Press Release - Help Desk Institute

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The World's Largest Customer Service & Support Organization Formed

Colorado Springs based Help Desk Institute and U.K. based Customer Service Management (CSM) Group, announced today that they have merged to form the world's largest membership and subscription organization for customer service and support professionals. The new organization will focus on the needs of service and support professionals worldwide and operate as one company, ThinkService, Incorporated.

ThinkService is developing “centers of excellence” to deliver training, certification, conferences, publications, support for vendor initiatives, and to meet the needs of members via local chapters and partners located on every continent in the world. Membership in the combined organizations exceeds 5,500 with thousands more involved in local chapter programs in North America.

ThinkService has developed a family of affinity groups or membership associations dedicated to serving the needs of service and support industry professionals. “We anticipate that our additional size, depth of talent, and focus on the professional will allow us to continue to provide the highest quality, lowest cost services to the service and support profession. We do not provide consulting or outsourcing, but prefer to stay member focused and vendor neutral in order to facilitate true networking and information sharing,” stated Ron Muns, a founder and Co-Chairman of ThinkService.

Howard Kendall, also ThinkService founder and Co-Chairman adds, “We will work to maximize the value of existing brands, while leveraging the capabilities that our increase in size permits. With the world shrinking due to the impact of the internet and the ever increasing volume of international trade, this merger seemed timely and the right thing to do for our members, vendors in the industry, our staff, and our stockholders.”

Kendall and Muns will manage the new holding company. Mr. Muns, Chairman of Help Desk Institute (HDI), will lead the customer support initiative. He will be assisted by HDI’s newly appointed Chief Operating Officer, Ken Webb, who recently joined HDI from his previous position managing MCI Worldcom’s “One Call West” support center. Mr. Kendall will lead the Customer Service Management initiatives to include major conferences in the U.S. and U.K. as well as the Customer Service Management magazine distributed in North America and Europe.

In a joint statement, Mr. Kendall and Mr. Muns indicated that “we expect the nature of service and support to evolve rapidly and will demand quick responses, and, in some cases, new associations or special interest groups to be formed. ThinkService will succeed as long as we continue to listen to our members and keep a very healthy service attitude. We have the greatest customers in the world and we want to maintain them for life. Whatever we have to do, that is our objective. We only succeed if we serve our customers as they serve theirs!”

About Help Desk Institute
Help Desk Institute (HDI) is a member centric organization focusing on the needs of internal and external support organizations and the vendors who support them. HDI’s mission is to set the standards, establish certification and training programs, and to encourage member collaboration. The organization’s vision is to lead the customer support profession worldwide. HDI provides targeted information about people, process, technologies, and trends that impact the customer support industry. HDI provides public and on-site training to prepare for HDI’s individual certification programs. For the certification of support centers, HDI provides a “Certified Support Center” program that represents a target and goal for support organizations worldwide. HDI also provides numerous opportunities for members to network with their peers, either via participation in one of HDI’s 50 local chapters or at gatherings in which HDI hosts 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 in North America, and partners in North and South America, Europe, and Asia/Pacific representing an additional 2,000 members. HDI has thousands of additional members in local chapter programs in North America. www.helpdeskinst.com

About Customer Service Management
CSM is a professional association of over 1,100 member organizations with either a focus on help desk or on customer service. CSM is well known for it magazine, Customer Service Management and its Customer Service Management conferences. The conference, held in the U.S. and the U.K., draws over 1,200 and 500 paid attendees respectively. Additionally, CSM holds an annual U.K.-based help desk conference and a separate expo. CSM partners with members, primarily in the U.K. to help answer industry questions, provide workshops and training programs, and has recently partnered with HDI to build open-industry standards for the certification of individuals and customer support centers. www.csm-europe.com www.csm-us.com

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Editorial Contact:
Dana Gardiner
Help Desk Insititute
719-268-0313
Dgardiner@HelpDeskInst.com

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