Hornbill integrates Twitter into service desk

Hornbill has introduced a service desk solution integrating Twitter to assist IT departments in getting to issues quicker.

Supportworks ITSM Enterprise v.3.2 was released today, enabling IT workers to search and reply to tweets to keep up with any issues.

Users can also broadcast service updates and follow trends, whilst running multiple Twitter accounts from the service desk.

With the launch of Supportworks ITSM Enterprise v.3.2, Hornbill said it wanted to cater to so-called "digital natives," who use social networking channels to vent their anger at IT failures in the workplace.

Patrick Bolger, chief evangelist at Hornbill, said the company had not yet introduced Facebook integration, as it was not considered a business-to-business platform as much as Twitter.

"Although Facebook has a significantly larger user base than Twitter, businesses remain more sceptical about the use of Facebook in a B2B context," Bolger told IT PRO.

"Hornbill has seen demand from its customer base for social media integration and Twitter is the channel that most of these organisations elect to use."

Bolger did not rule out bringing in other social networking sites though.

"We are already anticipating demand for integration to other social media streams and the wider use of social media concepts to simplify interface design for customers, promote corporate collaboration and monitor the reputation of both IT and the business," he added.

The new service also comes with a mobile web client, allowing IT workers to address issues whilst on the move.

The client will work with a range of phones, including iPhone, BlackBerry, Android and Windows Phone 7 devices.

Read on for our look at whether businesses have used Twitter to its full potential.