The survey provides a good starting point to benchmark the operations of a help desk against industry standards and set initial acceptable levels of performance for service level agreements. The survey provides a standard level of comparison to measure performance versus other organizations in your industry or at large. RFG's opinion is that the HDI information is among the best available in the industry for Help Desk-specific information. We have used their published books in the past and they appear to do an in-depth job in gathering statistically valid information. This may contain some very relevant information for BellSouth for planning purposes and may be worth obtaining if you do not already have them.
Information is current and available in real-time for strategic management decisions.
The center also makes available a monthly service to provide updated peer group comparison reports. RFG's assessment of the center's information is that, in general, it is of moderate to weak quality and should not be considered statistically valid. However, it is useable information for trend and issues analysis as long as you understand its weaknesses. They specialize in working with clients to structure and develop outsourcing relationships. It may be worth having a conversation with them or at least reviewing their Website.