Hornbill Systems has launched Supportworks ITSM Foundations, a new service management solution offering the most commonly adopted ITIL processes in a simple, out-of-the-box package. As a refresh to Hornbill's IT Helpdesk application, ITSM Foundations includes Incident, Problem, Change and Service Level Management processes and the management of Assets/Configuration Items (CIs) as standard. Designed for fast deployment, it is operational within days rather than weeks, without the need for extensive customisation.

The introduction of ITSM Foundations addresses the growing demand in the marketplace for easy-to-use software that combines best-practice ITIL functionality without the complexity normally associated with a full service management implementation, as Gerry Sweeney, CEO of Hornbill Systems, explains:

"In the service desk industry, we see a large number of small to medium-sized businesses looking to adopt ITIL as part of their investment in customer support. Their helpdesks have reached a certain level of maturity where they require simplified business processes but want to introduce them gradually into their organisation. Their aim is to get some quick wins from ITIL without undertaking a full-scale ITIL deployment."

Leading industry analysts Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) recently surveyed 158 organisations to discover the latest developments in today's service desk environment. According to Lisa Erickson-Harris, Research Director at EMA: "Our survey demonstrated the continued growing requirement of ITIL to support service with 82% of respondents stating 'improving customer satisfaction' as their number one goal for the service desk. When asked which best practice related capabilities were most important to their service desk solution, the majority (90%) still rated Incident Management as a priority, followed closely by Problem Management (86%), Change Management (79%) and Service Level Management (77%)."

The launch of ITSM Foundations underlines Hornbill's commitment to incorporating 'human touch' features that enable organisations to get closer to customers' needs and wants, key to creating an enhanced customer experience. By using ITSM Foundations, support analysts are able to tailor their interaction with the customer to provide the best possible service.

For example, when a customer contacts the service desk, relevant, personal information automatically populates the screen. At first point of engagement, the support analyst will know exactly who the customer is, which services are of highest priority and how he or she has rated the service desk in the past. As a result, the support analyst can tailor the service experience according to the exact needs of each customer.

In addition to viewing and tracking the progress of their enquiries via Hornbill's SelfService portal, customers can submit their satisfaction rating for every enquiry they have logged, providing greater visibility into the performance of the IT department or external service desk and giving them the opportunity to adapt their services accordingly.

Supportworks ITSM Foundations enables IT operations to focus on the main drivers for ITIL adoption: to improve service quality, increase customer satisfaction and introduce standard processes across IT to create efficiencies.

"The ability to capture and share customer information is now more important than ever. ITSM Foundations is designed to cater for the particular service requirements of both internal and external IT service desk environments. With ITSM Foundations, we have launched a next generation entry-level service management product that helps bridge the gap between IT and its customers and allows organisations to realise the benefits of ITIL rapidly. Once the organisation reaches a certain level of maturity in its ITIL journey, a migration path is available to Hornbill's flagship Supportworks ITSM application, thereby protecting the customer's initial investment," Sweeney concludes.