IT Managers Believe Windows SP2 Upgrade May Cause More Problems Than It Solves in Short Term (email this article)

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Aug. 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- SupportSoft (Company Profile, Past Stories, Case Studies), Inc. (Nasdaq: SPRT - News), a leading provider of Real-Time Service Management (RTSM(TM)) software, today announced the results of a national survey conducted among IT management in which 66% believed that they will incur more end-user calls for support when deploying SP2, Microsoft's most recent major upgrade to Windows XP with significant new security features. Further, 30% said that they have "no idea what to expect" when asked about how the SP2 upgrade will affect their company's help desk, indicating that IT managers may be unprepared for the migration.

The research also indicated that 63% of the IT managers surveyed believe that SP2 will be the most difficult Windows upgrade ever undertaken, and 3% said that their "blood pressure rises just thinking about it."

Corroborating the research findings, in a recent report from IT analyst firm Meta Group, analyst Steve Kleynhans states, "All help desk staff must be made aware of the changes and be provided with training to handle the inevitable initial increase in calls that will result following implementation. Despite these potential issues, we believe organizations should move as rapidly as possible to implement SP2 across their WinXP systems(1)."

The survey was conducted by InsightExpress, an independent research firm, which surveyed 117 IT managers at companies of 500 or more employees. All those surveyed had significant influence over the IT decision making process at their company, and plan on deploying SP2. The survey results indicate a margin of error of +/- 4.4%.

SupportSoft strongly believes that migration to Windows XP SP2 is in the best interests of companies seeking a more secure operating environment and applauds Microsoft's product initiative. SupportSoft can help enterprise customers realize SP2's benefits with a minimum of problems through a single, comprehensive solution to help them manage, service and secure computing endpoints before, during and after the entire SP2 migration process.

For example, before SP2 migration, SupportSoft software can help companies proactively manage endpoints through the discovery of the application software resident on each computing system that may conflict with SP2. The IT department can then use this information to distribute automated fixes to exposed endpoints, helping to avoid problems during deployment. In order to reduce problem "status" calls to the help desk, SupportSoft software can also be used to set up a self-service Web portal to communicate with end-users about the upcoming migration.

During migration, SupportSoft's solutions can be used to deliver assistance to end-users as they need it, providing "just-in-time" service while helping to avoid flood calls to the IT help desk. Using SupportSoft, companies can create a Web portal so end-users can gain access to personalized, knowledge-enabled self-service and view the most current, relevant and personalized answers to their individual questions as they arise. Whether self-service or assisted service is used, end-users can have the ability to activate automated "one-click-fixes" called SupportActions, to help resolve common issues, getting users up and running more quickly.

After migration, SupportSoft can help resolve issues by securing endpoints after deployment is complete. This includes the ability to give mobile and remote workers the same level of service and support as headquarter-based employees through remote diagnostics and automated issue resolution. As common issues arise across the enterprise, fixes can be distributed across multiple endpoints, helping to ensure business continuity. In addition, new pieces of relevant knowledge and "one-click-fixes" can be created on-the-fly to respond to new issues as they are discovered, enabling real-time response to critical issues. And finally, SupportSoft can assist in distributing follow-on configuration changes and patches to ensure that your computing endpoints meet desktop standards, and validate that SP2 and other patches are properly installed to meet security compliance.

"IT managers have enough to worry about, without encountering unanticipated problems during a large migration. You have to 'expect the unexpected,'" said Chris Grejtak, senior vice president of products and marketing at SupportSoft. "SupportSoft can help enterprises do this by reducing the number of problems during migration and more effectively managing issues as they arise -- helping to ensure system availability and personal productivity, so businesses can run without interruption and more quickly recognize the rewards of an upgrade like SP2."

About SupportSoft
SupportSoft is a leading provider of Real-Time Service Management (RTSM(TM)) software designed to accelerate and automate enterprise technical support, customer service and IT infrastructure management. Enterprises that have purchased our products and services include: ADP, Bank of America, Cisco Systems, IBM, Procter & Gamble, Siebel Systems, Sony and Thomson Financial. Managed service providers that have purchased our products to provide outsourced services to enterprises include: Accenture, ACS, CGE&Y, CGI, CSC and IBM Global Services. Digital service providers incorporating our software into their service offerings include: Adelphia Communications, BellSouth, Charter Communications, Comcast Communications, Cox Communications, Time Warner, TeliaSonera and UPC. For more information visit www.supportsoft.com.

This press release contains forward-looking statements, including the statements about the expected benefits from SupportSoft's solutions in particular, and such statements are subject to significant risks and uncertainties including technical challenges specific to the customers' implementation of the solutions, the uncertainties related to the SP2 release, the rapid pace of technological change, and the continued acceptance and usage of SupportSoft software. Additional risks and uncertainties are set forth in SupportSoft's SEC filings. SupportSoft assumes no obligation to update the information in this press release.