COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – August 29, 2005 — HDI, the world's largest membership association for IT service and support professionals and the premier certification body for the industry, has announced the publication of Tools for Support Knowledge: A Guide to the Leading Tools for Building and Maintaining End User Support Knowledge Bases.
The book was researched and authored by knowledge management (KM) expert Peter Dorfman. The new publication will provide customer service and support professionals with a unique and valuable tool to assist them in successfully adopting and leveraging tools for knowledge management.
Tools for Support Knowledge provides a comprehensive view of the leading software tools for building and maintaining help desk and end user support knowledge bases, including web-based customer self-help systems. The book profiles key vendors and reviews their tools to simplify the selection process for support teams considering adoption or replacement of a knowledge base platform. The book also classifies and evaluates knowledge management systems according to several criteria, including the method of knowledge retrieval, ease of integration with broader support platforms and portals and completeness of reporting and analytics. The publication also evaluates the capacity for each tool to support best practices, including those defined by HDI in its Knowledge-Centered Support (KCSSM) framework.
Chapters include: "Knowledge Management Overview," "Understanding Knowledge Tools," "Choosing a Knowledge Tool," "What End Users Say," "Knowledge Tool Vendors" and an appendix, including specific guidelines for creating an RFP.
"The objective of this report is to help reduce the risk in choosing and adopting a knowledge-based problem resolution system, by helping customer service and support professionals to understand the qualitative differences between solutions," explained Dorfman.
"This timely study is a snapshot of a market at a point in time (Q1 2005)," added Ron Muns, founder and CEO of HDI. "This market is undergoing significant consolidation. The broader IT market is beginning to show signs of emerging from a several-year slump. Vendors in this space report that a significant number of prospects who have had KM initiatives in holding patterns for two to three years may be in a position to complete deals in 2005."
"HDI is supporting this research as a means to stimulate adoption of knowledge-based best practices such as Knowledge-Centered Support, as well as tools and services that will drive success for the IT organization," said Muns.
Tools for Support Knowledge is now available for purchase on HDI's eStore at http://www.thinkhdi.com/estore. Cost: $295.00 for HDI members/$395.00 for non-members. ISBN #: 1-57125-075-1; 175 pages.
About the Author
Peter Dorfman is president of KnowledgeFarm (http://www.knowfarm.com), a New Jersey-based consultancy, and principal consultant at IHS Support Solutions, a professional services firm. He provides training and adoption consulting in knowledge management and Knowledge-Centered Support. Dorfman was formerly a former senior executive at Molloy Group, Inc., a leader in knowledge management software. He is a recognized CRM industry figure, author and frequent conference speaker. Dorfman has been a frequent HDI conference speaker and session moderator, and has served as a member of the conference advisory board of HDI.
About HDI
HDI is the world's largest membership association for IT service and support professionals and the premier certification body for the industry. Founded in 1989, HDI's mission is to lead and promote the IT service and support industry by empowering its members through access to timely and valuable industry information, including reports and publications; encouraging member collaboration through events and online forums; and establishing internationally recognized, standards-based industry certification and training programs. In addition to membership, certification and training, HDI produces the world's largest and highest-rated event for service and support professionals, the HDI Annual Conference & Expo, and the IT Infrastructure & Management Conference. HDI is member-focused, and remains vendor-neutral in its efforts to facilitate open, independent networking and information-sharing within the association network. HDI has more than 7,500 members worldwide including many of the Fortune 500, and 60 local chapters in North America. For more information, visit http://www.thinkhdi.com.
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