EAST GREENBUSH, New York, March 18 /PRNewswire/ --

- Unique customer community helps drive Autotask Corporation's product 
roadmap with hot-links to real time polls, blogs, and discussion boards

Autotask Corporation, the leading provider of hosted business management
software for IT service companies, today announced that its customer
community portal already has more than 5,000 registered users who have driven
more than 30 product enhancements into the product in less than four months
since the site was first launched.

Named "Autotask CommunITy," the portal is accessible only from within
Autotask's web-based IT business automation solutions. In addition to
involving Autotask users directly in the product development process, the
Autotask CommunITy allows customers to leverage each others' experience with
Autotask through discussion boards, blogs and polls. It also gives customers
a real time way to ask questions and provide feedback to the company about
Autotask solutions.

"There are two things that really set our CommunITy apart from other user
communities," said Bob Vogel, chief marketing officer, Autotask Corporation.
"First, the CommunITy is a closed peer-to-peer resource that enables
customers to share information, ideas and opinions with each other. People
trust each other to give accurate advice and practical information, and as a
result, in a short time it has become a hugely popular area of the product.

"Second," Vogel said, "since all Autotask customers have access to the
CommunITy, we listen hard to what is said there. There are six Autotask
employees who monitor forums, five of whom also blog on specific topics
including marketing and training."

Examples of ways that customers are leveraging CommunITy include:

-- Customers recently supported one another on a request to change the
       color of internal notes for service tickets. Autotask incorporated the
       change within two weeks.
    -- A "guest" user posted product questions during a trial period to which
       several customers responded. That guest is now a customer.
    -- Customers participated in a feature request poll so that the company
       could determine what priority to give the request.
    -- Based on the input of other users, a customer realised the way he was
       entering time could be streamlined, which resulted in more time to
       serve customers.
    -- When a customer resolved his own issue, he posted the solution for the
       benefit of other Autotask users.



The company, already known for its frequent product-upgrade cycle, has
devoted a number of its weekly minor releases to product enhancements based
on CommunITy postings. To date, more than 30 such product enhancements have
been made. Autotask uses an area called the "Drawing Board" to gather input
on planned major feature enhancements. The Drawing Board is also where topics
that have generated the most user interest are relocated in order to fully
flesh out opinions and feedback.

"CommunITy is one of the most significant tools that Autotask customers
can use to realise the entire realm of product benefits," said Mark Crall,
President, Charlotte Tech Care Team. "My team and I have leveraged its value
several times already through the blogs and discussion boards."

Accessed only through the Autotask product user interface, the CommunITy
attracts an average of 50 new registered users a day.

"As a fairly new Autotask customer, CommunITy is a place where I can get
real time advice from others in my business on how they use Autotask to
integrate with their processes," said Jeffrey Sherman, Warever Computing.
"Plus, the high level of activity I've seen on CommunITy is not universal.
I've spent plenty of time on other vendors' forums and have found that they
don't all participate or pay any attention to the posts the way Autotask
does."

For more information about CommunITy or Autotask products, please visit
http://www.autotask.co.uk or call +44-203-00-63147.

About Autotask Corporation

Autotask is the leading provider of innovative, web-based business
solutions that allow outsource IT solution providers to run their businesses
more easily and more profitably. Accessible via any PC or mobile internet
device, at any time without any downloads, Autotask Pro helps professionals
intuitively manage the key operations for any service business and integrates
seamlessly with MS Outlook, Sage 50 Accounts, QuickBooks, and a number of
Managed Services software applications. For more information on Autotask Pro
visit http://www.autotask.co.uk or call +44-203-00-63147.

Web site: http://www.autotask.co.uk