White Papers

Papers with this icon are available to non-members. All other white papers are accessible only to HDI Members.

Featured White Paper of the Month

ITIL v2 to v3- Is It Worth It?

3952 KB
Dale Brown, Axios Systems
In this white paper, Dale Brown, Best Practices Service Manager at Axios Systems, examines a number of hot topics, including a brief synopsis of the ITIL evolution, the comparison of different ITIL versions, an examination of the relative maturity adoption levels of ITIL and finally, the analysis and advice on what approach best suits your IT organization.

Implementation Guidance Regarding ITIL® Version 3.0

295 KB
HDI SAB Task Force, HDI
A number of organizations have begun IT process improvement projects using the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL®) framework. A taskforce of the HDI® Strategic Advisory Board was created and has researched the implications of changes under development. This paper is intended to provide guidance to HDI members who are in the midst of, or are considering, IT process improvement project implementations based upon ITIL, and are asking questions about what these changes mean, and specifically how it impacts their current and future implementation plans.

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Most Recent White Papers

Remote Control Software: A Primer

220 KB
Jenni Hilton, NetSupport
Remote control software helps IT professionals better manage help desk support, mobile computing, desktop management, software training, distance learning and system automation. Learn about the key features to look for while researching remote management solutions.

Pete's "A List": A Roadmap for Continuous Improvement

173 KB
Pete McGarahan, McGarahan and Associates
Reengineering can be a harsh word. To many people it means radical structural and process changes and, more often than not, layoffs. Besides being threatening to its people, reengineering can be disruptive, expensive, and time-consuming for the organization. My problem with the term is in its connotation--that reengineering is a one-time, massive transformation effort to deliver better business results. My call to action is the opposite, toward Continuous Improvement (CI) over time that drives lasting process innovation through a cultural mindset of ownership--calling on all employees along the value chain to own their own results, their teams, and their ongoing role in driving change for the better. So "Continuous Improvement" it is. But how do you embed such an organizational mindset, then keep it alive in the way it catalyzes real, dynamic change?

Solving the Contact Center Puzzle: Embracing the Hybrid Services Model

1564 KB
Irene Crosby, Circumference Technology Services, Inc.
Robust and pervasive web-based communications are making great strides in the contact center. New business entrants benefit from purely hosted services in terms of lower financial and logistical barriers to hurdle, not to mention on-demand deployment. In contrast, for organizations with legacy contact center infrastructure, the move to purely hosted services is not so straightforward. In these environments, hybrid services are a sound approach to complement existing infrastructure, thereby protecting investment in legacy while matching hosted contact center services to modern-day business objectives. This white paper explores premise-based and hosted models, surveys the hosted functionality currently available, and discusses selection criteria for a third model, hybrid, which combines aspects of both premise-based and hosted models.

Apply the ITIL Framework with Confidence

1171 KB
TechExcel Inc., TechExcel
See how ITIL best practices may be used to create a strategic approach to managing IT services. Aligning business needs with IT strategy enables organizations to improve relationships and manage the processes within IT to provide better, more reliable services that also improve the bottom line.

SMBs: The Threat Landscape and the Plan of Action

561 KB
Manoj Mansukhani, MicroWorld Technologies Inc.
The paper focuses on the SMB sector, its importance and also threats faced by players in this sector. It also speaks about solutions provided by MicroWorld Technologies Inc. to the SMB segment to face these threats.

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Most Popular White Papers

7 Habits of Highly Effective Contact Centers and Help Desks

148 KB
eGain Communications, eGain Communications
More than a decade ago, Stephen Covey wrote about seven key habits that can help people elevate their personal and professional effectiveness in a groundbreaking book. These habits are equally relevant to contact centers and help desks, and can assist in dramatically boosting their effectiveness and efficiencies, while enhancing customer relationships and business growth. This white paper explains how the seven habits apply to contact centers and help desks, and provides thought leadership, best practices distilled from decades of experience, and new ideas to take your contact center and help desk performance to the next level. Learn and use these powerful secrets to get ahead of the competition!

51 Ways to Reduce Contact Center Costs

285 KB
Fred Shadding, SITEL
This document provides insightful strategies for contact center managers to leverage in their ongoing efforts to reduce costs while also enhancing the effectiveness and quality of support within their operations.

Adapting Best Practices for IT Service Management

319 KB
Remedy  ,  
To better align business requirements with IT capabilities and deliver those capabilities at an appropriate cost, IT leaders are shifting from an IT technology focus to an IT service model approach. In this white paper, experts from Remedy, a BMC Software company, explore how leveraging best practices, such as the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL), can help you quickly and efficiently implement the IT processes that support this service model, and how adapting those best practices to unique requirements can help extend your competitive advantage.

Benchmarking and Monitoring Performance of Inbound Support Centers

89 KB
Bill Sheehan, Renaissance Partners
Advanced technology is increasingly finding its way into the hands of all levels of corporate employees. Growth in computing power and software availability has allowed corporations to gain competitive advantage by implementing functions that were previously never possible.

Best Practices for Problem Resolution

699 KB
Matthew French, Peregrine Systems
This power point presentation will provide you with informative insight into problem resolution. It discusses industry trends and key issues related to achieving excellence in problem resolution, challenges in obtaining best practices in problem resolution and finally actual best practices in problem resolution.

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Free White Papers

Mapping IT Service and Support - Learn: Govern: Improve

408 KB
Brian Johnson, Sandra Simpson, Ken Wendle, HDI Strategic Advisory Board
This white paper introduces a map that leads you through the metrics and processes employed in service and support and explains their relationship to one another. Using the map you can find out how to benchmark and improve upon key processes through the use of metrics, frameworks, education, and knowledge management.

Legato Support Services Knowledge-Centered Support at Work

62 KB
Consortium for Service Innovation  ,  
Legato is a leading provider of information management software. Standing behind its information access, information availability, and information protection solutions for complex and heterogeneous storage environments, Legato is held in a special position of trust by its customers, who are, in effect, buying peace of mind. Technical complexity combined with this enterprise-critical aspect of Legato’s products puts a tremendous burden on the support organization.

Knowledge-Centered Support Operational Model

960 KB
Consortium for Service Innovation  ,  
Whether you support products for a corporate help desk, a product manufacturer, a channel or a third party provider, chances are you’re under the gun to better manage your resources and improve your service levels. Knowledge-Centered Support (KCS) is a business methodology that was developed and put to the test by members of the Consortium for Service Innovation. The goal of KCS is to solve a problem once . . .and use the solution often! Adoption of KCS has improved operational efficiency, employee moral and customer satisfaction. This brief examines the need for a knowledge-centered strategy as well as the organizing principles of KCS and its benefits.

HP NonStop Customer Support Knowledge-Centered Supportsm (KCS) at Work

903 KB
Consortium of Service Innovation  ,  
The HP NonStop Customer Support organization is an essential part of the brand promise: they keep their customers’ missioncritical hardware and software systems running, nonstop, all around the world.

GETTING STARTED WITH KNOWLEDGE-CENTERED SUPPORT

2354 KB
Service Innovation  ,  
Adopting KCS represents a transition from a call-centric approach to a knowledge-centric approach for customer service organizations. Both the nature of this transition and the benefits realized are profound. Service organizations that have embraced the idea of an integrated approach across the five practices have demonstrated significant improvements in customer satisfaction, employee morale and operational efficiency.

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