ABS Associates

Challenge

Implement robust process management to support an expanded service model, IT infrastructure and round-the-clock help desk service delivery

Solution

Serena TeamTrack

Results

• Reduced implementation time and cost
• Improved ease of client-specific customization and integration
• Improved Service Level Agreement resolution rates
• Contributed to 100 percent client retention
• Improved feedback loop via detailed reporting

“The fact that TeamTrack was web-based, workflow-based and flexible – and certainly the price point for the feature set – made it very attractive. The ability to integrate it with the other tools we were selecting as part of our offering was very important.”
- Eldon Brown, Director of Development, ABS

Leading outsourced help desk provider reduces costs, improves service with flexible process management solution

As organizations increasingly realize the importance of effective help desk support, many today are choosing to outsource their help desks to reduce costs and improve service. ABS Associates, Inc. serves this growing need with onsite and online help desk services, as well as network and desktop support, for companies throughout North America. With clients such as Motorola and Omron Healthcare, ABS has become an industry leader with more than 10,000 end users.

Until 2000, ABS delivered help desk support at client sites, using clients’ own systems. At that time, ABS looked to begin offering round-the-clock, online help desk support using its own facilities and systems. However, its homegrown application couldn’t adequately support its new service delivery plans.

A flexible foundation for ABS’ new service model

ABS needed to find a reliable, flexible technology core on which to launch its new service model. The company assembled a task force to evaluate a number of different solutions, including help desk applications such as HEAT Service & Support, Remedy, and Clarify. ABS had seen several solutions in action at various client sites, which offered valuable insight into their capabilities and limitations.

Serena TeamTrack stood out from the rest specifically because it was not a help desk product. The workflow-based process management software offered a greater level of flexibility, which would prove essential as ABS needed to customize help desk support to match each client’s processes and integrate with their unique IT systems. Plus, TeamTrack’s 9.3 rating for benchmark performance gave ABS even more confidence in the software.

“The fact that TeamTrack was web-based, workflow-based and flexible – and certainly the price point for the feature set – made it very attractive,” said Eldon Brown, ABS’ Director of Development. “The ability to integrate it with the other tools we were selecting as part of our offering was very important.”

TeamTrack, integrated solutions power ABShelp

In 2001, with TeamTrack at the center of its new business plan, ABS launched ABShelp, the company’s Web-based knowledge center. ABShelp allows end users at client companies to submit service requests via web, email, text chat and telephone from anywhere, at any time.

Proving its flexibility, TeamTrack easily integrates with other important service delivery tools such as CosmoCom’s CosmoCall Universe™ IP contact center solution. When a help desk agent receives a call, the integrated solution launches a screen pop displaying the caller’s most recent incident and/or company information based on the ID the caller entered. This allows agents to understand callers’ needs immediately.

ABS customizes TeamTrack to connect with each client’s various systems and manage their processes. The company created several TeamTrack workflows based on clients’ needs, and can easily build new ones when needed. When new clients sign on, ABS configures their systems very quickly, enabling the company to reduce ramp-up costs and begin serving customers faster. “We can have a customer up and running in four to eight weeks at probably one-third the cost of an implementation of other packaged solutions,” said Rosemarie Mitchell, CEO and President of ABS Associates.

With every client, ABS must meet specific service-level agreements (SLAs). TeamTrack keeps up with every step of an issue along the workflow, from submission to assignment to resolution. Workflow design enables skills-based routing so that every issue goes right to the most appropriate person, which keeps resolution times and costs down.

Built-in TeamTrack features such as notification and escalation further help agents address issues within the required timeframes, and automate email notices to end users to keep them informed. Users can also view issue status online due to the system’s web-based format.

Also via the web, ABS help desk professionals take remote control of end-users’ computers and solve problems as though they were physically at the desk-side. Every month, ABS runs TeamTrack reports and delivers detailed information to clients. The reports provide valuable feedback, calling out ongoing help desk issues or training needs for clients. “We do all the reporting and analysis on where calls are coming from, the trends and problem areas,” said Mitchell.

Boosting SLA resolution, retaining clients and keeping costs down

Since rolling out ABShelp, ABS has achieved 100 percent client retention. “All our customers are still with us,” Mitchell said. “Our clients really, really like the product. Some of the clients who had other help desk applications have looked at what we do and moved to ABShelp.”

While Mitchell credits ABS’ responsive agents as the number one reason for the company’s success, she sees the technology and processes implemented with TeamTrack as critical tools for ABS agents to do their jobs well.

At the end of 2004, ABS had logged 125,000 incidents and 4.5 million change records in TeamTrack. Since moving to TeamTrack, ABS boosted its SLA resolution rates and kept costs down as a result of TeamTrack’s ease of customization and integration for each client.

Over the past several years, ABS has built an in-depth understanding of TeamTrack, leading the company to put TeamTrack on the task of clients’ other process management needs, such as bug and defect tracking, compliance issues and general business processes. As the company continues expanding, ABS is confident in TeamTrack’s ability to scale and continue meeting its clients’ needs.

With more end users than any other TeamTrack customer, ABS further leverages its in-depth knowledge of the application under an expanded relationship with Serena. The company now represents and sells Serena solutions, and provides “on-demand” hosted services for Serena’s products. Companies can host their TeamTrack application with ABS to reduce IT infrastructure costs, implement more quickly, achieve maximum security, and expense the costs rather than capitalize them.

“We are very excited about partnering with Serena to bring value to clients who are interested in user productivity, controlling support costs while improving their workflow and business processes,” Mitchell said. “Serena’s solutions combined with ABS’ hosting capabilities results in a first of this type of offering.”