Integration with Existing Call Tracking System--FirstHELP provides corporations with the option to track user sessions and escalate them to the help desk professional if and when live help is needed. So, end users have faster, more efficient assistance from the help desk because their quest for information and steps taken to resolve problems have been documented and are in front of the expert at the time the call is handled.
Customization Tools--MyHelpDesk provides customers with added customization capabilities through prepackaged tools that help with content, resource authoring and adding either internal or external support resources to the service. These tools make it easier to keep content and resources relevant and fresh.
Flexible Hosting and Delivery Options--MyHelpDesk offers customers its directory structure in SQL or XML formats as a packaged content offering or as an ASP option in which it hosts FirstHELP and manages the overall support portal, creating the unified look and feel and maintaining the aggregation of all the corporate resources. By hosting the solution, MyHelpDesk relieves the overworked IT staff from having to invest added time and resources to the project.
MyHelpDesk, Inc., a self help content provider delivering critical eSupport to corporations, today announced FirstHELP(TM), its custom computer self help offering for corporate customers. Designed around the directories of the award-winning MyHelpDesk.com site, FirstHELP delivers the only personalized self help content solution developed for corporate support portals. Its simple interface leads users through the maze of existing corporate support resources to find the most efficient resolution to their individual computer questions. FirstHELP provides a "first place to go" that streamlines technical support, making it much more cost effective for the individual corporations and less frustrating for the individual corporate user.
FirstHELP provides the critical self help component of a support portal, integrating self help with automated and assisted help solutions. FirstHELP organizes access to support through aggregated directories and search, providing a single interface to unify all of a company's technical help resources. Customers have access to their choice of more than 2000 Web-based software and hardware directories, filled with carefully screened computer help resources as well as Tips, HowTos and tutorials. Users who cannot find what they need in the directories can easily escalate to automated help, assisted help and live help solutions. With live help desk support costs starting in the $20-$40 per call range and rising to $125-$300 or more with escalation and growing daily demand, eSupport, or Web-based computer support, is an increasingly important alternative for corporations.
"As IT departments struggle with increasing call volumes, remote and mobile workers, and increased application complexity, they are being driven to examine solutions that allow their internal users to help themselves before escalating to the help desk," said Ana Volpi, senior analyst at IDC. "Content aggregation offerings, such as FirstHELP, allow users to help themselves first and are an element of most robust internal eSupport portals. Self help resources allow users to solve many of their tier zero and tier one issues, freeing the help desk to focus on the more complex problems that arise."
FirstHELP includes full search capabilities and an open and extensible directory architecture that can be customized to an organization's needs, combining the world of Web-based self help with a company's resources.
"Technical support issues carry a high price--not only in technology and help desk investments but in lost productivity and employee morale," said Eric Bulock, co-founder and vice president of content at MyHelpDesk, Inc. "FirstHELP plays an important role in empowering users and relieving the burden on the help desk, saving corporations time and money."
FEATURES AND BENEFITS
FirstHELP offers Fortune 2000 organizations the following features and benefits:
Computer Help Directories--MyHelpDesk has invested over 15 person years of effort to create help directories that include vendor information, knowledgebases, expert sites, FAQs, links to upgrades and patches for more than 2,000 software and hardware products. Companies can add and customize their directories to match their unique software and hardware needs.
Product Search Engine--MyHelpDesk has built search indices for more than 2,000 software and hardware products. A search on any product provides users with a full list of computer help resources carefully categorized into a standard format consisting of 30 resource specific subcategories. This search feature makes it fast and easy for users to find complete information on any product.
Mass User Registration--As part of its customization and fast deployment capabilities, FirstHELP supports mass user registration. Customers can work with MyHelpDesk to populate all of the end users' information, including standard software used based on the department, workgroup or function, in one up-front session. As a result, when a corporation launches the portal, each individual end user has a personalized online help desk awaiting their log in.
