The often elusive task of improving operational efficiency and raising the productivity of IT professionals looks set to be made that much easier with the imminent release of HP`s IT service management (ITSM) module for OpenView.
That`s the opinion of Gary de Menezes, software business manager at Hewlett-Packard southern Africa, who believes that newly integrated e-mail, computer telephony and service navigation options in the product will find favour in the local market.
"Streamlining services becomes critical as IT complexity mushrooms - yet we are seeing local companies demanding maximum operational IT management improvements from a minimal time investment," he says.
The HP OpenView enterprise maintenance and management suite as a whole solves much of this conundrum. The enhanced ITSM module which will hit South Africa through HP`s OpenView channel partners in June looks set to solve the rest.
Four key areas of productivity are addressed by the new release:
Integration with the IT/Operations OpenView module - by configuring IT/Operations through the HP OpenView ITSM graphical user interface, it is possible to manage IT infrastructure services from multiple perspectives, such as organisational, regional or application-driven.
Practical use of email for service calls - users encountering a problem can send email to the help desk and have the service call registered automatically without user intervention. It is cheaper than a lengthy telephone call, and the user is kept informed about the progress of the service call through return mails.
Computer telephony integration (CTI) by connecting HP OpenView ITSM to a telephone exchange, caller information is available on the service desk employee`s desktop.
Replication of service calls by replicating service calls to multiple ITSM databases, companies or departments that don`t share a central information repository can dispatch service calls between ITSM databases on their network.
The enhanced version of HP OpenView ITSM can be ordered now and is estimated to ship through HP`s local reseller channel next month. Pricing is dependent on the number of packages and seats ordered.
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HP OpenView
HP is one of the world`s largest providers of integrated management solutions for applications, systems, networks, software, desktops, security, storage and IT services. HP OpenView solutions are at work in more than 120 000 multivendor distributed computing environments worldwide. Together with offerings from more than 200 partners, HP OpenView offers a complete portfolio of services and management solutions on all major platforms. www.openview.hp.com
Hewlett-Packard
Hewlett-Packard Company is a leading global provider of computing, Internet and Intranet solutions, services, communications products and measurement solutions, all of which are recognised for excellence in quality and support. HP has 122 800 employees and had revenue of $47,1 billion in its 1998 fiscal year. www.hp.com
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