedback surveys are still very helpful in gathering information about what customers think about your business. With ever increasing competition, you need to gain the edge over them and although surveys may include things you do not want to hear, they will provide useful insights into how services and products can be improved. Consider including customer experience surveys regularly as you will know who is happy and who is not!

Improves service and product quality
Helps in making important strategy decisions
Makes clients feel valued
Measures customer satisfaction
Improves customer retention and loyalty rates

Social Media Monitoring Helps Track What People are Saying About Your Brand

Client support software tools include monitoring social media, which can be used to identify trends and to understand what customers are thinking and saying about your brand. It can also track competitor activity and also measure the impact your social media activity is having. If people choose social media to reach out to you, they will want a fast response.

Promotes good customer service
Generates new leads
Provides feedback
Identifies influencers
Share compliments
Monitor the competition
Identifies trends

Community Forums Allow Clients to Ask Questions and Share Their Experiences

Here customers can share their knowledge about the products and services you provide. It is an online meeting place, and you could say self-service support group where a problem can be sorted without the need for contacting customer service.

This means customers can solve issues on their own which is a cost saving for your business. They are also helpful for product development as ideas can be gathered from the people who know and use your products and services.

Increase customer engagement
Provide market research
Collect feedback
Promote brand loyalty
Improve customer experience

Short Message Service (SMS) is a Popular Way to Connect with Customers

It was actually invented in the 1980s and is one of the oldest texting technologies. However there are many reasons and benefits of using SMS as one of your client support software tools. SMS messaging is very reliable, texts are quick and cost effective and results can be easily analysed.

Provides immediate communication
Attracts new customers
Increases sales
Provides a profitable ROI

How Can Relativity Help You Choose the Perfect Client Support Software Tools for Your Business?

There are a lot of client support software tools available and we hope our last two articles have shed some light on eight of the channels you can use in your business. There is no doubting that adhering to the adage, ‘the customer comes first’ is good for your business. However, without customer support software, this can be time-consuming and expensive. If you want to update your systems, it can be difficult to decide on the channels you need. Sometimes a little ‘trail and error’ may be needed. Or to find out more about customer service support channels, call Relativity, the business technology specialists on 01825 280123 or email info@relativity.co.uk for more information. We can help you to decide which features you need and which tools are the most suitable for your budget, size of business and how any new systems can work with the tools you already have.

Next time we will be looking in more detail at Zoho Desk, the client support software tool that will help you run your customer service operations.

https://www.relativity.co.uk/four-customer-service-support-channels/

If It Isn't Broken, You Can Still Look to Fix It

Wed, 09 May 2012 16:54:10 +0000

In a recent post I had suggested that you only fix the broken things to maximise your investment in systems and processes, I stand by this, however it does not mean you should not look to fix everything in your business even if it is not broken. Everything in the business world is changing quickly and if you do not constantly review you may get left behind or not be making the most of your investment. Obviously fixing the things that don’t work is a priority but there is always value in improving those things which are already working, making them slicker, easier, more intuitive and ultimately more cost effective, but make sure any changes are aligned with where you want the business to go. You are busy running your business, so how can you keep on top of that review?

Here are 5 Ideas:

1. Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Blogs: Follow people in your industry, follow your suppliers, not just your product suppliers but also your technology and service suppliers. What you are looking for is the golden nugget of information that says a supplier has a new service or Tips and Tricks for using the systems you use.

Pros: Can be reviewed at your leisure Cons: Sorting the wheat from the chaff

2. Interact with your customers: Make sure you have an effective channel to your customers, currently this may be one way, i.e your marketing, make it two way and listen to what your clients are saying. They may have issues, some may even have ideas. Pros: They are your life blood who better to listen too for improvements Cons: Can be subjective not objective

3. Back to the floor: It may have been some time since you took a customer order or worked with a supplier as you have staff to do that, once in a while do their job. What better way is there of finding improvements to your systems and processes. May be take this a step further and have rotating jobs so that different people end up working in different areas of the business, but gather feedback, this also has the added benefit of reducing the bottlenecks caused by ‘specialist’ people being on holiday/off sick. Pros: Kill two birds with one stone, i.e perform holiday or sickness cover Cons: You hired someone to do the job because you didn’t want too!

4. Open door policy: As your business gets bigger make sure you are available to your staff, listen to what they have to offer. Pros: Builds rapport and trust with your employees Cons: Be careful about in action on suggestions bought to you.

5. Surround yourself by partners: Partners, such as Relativity who are separate to the business yet understand it and who are able to be objective with a separate pair of eyes, and don’t be afraid to talk to them, I can’t speak for partners you may already have but we are more than happy to chew the fat if you are buying the coffee :-) Pros: A lot of value and expertise for what could be very little if any investment Cons: There aren't any, I would say that wouldn’t I.