iSupport Software
A Flexible IT Service Desk Application

One of the oldest, continually operating providers of business automation software for IT help desk and customer service, iSupport Software offers solutions that are highly functional, customizable, and cost-effective. For over two decades now, Vancouver-based iSupport Software addresses varied IT service management needs of businesses in the most efficient and effective manner. In an interview with CIO Applications, Ryan Terrell, the company’s VP of Sales, shares insights pertaining to the optimization of IT help desks that fulfill varied client requirements.

What led to iSupport Software’s inception?

iSupport started off in 1992, providing a simple platform for tracking customer issues, which later grew into a full-blown IT service management system. Initially, we developed on the Lotus Domino platform but as technology evolved we built our latest application based on Microsoft technologies. Many of our long-term clients also moved to the new platform leading us into valuable relationships that would span decades.

What are the common challenges that businesses face with regard to IT service management and how does iSupport Software address them?

Every company is trying to consolidate and automate business processes to improve efficiency and reduce operational costs. Our service desk software allows businesses to automate custom workflows, integrations, and a robust set business rules for incident problem, change, knowledge, and asset management to name a few. One thing service teams are faced with each day is a barrage of email. Since one person cannot be assigned to handle the process manually, we have built a system to parse the emails and identify not only the subject but also the sender, domain, and the body of the message. From there the system creates work items from predefined templates for things like assignments and approvals. All this can be easily fed into dashboards for task management and metrics gathering later on.

Please elaborate on iSupport Software’s approach to addressing the clients’ varied requirements.

Different industries face different challenges, but they often share similar needs in how work flows through the organization. A common requirement for all companies is compliance. We have a tool to help organizations create business process automation that is built around specific criteria, whether it is keeping student information confidential or maintaining HIPAA compliance for healthcare facilities.

In the end, each industry is trying to create a process that adheres to specific guidelines and grants permissions to the right people, to see the right element at the right time. Thus, we have made our solution flexible enough to accommodate a wide variety of business applications.

Can you elaborate further on iSupport Software’s solutions and their core functionalities?

Metrics are important to any organization no matter how they tackle their business challenges and manage compliance. Creating the best customer experience while protecting sensitive information is key to every industry. Our approach has been to create highly customizable, permission-based dashboards that allow each role in the organization to see what is happening in real time. This allows managers visibility into what their team is currently doing while each team member is focused on the specific tasks assigned to them. We’ve also extended the same type of functionality to end users for a collaborative experience that can be optimized as time goes on.

What else sets iSupport apart from other vendors?

iSupport offers a flexible application which does not require lengthy consulting contracts. While many of the applications available in the market are also flexible, they are not intuitive enough. They often require users to be dependent on continual paid consulting, whereas our solution allows them to develop new business processes and accommodate changes easily. I’ve always said a good service desk is continually analyzing metrics, measuring results and looking for ways to improve the service they offer to their customers. You have to have a user manageable tool in order to do that. That said, an application like ours is going to need a good support team. Being in the customer service space we have to maintain the highest standards and our techs are among the best in the industry. At the end of the day we strive to place ourselves in the client’s position and go the extra mile to give the same kind of service we would hope to receive ourselves.

What does the future have in store for iSupport Software?

Being one of the most actively developed solutions on the market we typically roll out multiple releases each year based on industry changes and customer feedback. The aim is always to build a higher degree of automation and provide the most meaningful metrics while continuing to improve the customer’s overall experience. In the future when new methodologies replace or augment things like ITIL and DevOps, we will continue to adapt to the change like we have since the beginning twenty seven years ago. Our focus has always been on the IT service management space, and that will continue to be our focus moving forward.