Salvation Army implements new helpdesk solution to speed up IT incident resolutions

  • Polymorph's fully-integrated HelpDeskPro enables the Salvation Army to reduce time taken to deal with call logs – from four minutes to under one
  • IT staff can now resolve problems 'anytime, anywhere' via Smartphones
  • Solution's comprehensive management reporting capability provides broad range of detailed analyses very quickly and effectively
  • High resolution image available here

UK – 11th November, 2008 – The Salvation Army, one of the largest and most diverse providers of social services in the UK and Ireland after the Government, has selected a new helpdesk solution from Polymorph – one of the UK's fastest growing IT services companies – to manage the organisation's International IT helpdesk calls. The new solution, HelpDeskPro, eliminates multiple Lotus Notes call tracking systems to provide the Salvation Army with a unified repository for call data. For the first time, the organisation's IT staff can now log, action and resolve incidents from across five international zones in under a minute – compared with up to four minutes with the previous system – via a Blackberry device.

The Salvation Army's previous system was based on a number of different Lotus Notes and Excel spreadsheet applications, which were cumbersome and expensive. After investigating a number of Lotus Notes specialist and non-Lotus Notes suppliers, it chose Polymorph's HelpDeskPro for its fully integrated helpdesk software and its comprehensive management reporting capability that analyses and processes data very quickly and effectively.

"From seeing what Polymorph's HelpDeskPro solution could offer at the 2007 Service Desk & IT Support show, we knew we were on to a winner," commented Mark Calleran, Chief Information Officer at the Salvation Army International Headquarters. "We were very impressed with the breadth of functionality Polymorph's HelpDeskPro was able to offer in a simple and easy-to-use application. As we handle complex IT calls, ranging from hardware and software queries to support requests, we needed a solution that would help us not only gain control over these increasingly complex environments, but also allow both our experienced, on-site and roaming IT staff to deal with such requests more efficiently.

"Once the system's template was completed, things moved very fast!" Mark continued. "We were fully up and running on HelpDeskPro in just two days. Training only took a couple of weeks to carry out so there were no time lags between us implementing the system and us going live. Polymorph's support professionals were also able to offer us many additional capabilities that we have incorporated into the solution. This added flexibility has proven really valuable to us to provide faster and more efficient call resolutions."

HelpDeskPro seamlessly integrates with the Salvation Army's existing IT infrastructure. Its fully integrated helpdesk software has enabled the Salvation Army to collate all necessary data from the very first interaction. The system provides automatic notifications of nearing warranty expiration dates, giving time to IT staff to action such requests. Staff can provide detailed incident reports – sorted by zone, country or call priority for example – but also extract information by department, expert or status much easier than on previous systems that relied on excel spreadsheets and manual input.

"These are exciting times to be working with the Salvation Army," commented Steve Harris, Managing Director of Polymorph. "Having been chosen after a comprehensive selection process – and standing out from our competition – is a great endorsement of the skills, quality and capability Polymorph has to offer and we look forward to building on this international project."

About Salvation Army:
The Salvation Army is one of the largest, most diverse providers of social services in the UK after the Government. Founded in East London in 1865, it now has over 1.6 million members in 115 countries worldwide. As a church and registered charity, The Salvation Army demonstrates its Christian principles through social welfare provision and offers a variety of programmes, including homeless centres, drug rehabilitation centres, schools, hospitals and medical centres, as well as nearly 16,000 church and community centres. The work of The Salvation Army is funded through donations from its members, the general public, and, where appropriate, local authority and government grants. For more information please visit: www.salvationarmy.org  

About Polymorph:
Polymorph Ltd is one of the UK's fastest growing IT services companies with an established team of professionals experienced in IBM, Microsoft and Linux. The company offers bespoke and third party application development and support, and upgrade or migration services. Through its Managed Services Division Polymorph provides SMEs with a comprehensive range of services that cover remote and on-site desktop and server support. Polymorph provides organisations across public and corporate sectors with IT consultancy, application development and support services to help improve processes, reduce costs and achieve rapid Return on Investment. Its customers include Merseyside Police, Manchester Airport, British Telecom and Nestle.
For additional information, please visit www.polymorph.co.uk

Or contact:
Manuela Whittaker
The PressOffice – PR for Polymorph
mwhittaker@pressoffice.targetwire.com
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