December 2002, London, England - Hornbill Systems Limited, an innovative provider of IT support and service management systems, sees its user group grow in voice at its latest meeting held on Thursday 7th November at the Royal Society, London.

So often customer user groups stumble into creation and take their time to gain momentum but Hornbill's is thriving, growing and providing the Company with positive input to product and service development. This was the third meeting of the year and was hosted by Andrew Brooks, IT Services Manager for the Royal Society.

Lee Davis, the user group's Chairman and Helpdesk Software Project Manager at the University of Exeter, was quick to commend the Group's early success but urged for greater independence moving forward. "Commitment from customer organisations and Hornbill has enabled this Group to find its voice and build a collaborative channel through to the vendor. However, and in spite of Hornbill's support, we need to gain our independence so we can become what we want to become - a strategic body advising Hornbill on customer service, professional services and product development and lifecycle management. To do this effectively the forum needs to be vendor-free and able to solicit views and opinions and provide collective commentary to Hornbill. But we shouldn't lose sight of the progress to date."

Gerry Sweeney, Managing Director of Hornbill, responded. "The software industry, especially, seems to be littered with the memories of vendors who blindly developed product without focusing upon the needs of the customer. We openly endorse this initiative and will continue to support the Group until their independence is established. The Group's impact upon our development is immeasurable."

The meeting did include a presentation given by Hornbill's MD that provided the customers with a future vision of Support-Works. Other presentations were made by Lee Davis, who chaired the meeting and called for additional committee members to help manage the Group's growing responsibilities and activities and Jon Stephenson, Group Technology Manager for Geest plc, who provided the audience with an overview of how Support-Works has been deployed and the benefits his organisation has enjoyed.

The next user group meeting is scheduled for March 2003