New Wave Of Help-Desk Software For SMBs Is Here

Vendors, aware of this growing trend, have jumped into the market with both feet. Many recently have released scaled-down versions of their enterprise help-desk software or hosted offerings aimed at the SMB market.

Solution providers say the market is filled with opportunities.

"Many small and midlevel businesses still use traditional solutions,pads of paper, [Microsoft] Excel, Access,to track service-desk calls. No question, there is a huge number of potential customers," said Terry Elton, vice president of business development at SteelCloud, a Sterling, Va., solution provider that sells help-desk software.

Companies that in the past were less than diligent about tracking help-desk service calls now have more compelling reasons to invest in this type of software, experts say. That's because help-desk software does more than just the obvious task of tracking calls in search of help. The software also helps manage IT assets within an organization, and its reports help to justify IT salaries. Now small companies are looking for the same benefits as they strive to improve operating efficiencies, rationalize IT salaries and manage new government regulations.

"Seventy [percent] to 75 percent of CIOs are viewed as a cost center or burden to the organization," said Carlos Hidalgo, director of marketing for Network Associates' Magic Solutions division. In March, Magic Solutions released HelpDesk IQ, an SMB version of Network Associates' enterprise software. Help-desk software, Hidalgo said, enables service departments to do more with less and demonstrate, through reporting, their work to benefit the corporation.

Many small businesses,particularly those that are public, plan to go public or have institutional investors,also must keep track of their IT assets. Hidalgo said businesses must first maintain an up-to-date inventory of IT assets before they can manage documents about those assets, as required by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. "We're seeing a big push on asset management and inventory control," he said.

Pricing for the software is about $995 per seat and can be upgraded later to the enterprise version.

Another company that jumped into the SMB help-desk space this year is Remedy, a BMC company. Remedy's software, which starts at about $15,000 for a small business, was "soft launched" in May, said a Remedy spokeswoman.

Solution providers looking for a quick startup package for their customers can also look to hosted applications.

John Ragsdale, an analyst at Forrester Research, sees potential for hosted applications thanks to Siebel Systems' push into hosted CRM and improved standards that facilitate integration. He said a hosted service also meets the needs of companies that want to consolidate help-desk functionality easily. "Instead of departmentally focused help desks, companies are looking to bring support all in one place," he said.

In September, FootPrints, a provider of help-desk software, launched a hosted application that gives customers full ownership of the software. A 10-agent license is priced at less than $14,500 and includes one year of maintenance. Hosting costs are an additional 18 percent of the license cost.

Frontline, another help-desk software provider, plans to release its hosted version early next year. Specifics were not available.