Help desks get support group

Federal help-desk professionals have a new resource to share ideas, network and find support — a membership organization designed specifically for them.

About 20 federal help-desk workers met at a suburban Virginia hotel late last month to jump-start the Federal Help Desk Special Interest Group, which organizers say will fill a void. The group will be a part of the Colorado-based Help Desk Institute, a 9,000-member support services organization with 52 chapters in the United States and Canada. The Federal Help Desk SIG will be the only HDI group devoted to federal help-desk workers.

The group will provide a forum to enable the federal help-desk community to share business practices and case studies, said Eric Rabinowitz, president of IHS Helpdesk Service, a help-desk training and solutions provider that worked with HDI to organize the group. "These folks want to be able to talk with other people in the same situations," Rabinowitz said.

James Hadden, help-desk manager for the Navy, said he hasn't had much chance to interact with other members of the IT support services community. "I think it was definitely needed. We're the first line of support for a lot of organizations," he said. "It's very important [to] share ideas to see what we're doing right and what we're doing wrong, so we can improve."

Hadden, whose help desk responds to about 1,000 requests per month, said he would like to see front-line workers, not just managers, become involved in the group as well.

Those interested in joining the group or finding out more can write to Dalila Brosen of IHS Helpdesk Service at dalila.brosen@ihshelpdesk.com.