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HELP DESK INSTITUTE STRATEGIC ADVISORY BOARD FORECASTS SUPPORT INDUSTRY TRENDS

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - October 30, 2002 - Help Desk Institute (HDI), the world’s largest membership association for service and support professionals, today announced that its strategic advisory board gathered in San Francisco, Calif. on Thursday, October 18, 2002 to discuss and forecast important support industry trends. HDI’s strategic advisory board’s membership comprises sixteen leading industry luminaries, support industry executives, vendor CEOs, international representatives, and members of the media and analyst community.

The group identified several trends affecting support organizations, including:
· Cost pressures, budget and staff reductions
· The strategic expansion of the support role
· The support function becoming more closely aligned with overall business objectives
· Addressing the impact of 9/11; risk management, security issues and crisis management planning
· A highly technically-savvy young, Gen-X, Gen-Y workforce

Top emerging service and support technologies identified by HDI’s board include:
· Self-service: embedded and automated functions, as well as pre-emptive and intuitive solutions
· Knowledge management and knowledge automation: specifically the proactive provision of personalized, context-sensitive knowledge to the user
· Collaborative tools: real-time communications technology enabling virtual solutions teams in a real-time environment
· Asset discovery/asset management

Notable industry organizational structural changes include:
· Increasing valued status of the help desk/service desk
· Flattening/blending of the support organization between traditional level one and level two organizations - allowing support organizations to place more functionality at level one
· An increasing number of support organizations reporting to C-level management
· Increased outsourcing

New job positions within the support organization, including: knowledge management, service management, and process management functions.

HDI will issue a white paper exploring these trends in the coming weeks.. .

“This board is dedicated to defining and providing thought leadership to the ever-evolving service and support industry,” stated Char LaBounty, founder and president, LaBounty & Associates, Inc. “This is an exciting time for our industry - with many business and economic issues, technology and infrastructure changes affecting the future of our work. We feel it is important for us to assist the industry at large to be prepared to meet the demands of the service and support function in the years ahead to maximize corporate productivity.”

“With input from this prestigious board, HDI members and the service and support industry as a whole will be better prepared to meet tomorrow’s challenges, to influence and provide direction to support organizations, and to ensure the quality and efficient delivery of service and support, added Ron Muns, founder and CEO of HDI.

HDI’s strategic advisory board includes: Radha Basu, SupportSoft; Kris Brittain, Gartner Group; Patrick Bultema, FrontRange Solutions; Malcolm Fry, Peregrine; Edward Hawthorne, Bank of America; Carolyn Healey, Supportindustry.com; Brenda Iniguez, Providian Insurance; Kurt Johnson, Courion; Scott Koon, Mayo Foundation; Gary Lemke, RealMarket.com; Joanna Osmond, Abbott Laboratories, Greg Oxton, Consortium for Service Innovation; Eric Rabinowitz, IHS Support Solutions; and Phillip Verghis, Akamai Technology.

About Help Desk Institute
Help Desk Institute (HDI) is the world's largest industry association for help desk and support professionals. HDI's mission is to lead and promote help desk and support professionals by empowering its members through access to timely and valuable industry information, encouraging member collaboration, and establishing open standards, globally recognized certification and training programs. In addition to membership, certification, and training, HDI produces the highest-rated industry event, the HDI Annual Conference and Expo, for help desk and support professionals. HDI is member-focused and remains vendor-neutral in its efforts to facilitate open, independent networking and information sharing within the association network. Membership exceeds 7,500 with members from every continent worldwide. To become a member, or to obtain further information on HDI programs, please visit the HDI website at www.ThinkHDI.com.
 
Editorial Contact:
Jen McClure
Albrycht McClure & Partners
510-796-1475
jenm@albrycht-mcclure.com
 
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