PRESS CONTACT:
Allison Clark
(847) 291-1616 (Phone)
(847) 291-1758 (Fax)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Calibre Systems, Inc., is a management information analysis and technology solutions firm committed to delivering quality products and services. One of its divisions builds and maintains the U.S. Army's Integrated Logistics Analysis Program, or ILAP. To manage technical support calls from hundreds of Army ILAP users around the world, Calibre Systems relies on PHD's Professional Help Desk for Windows.
ILAP provides enhanced logistics and financial management capabilities to more than 300 U.S. Army sites in nine countries. Reflecting the global nature of these operations, Calibre receives an average of 40 calls a week around the clock. PHD manages the volume of calls.
"Users can call in or send e-mail to a support mailbox," says Tom Davis, a technical support analyst at Calibre. "PHD will open an item for the call." PHD then tracks the call until it's resolved.
PHD uses a technology called Experience Based Reasoning (EBR) to assess problems quickly. Davis gives an example of how it works. A few weeks after resolving one problem, he received an e-mail through PHD's mail server. PHD sent an automatic response and routed the call to the proper analyst based on a keyword. The e-mail became the body of the trouble call.
EBR read the trouble call and automatically generated a ranked list of possible answers. The first item on the list, the previous solution, applied. The caller implemented the fix and called back half an hour later to say it worked. Rather than the typical 2-3 hours, Davis had solved the problem in five minutes.
With PHD, says Davis, "We don't invent the wheel over and over." PHD increases the staff's standardization, which he calls "the word of the day every day." It lets the analysts address problems the same way every time.
PHD gives Calibre's analysts several choices at each step. They can call up a client history or a call history. They can initiate a Rapid Resolution, a simple lookup based on the problem's subject and topic, or call upon the more sophisticated Experience Based Reasoning.
When clients call, Calibre's analysts can display their call history in front of them. The analysts then can talk knowledgeably about the callers' problems. This makes the callers feel they're receiving special attention, as indeed they are.
Calibre has been using PHD since early 1996. Before that, the company used a combination of paper-based and homegrown computer call-tracking methods. As the number of customers and trouble calls increased, PHD arrived just in time to prevent costly support delays.
"Right out of the box," says Davis, "PHD made a big difference. And what's more, PHD has gotten better with each new release. The support and sales staff are great."
Besides supporting the Army's ILAP, Calibre's integrated information systems division provides information technology solutions using client/server applications. This work involves the whole range of technical support tasks. The division is just breaking into commercial markets, but the business is growing rapidly. Already Davis is receiving several commercial calls a week, all handled by PHD.
Not only does PHD support the existing systems, it has helped Calibre succeed in these new markets. Prospects considering Calibre want to know what resources it devotes to technical support and what problem-tracking software it uses. PHD is an important selling tool. Because of it, says Davis, "We've gotten new support contracts and increased our client base."
In short, PHD/Professional Help Desk automates technical support functions in a variety of ways. It reduces the problem-solving time for support personnel and eliminates costly and unproductive downtime for end-users. For the U.S. Army and other demanding customers, of course, time is money.
For more information contact Professional Help Desk at (203) 356-7700, fax (203) 356-7900, e-mail at [email protected], or Web site at http://www.prohelpdesk.com.
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Founded in 1994, PHD (Professional Help Desk) is a subsidiary of Data Systems & Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: DSSI), a multinational technology corporation with headquarters in Stamford, CT, and offices worldwide. DSSI is a leading provider of all aspects of computer software and hardware and other advanced technologies.