2. HDI Support Center Standard

Twenty-six percent of organizations surveyed by HDI use the HDI Support Center Standard today, with an additional 22 percent planning to use the framework going forward.

Best practices are intended to align an organization's support services with the needs of its customers and provide consistent, top-notch support. The standard is intended to increase service consistency, customer satisfaction, staff productivity, compliance and the bottom line, while reducing unit costs and user downtime. 

HDI offers four different types of support center certifications, and 105 of the people surveyed by Global Knowledge had received one of these certifications. The most popular is HDI Support Center Analyst, which was held by 45 respondents and offers an average annual salary of $65,927.