http://www.thesspa.com/index.asp

SSPA Association Information

Founded in 1989, the Service & Support Professionals Association (SSPA) has grown to become the largest and most influential industry trade group for technology service and support professionals. Its nearly 200 member companies represent tech support, field service and customer relations organizations around the globe.

Far from being a staid industry association, the SSPA is chartered with bringing together the service and support community’s best and brightest minds to deliver a relevant blend of market research, programs, certifications including prestigious J.D. Power and Associates Certified Technology Service & Support, networking, media and analyst relations, education and other information resources. SSPA core constituents include the world’s leading enterprise and consumer technology companies such as Microsoft, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Oracle, Cisco and IBM, as well as the scores of innovative small and mid-sized companies that serve to continually refresh the industry by bringing new ideas and processes to the marketplace.

Since its founding, SSPA has helped its members understand how best to provision resources to meet the emerging needs of both the enterprise and consumer marketplace and develop strategies that will lead them to success in a straight line…not through costly trial and error.

Today’s technology vendors are circling their development, service and support organizations - all the teams involved in delivering elements of the ownership experience - around three core principles: Lower the customer’s total cost of ownership, accelerate the business benefit of the product and build valuable new product features that were not part of the original product purchase.

The SSPA articulates these issues and, with unique, experience-based insight into how they affect the technology industry as a whole, fills a critical role as the voice of the service and support industry. As its member base and global influence has grown, SSPA has become a pre-eminent thought leader and issues advocate. SSPA communications and education programs now inform business leaders, policy planners and the public-at-large about the critical importance of technology support and services in leveraging the value of corporate IT investments and consumer product value.

Today SSPA and its members stand on the threshold of a new era, with a host of challenges and opportunities. Through its research, conferences, seminars and other ongoing professional programs, SSPA is providing a vibrant forum for exciting new ways to leverage best practices and enhance productivity throughout the support value chain.