Verizon Business this week is taking its information technology management service down to the desktop, adding 24-hour management and maintenance of PCs, printers, mobile devices and other gear to its portfolio of managed IT services for large business and government customers.

The move isn't a serious attempt to encroach on the turf of the IBMs and EDSes of the world so much as a competitive differentiator against other telecom service providers, said Chris Gesell, director of IT solutions product marketing for Verizon. Managed Desktop Service takes into account the fact that, with more people working outside the traditional office setting, including telecommuters and road warriors, there are increasing demands for support that exceed what a business IT staff can provide.

To address those demands, Verizon made Managed Desktop Service an extension of its Verizon Business IT Service Desk. The consultants who work as part of the service desk can now also dispatch one of 4000 field technicians to provide on-site help wherever it is needed, Gesell said.

“We are really excited about this,” he said. “It puts us in a good position to respond to problems at any level, from the servers and the network, all the way down to the desktop and knowledge workers.”

Verizon will use a third party to provide the field support, Gesell said. Customers of Verizon Business IT Service Desk also can continue to provide their own desktop support or use their existing outsourced providers, he added.

By offering hardware repair, lifecycle maintenance, support for software patches and security upgrades, however, Verizon believes it can simplify the lives of its larger customers and its IT staffs.

“IT departments are being asked to do more with less,” he said. “More employees are doing mobile work, which is increasing the need for after-hours assistance from the help desk. Also, with multiple versions of operating systems and multiple applications, the complexity of the work is also going up.”

At the same time, management struggles to control costs and avoid risks, such as lost productivity and security breaches, which can result from weak support, Gesell said. Verizon offers a choice in pricing options, either per seat or per call.

“What we want to offer is a world-class service desk that is integrated with our other offerings — or taken on a stand-alone basis — that can handle lifecycle maintenance of all equipment down to the desktop,” he said.

The service gives employees one point of contact and includes multiple service options (see chart below). Support is offered in English and Spanish.

Verizon is probably unique among telecom service providers in offering this service, said Brian Washburn, analyst with Current Analysis. “The real value of the service will depend on how well integrated the help desk is with the network operation,” such that first responders can quickly detect where complex problems lie, he said.

Verizon Business already has a road map for upgrades to the service, such as including more self-service options on a Web portal and taking the service global, but there isn't yet a definitive timetable on those, Gesell said.

Verizon's expectation is that many customers of its existing managed services, including security, data center outsourcing and messaging, will see this as a natural extension of the existing relationship.

“It can be coupled seamlessly with anything in the Verizon portfolio — it is a natural extension to our managed messaging, for instance — as part of an end-to-end solution — or it can be a single point of entry for a customer into Verizon Business,” he said.

VERIZON IT SERVICE DESK CAPABILITIES PORTFOLIO