BellSouth gets hard support from SupportSoft

BellSouth has gone single vendor with its client installation and support software for retail DSL customers and the winner is Redwood City. Calif.-based SupportSoft.

BellSouth now will use SupportSoft’s entire service automation suite of tools for managing the installation, support and configuration of DSL and home networking solutions. The carrier had previously used SupportSoft’s products for customer service and will now deploy its SmartAccess, HomeNet and Knowledge Center products.

SupportSoft also announced a full-suite sale to Adelphia for the management of its 900,000 broadband cable subscribers.

Formerly Tioga Systems, SupportSoft was founded in 1999 on the premise that if computers were so smart then they should be able to fix themselves, said Marc Itzkowitz, director of product marketing for SupportSoft’s service provider business. It set out to “fix the help desk problem” and expanded into broadband service automation shortly thereafter.

In addition to SupportSoft, BellSouth also was using BroadJump’s (now part of Motive) Virtual Truck installation software, but decided to go with a single vendor that could also provide ongoing customer support.

“We went head-to-head with BroadJump and won,” Itzkowitz said.

The company’s SmartAccess product qualifies the subscriber’s connection, manages the installation and integrates with the rest of the software suite, allowing subscribers to order, install and configure additional services such as home networking.

“That’s additional revenue that lets the service provider break the $49.95 barrier. It also increases loyalty,” Itzkowitz said.

The HomeNet software does the same for home network configuration and provides for ongoing support. SupportSoft’s Knowledge Center helps the service provider automate problem resolution with what it calls SupportActions, or fixes so customers can fix their own problems. It also provides authoring tools that allow providers to create, update, manage and publish content.