"We are very excited about this new program that enables us to offer our members extremely valuable timely, focused, hard research from a thought leader like Gartner. Gartner Research Notes are concise, insightful research papers that examine trends, tools and technologies, and we are happy to support the support industry by supplying them with this knowledge as part of their HDI member benefits," said Ron Muns, founder and CEO of HDI. "This new program is just another example of how HDI is constantly working to bring increased value to its members."

With increasing pressure from software manufacturers to audit license compliance along with the increase in penalties for illegal usage, it is essential that organizations track software deployment. assystDiscovery helps organizations ensure they are B.S.A compliant. It provides a complete breakdown of software installations and usage across the enterprise, allowing informed business decisions to be made about software deployment.

The strategic partnership also offers RHI Consulting professionals access to HDI's open-standard certification programs and includes the development of co-sponsored marketing programs. In addition to providing content for the new career portal, RHI Consulting will periodically contribute to HDI's flagship publication, SupportWorld.

The Strategic Advisory Board's mission is to advise and counsel on issues related to product development, industry trends and membership needs, assess their impact and ensure that HDI remains responsive to the needs of business, industry, education and communities. The board will meet periodically to discuss business trends and objectives and assist HDI in documenting and communicating new developments.

IBM Corp. has deployed a new, Web-enabled support service, Virtual Help Desk, designed to provide support to problem inquiries on a 24 x 7 basis via the Web. The design features of IBM's Virtual Help Desk utilize the latest electronic technology to integrate Web tools into the customer's environment, Virtual Help Desk builds on self- healing, self-help and assisted service processes to answer user questions. A Web portal guides users through all stages, reducing the need for help desk calls and on-sire support. In addition, information about the user, the system and the problem is automatically collected and analyzed to guide the user to the right tools and sources for quick, efficient resolution. Some of its other features include automated problem diagnostics and support solutions, electronic chat (IM help), printer configuration, software rollback and self-healing, and dynamic language translation. IBM will initially market the Virtual Help Desk service to corporate clients.

Help desk software must be able to effectively support all the possible paths that a service request may follow from start to completion as is diagrammed here. (Illustration courtesy of Help Desk Technology Corporation, www.helpstar.com) solution. IBM's Virtual Help Desk, an outsourced service offering targeted initially for the corporate enterprise market, is designed to alleviate the high costs associated with corporate help desks and transform them into fully-automated, self-assisted operations by diagnosing and electronically solving technical problems.

As part of the agreement, Spherion will be a title sponsor at STI Knowledge's e>Support Knowledge Center Symposium at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas August 20-22. Anna Turruellas, Senior Vice President of Technology Solutions, Spherion's Technology Infrastructure Solutions Group, will be a keynote speaker at the symposium, sharing her expertise in optimizing help desk environments.

(MS OFFICE, INTERNAL HELPDESK, REMEDY, MARVELL, CUSTOMER SERVICE, CALL PRIORITIZING) A large automotive blue chip company are looking for a 1st line Service Desk Analyst to join their busy team. You will be required to log and diagnose calls and escalate unresolved issues to 2nd Line.

ServiceDesk Plus' Help Desk module enables end-users to submit trouble tickets via a browser or through email. It automates several key workflow tasks such as case routing, acknowledging requester/technician notifications and handling of SLA rules. As a result, your support organization can now realize higher levels of productivity, keep everyone informed, provide superior service, improve problem resolution times, share knowledge effectively and keep end-users happy.

Tracking help desk support issues and customer service inquiries can be a virtual nightmare without the right tools and helpdesk application. Whether your organization is small, medium or large, keeping issues from falling between the cracks can be critical to managing customer relationships and providing great customer support. Are you looking for a help desk support software solution designed to ensure your organization effectively communicates, organizes, tracks and reports the issues that matter the most to you and your customers?