ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus iPhone App Gets Voice-Enabled

Are you ready for a voice-enabled service desk? IT management platform company ManageEngine (a division of Zoho) tomorrow will release ServiceDesk Plus-MSP iPhone app. ManageEngine President Raj Sabhlok (pictured) told MSPmentor that the app is the first voice-enabled mobile app for MSPs running an IT help desk.  (I haven’t heard of any others, have you?) Here’s the exclusive scoop, plus more on ManageEngine may be headed next with voice technologies.

First, let’s look at why MSPs would need voice activated technology anyway.  Here's what Sabhlok told me: “There's been a perception that help desk technicians are tied to their desks waiting for calls from customers,” he said. “The reality is that they have multiple tasks and often have to leave desks to take care of issues. The iPhone app gives them the ability to manage the entire lifecycle of a ticket.”

Multi-Tenant Functionality

The MSP iPhone app comes a month after ManageEngine successfully launched an update to its iPhone app for on-premise (IT enterprise) that added voice technology. The functionality got lots of attention in the tech press.  The MSP version of the app supports multi-tenancy, something that the on-premise enterprise version did not. The MSP version will   be generally available tomorrow (free, for ServiceDesk Plus users), and is the first native iPhone app from ManageEngine for MSPs (who previously had to access the company’s ServiceDesk  Plus via a mobile browser if they were using a phone or tablet.) This is the first native app from ManageEngine that supports that multi-tenancy, although ServiceDesk Plus for MSPs always supported multi-tenancy.

And then there is the voice functionality. MSPs will be able to take help desk tickets from creation to close using voice activated commands.  This is helpful for technicians who are on the go – either within their own office or on the road visiting customer sites. There's an artificial intelligence (AI) component to this technology, too, Sabhlok said.

Voice Tech from Nuance

The voice technology leverages  technology from Nuance. You won’t see the iPhone app immediately followed by apps for Android or Windows 8, Sabhlok told me, but those platforms are on the company’s roadmap. (Although there hasn’t been much demand for Windows 8 so far, he said when I asked him specifically about Microsoft’s new OS. I didn’t specifically ask him about Android demand.)

ManageEngine is launching the new app for MSPs to empower MSPs to take greater advantage of today’s mobile trends, according to the company.  The following are commands MSPs can make via the voice-enabled technology:

The ServiceDesk Plus-MSP iPhone app also includes features that can be accessed via the iPhone touchscreen that let users do the following:

The voice-enabled ServiceDesk Plus-MSP iPhone app is available starting tomorrow, free of charge, for those who use ServiceDesk Plus-MSP.  A non-voice-enabled version of the ServiceDesk Plus-MSP app is currently available for the iPad.