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HDI Standards Committee establishing standards of quality for support centers

Colorado Springs, Colorado, [September 22, 1999] – Help Desk Institute (HDI) announced today that the HDI Open Standards and Site Certification Committee, which includes members from the US, Canada, Europe, and Japan has been working all summer on defining support center performance quality standards. This prestigious group has established a consensus on the framework and methodology for how to measure performance and quality for support centers. HDI's standards committee is committed to building an open industry standard, that will be defensible and compatible when viewed, by existing international standards bodies, including: Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Awards, ISO 9000 standards, ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library), and the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM). Support Center performance and quality will be measured in the areas of Leadership, Policies and Strategies, People Management, Resources, Processes, People Satisfaction, Customer Satisfaction, , and Operating Results. The committee is committed to creating an industry-wide blueprint or reference model for organizations to follow.

The committee consists of international industry leaders from Renaissance Partners, Inc. (a NorthHighlands Company), Service Management International (SMI), Bank of America, Sprint, Pink Elephant, Sun Microsystems, NCR Corporation, CSM Europe (U.K.), and W.H.S. Consulting Group, Ltd. (Germany), The Help Desk Center (part of the Japanese Institute of Office Automation) and Help Desk Institute. Additional meetings are planned for September and October, of this year.

HDI's Open Standards and Site Certification Initiative
This HDI initiative is an international effort for the review and evaluation of support centers. Performance and quality will be measured via a reference model that has eight elements or categories: Leadership, Policies and Strategies, People Management, Resources, Processes, People Satisfaction, Customer Satisfaction, and Operating Results. Developed through the efforts of leading industry professionals, This new support industry initiative provides a reference model, standard's statements within each reference model element or category, a set of questions for measuring organizational maturity to the standard, and auditor manuals and classes. HDI will publish the standards for general distribution, thus allowing support centers to work on compliance in advance of an audit. "Our goal is to set standards that support centers worldwide will embrace and seek to achieve," indicated Ron Muns, Chairman, Help Desk Institute. HDI will work with internal/external support organizations and consulting organizations worldwide in an open fashion to establish, promote, and monitor standards for site certification. This initiative will dovetail with Compare TM, the industry standard benchmark database announced jointly by HDI, Service Management International, Customer Support Management Magazine and Decisive Technology earlier this year on August 17th..

HDI will make a formal announcement at the Support Services Conference and Expo in San Francisco (October 25-30) as to general availability of this program.

About Help Desk Institute:
HDI is a member centric organization, focusing on the needs of internal and external support organizations that comprise HDI's membership and the vendors who support them. Help Desk Institute's (HDI) mission is to set standards, establish certification and training programs, provide access to industry resources, and to encourage member collaboration. HDI focus is to lead the customer support profession world-wide. HDI provides targeted information about the technologies, tools and trends of the help desk and customer support industry, as well as customized training and certification programs for both the individual and support organization sites. HDI also provides numerous opportunities for members to network with their peers, either via participation in one of HDI's 50 local chapters or in gatherings in which HDI host such interactions. HDI co-sponsors the Support Services Conference and Expos, offers regional training, and publishes a wide range of training publications and research materials. HDI is the leading support services association with more than 3,500 members worldwide, with partners in North and South America, Europe, and Asia/Pacific. The web site is www.helpdeskinst.com.

Editorial Contact:
Dana Gardiner
Help Desk Institute
dgardiner@helpdeskinst.com
800-248-5667

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