Edison, NJ (October 18, 2004) - UniPress Software (Company
Profile, Past
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Studies), Inc., a leading provider of web-based service desk automation software, today announced that its first annual FootPrints Users Conference, held in Las Vegas last month, was a major success. During the lively week-long event, customers engaged in active dialogue about their service desk challenges and successes with FootPrints solutions. Customers, including help desk, customer support, and IT professionals attended a series of peer-driven presentations and case study panels that showcased how FootPrints is being used to automate their help desk and customer service operations and other strategic business processes. Advanced technical and business process sessions were presented by UniPress’ FootPrints experts to help organizations expand their FootPrints implementations. Keynote presentations on service desk practices were given by recognized industry experts, including speakers from Forrester Research Group, Pink Elephant, and DEMA Education (a certified Help Desk Institute Training Partner).
“This conference was a great experience for us and we enjoyed sharing our FootPrints deployment with everyone, as well as learning about other interesting and innovative service desk implementations,” explained Jesse Medina, IT Manager-Arizona Operations at Capital Title Group, Inc. “We have made some great contacts here and have learned some new ideas to optimize our FootPrints environment. Overall the conference was a huge success and we appreciate all the generosity extended to us by the UniPress team. We look forward to attending next year’s event.”
Through customer-presented live case studies and birds-of-a-feather sessions, attendees learned firsthand how other users are implementing FootPrints and how they are realizing significant business benefits. Additional sessions provided information on service desk best practices and technical education about the FootPrints product line. Topics covered included using FootPrints for multiple projects and business applications, Information Technology Infrastructure Library® (ITIL) best practices, service level agreements (SLAs), change management, external customer support, self-service online, knowledge-centered support, and more.
Four keynote presentations were given as part of the two-day event. In his address entitled, “The Future of FootPrints,” Mark Krieger, President of UniPress Software, offered a sneak peek of the next releases of FootPrints. John Ragsdale, VP, Research Director at Forrester Research, discussed the importance of quantifying return on investment (ROI) in IT during his speech, “Market Trends Impacting Your IT Investment…and Your Job Security.” In addition, Eric Rabinowitz, President of DEMA Education, informed and entertained attendees with his presentation entitled, “How to Make Your Customers Raving Fans.” Finally, Troy DuMoulin, Managing Consultant at Pink Elephant, spoke about “How to Improve Your IT Service Management with ITIL Processes.”
“IT service desks are taking on more responsibility within the organization, often with fewer resources than before,” explained John Ragsdale, Vice President and Research Director at Forrester Research. “These issues have intensified the importance of return on investment in IT and increased the focus on best practices. Many of the customers at this conference were discussing how they’re using their service desk automation for multiple business projects and applications at their organizations.”
“We wanted to give customers the opportunity to be the focal point, share their implementation stories, hear industry and UniPress experts, and learn how others are using FootPrints to solve business-critical service and support operations,” explained Mark Krieger, President of UniPress Software. “The mix of organizations representing a range of industries made it a highly insightful and extremely interactive event. It also provided a forum for us to communicate our product vision and, in a face-to-face environment, learn more about the changing needs of our customers which will continue to impact our development efforts.”
In conjunction with the event, DEMA Education presented a three-day skills development course for help desk managers. The course - the Help Desk Institute’s (HDI) Help Desk Manager Course - was delivered by DEMA Education, an HDI Certified Training Partner of UniPress, and provided information to help attendees learn how to successfully master strategic and tactical aspects of support center management, as well as prepare them for the HDI certification test.
In addition to the collaborative sessions, UniPress led a spirited session of FootPrints Jeopardy, a highly interactive and informative game that challenged even the most astute FootPrints user. Additionally, UniPress acknowledged customers for their creative deployments of FootPrints during an awards ceremony. Below is a list of organizations selected as innovators for their custom use of FootPrints to address their service and support operations:
- “Multi-Usage Implementation” - Kampgrounds of America
- “Hosting Customer” - Auto Club Insurance Association
- “Creative Customization” - Union Sanitary District
- “IT Outsourcer” - Alvarez Technology Group
- “Global Enterprise Deployment” - Memec, LLC
- “Government Customer” - Los Alamos National Labs
- “Business Process Best Practices” - Boeing Integrated Defense Systems
- “Conference Customer Appreciation Award” - University of Michigan
About UniPress Software, Inc.
Headquartered in Edison, New Jersey, UniPress Software, Inc. is a developer of web-based service desk automation software targeting mid-market companies, departments within large enterprise organizations, and small businesses. The company’s FootPrints® product line, launched in 1996, provides a comprehensive range of capabilities to significantly improve help desk and customer support operations, and is widely used by nearly 2,000 corporate organizations, government offices, and educational institutions worldwide, including Prudential Financial, BHP Petroleum, IBM, Kampgrounds of America, Schwab Soundview Capital Markets, Hunter Fan Company, the IRS, and the University of Pennsylvania. For more information, contact UniPress at 732-287-2100, or via the web at www.unipress.com.
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