InformationWeek: The Business Value of Technology

CA recently rolled out new versions of its ServiceIT enterprise and workgroup editions, Unicenter TNG Advanced Help Desk, and SmartDesk support and services. ServiceIT Enterprise Edition 4.5, formerly known as Paradigm, is a standalone help-desk product for customers not yet ready to implement an all-encompassing enterprise management solution such as Unicenter TNG. Unicenter TNG Advanced Help Desk 4.5 integrates with all aspects of CA's enterprise-management software to provide a help-desk product that can monitor system activity and detect trouble. Both ServiceIT Enterprise Edition 4.5 and Unicenter TNG Advanced Help Desk 4.5 are priced at $6,400 per server; ServiceIT Workgroup Edition 4.5 starts at $6,495 and includes a three-user license.

CA's SmartDesk support and services includes an installation service that provides rapid customization of applications and deployment of CA software; a remote maintenance package that can be used to migrate users to a new database and proactively monitor a system from one location; an enterprise component for companies with multiple user sites and multiple computing environments; and a workgroup component for smaller environments.

"The whole SmartDesk offering is driven by two simple objectives: determining what our customers want from help-desk services and determining where they're having trouble," says Ron Corriveau, practice director for CA's enterprise management solutions.

Customers don't always have a clear idea of what they want in a help desk, Corriveau says. To alleviate that problem, CA developed the SmartDesk framework, which targets a number of CA customer groups, including those migrating from Platinum products, those looking to implement department-specific help desks, and those tying together existing components of a help-desk system.

CA began building its consulting unit in April 1998 with 200 employees, says Chris Wagner, executive VP of Global Professional Services. Through a combination of growth and acquisition, the unit has grown to 4,000 employees in 18 months. For the first quarter of CA's fiscal year 2000, the division accounted for 10% of the company's overall business, jumping from zero to $500 million in revenue in its first five quarters.

One company that has used CA's service offerings for several years is Garden Ridge, a discount retailer of home crafts and decorations in Houston. Garden Ridge has relied on Unicenter TNG for three years to link users at 33 retail locations in the Midwest and Southeast with its headquarters. To manage its distributed systems and personnel, Garden Ridge runs Version 4.0 of CA's Unicenter TNG Advanced Help Desk, says Mark Wozny, Garden Ridge's director of infrastructure and technology. Garden Ridge initially worked with a CA value-added reseller to install Unicenter TNG and more recently worked with Global Professional Services to upgrade its help-desk system.

"It's very beneficial for the vendor to provide services," Wozny says. "We have worked with VARs, and they're fine, but if there are any issues with a product's implementation or conversion, it's better to work with the vendor. That gets the problem solved without a lot of finger-pointing."

Richard Ptak, VP of systems and applications management for Hurwitz Group, sees CA's Global Professional Services as the logical extension of software development. "If you're offering a software product, you're far better off offering the services to go with it."

CA has as effective a service organization as any vendor, even though integrating the multiple services organizations it has acquired over the years has slowed it down, Ptak says. "Although CA is catching up with companies that began building up their services from the beginning, CA's strategy of growing by acquisition has served it well."

One of Global Professional Services' main areas of focus is training and education. CA offers incentives to customers who invest in educating their workers on CA products. For example, Global Professional Services' Preferred Learning Partner Program gives Unicenter TNG users up to 20% savings on annual software maintenance fees.

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Photo of Wozny by Jim Caldwell