1870s

Telephony Technology
Enters the Scene

• Antonio Meucci invented the first
  voice communication system.

1880s

Switchboard Operators and
Technicians Take Command of 
Telephone Systems

• Emma Nutt became the first female trained to
  operate switchboard technology.
• The first telephone “system” had the capacity
  to serve 99 telephones ¹.

1910s

Technicians Install the First Continuous Telephone Line

• Technicians worked through blizzards, lightning storms, and dangerous terrain,
  to install over 3,500 miles of line in just one year.
• 233 U.S. women formed the Signal Corps Female Telephone Operators Unit,
  aka “Hello Girls” to maintain systems overseas during WWI (ASU).

1930s

The 1a2 Key Telephone System
Becomes the First “Business” Telephone

• This technology eventually evolved into Private Branch
  Exchange (PBX) systems.
• Customer service became a recognized “department”.

1950s

The First Commercial Computer
Attracts Public Attention

• Presper Eckert and John Mauchly installed the first
  commercial computer for use at the Census Bureau.
• The colossal hardware weighed 29,000 pounds².

1960s

The Neotechnic Era Marks the
Beginning of “Call Centers”

• AT&T introduced the toll-free 1-800 number to
  connect customers with businesses without
  needing an operator.
• Basic mainframe software brought
  computers to customer service.
• Advances in technology created a
  new generation of tech support.

1970s

Bill Gates Faces Off
With Steve Jobs

• Bill Gates and Paul Allen joined forces to
  write the first iteration of Microsoft.
• Simultaneously, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak
  prototyped the first generation of Apple.

1990s

Digital Innovation
Revolutionizes Our Way of Life

• The Internet became mainstream technology.
• Remote IT infrastructures gave rise to the
  Application Service Provider (ASP) industry.
• The ASP industry evolved into the Managed
  Service Provider (MSP) industry to support the
  rapidly expanding tech engine.

Early-2000s

Help Desk Solutions Take Service Management Into the 21st Century

• The first modern helpdesk systems integrated incident management with direct customer assistance.
• The wide adoption of mobile phones, email, and instant messaging altered customer service expectations.
• Helpdesk technology evolved to provide more user-oriented services and service management capabilities.

Mid-2000s

MSP Technology Shifts
Focus From “Service
Driven” to “User Driven”

• Service catalog management and
  self-service capabilities became more
  advanced.
• Cloud-hosted software gave way to
  a bevy of new service industries.

Late-2000s

Cloud Software Turns Computer
Infrastructure Into A “Utility”

• In-house computer infrastructures were
  replaced by outsourced service providers.
• The managed service provider industry
  expanded into:

- Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

- Platform as a Service (PaaS)

- Software as a Service (SaaS)

• The number of active smartphone users went
  from 50 million to more than 275 million.
• Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered
  the first modern chatbots.
• Apple introduced Siri to the world.

2020+

The Intelligent Service
Management Era Arrives

• AI & machine learning is expected to turn helpdesk automation into an $11 Billion market by 2023³.
• Natural language processing chatbots will standardize conversational interfacing.
• Automation as a Service (AaaS) industry will see rapid growth.
• The helpdesk agent’s role will get easier and harder at the same time.