Help Desk Institute to Professional Knowledge and Development Research Paper

Help Desk Institute to Professional Knowledge and Development - Research Paper Example The first section gives an overview of HDI - what it does and its role in the technical support industry. The next section gives an explanation of the contributions of HDI towards increasing the professional knowledge and abilities of its members. This paper concludes with a discussion on how the knowledge and skills acquired from HDI can have a significant impact on my chosen career path. At the core of HDI’s creation is the desire to help individuals in the IT service and support profession improve their practices and increase work efficiency. As expressed in its mission statement, HDI aims to â€Å"lead and promote support professionals by empowering members through access to timely and valuable industry information, encouraging member collaboration, establishing open standards and providing globally recognized certification and training programs† (Migliazza, 2008, para. 1). HDI, therefore, provides a venue for technical support and service professionals to come together and discuss the prevalent issues and problems in the help desk, as well as share best practices in an effort to find solutions to these problems. HDI also has a wealth of information from reports, research and articles from experts that provide relevant and up-to-date data about the latest trends in help desk services, as well as benchmarking tools. Each year, HDI gathers experts and leaders in the field of technical support and service during its annual conference and expo in a spirit of learning and participation. Furthermore, HDI offers standards-based training and certification programs that are internationally recognized. As pointed out by Baschab and Piot (2007), â€Å"sponsoring help desk staff for HDI certification is a worthwhile investment in their productivity, and sends a clear message to the team about the major importance of their role in the IT department† (p. 276).  Training and certifications will propel me to advance in my career path in the technical support and service field.   Of course, there is undoubtedly a wealth of insights gathered from my work experience.   The theoretical knowledge will put these insights in context, strengthening its validity and allowing me to innovate as I learn more about the theory behind the practice.   Training also prepares me to deal with multiple clients from various fields with different bac kgrounds, an important tool in this profession.   Becoming a member of HDI membership will help me keep abreast with the latest developments in the help desk profession.   Having a venue for discussion and collaboration with other professionals will allow me to contribute to the improvement of the profession.