I thought it was time share more about the progress being made on the IBM Support portal and how it can serve you better.   2011 brought many changes to improve our response to your IBM product support needs, and 2012 will continue that momentum.  As we plan for these changes, its important to share that your input, leads the priority on what changes or improvements are invested in.  There are a couple of ways, that this can be simply done.  One is located directly on the overview page for the IBM Support Portal, on the right labeled 'Support feedback.  This is for your usage experience on the IBM Support portal or its applications.  We encourage this method to provide us with logging, tracking, and watching the areas of improvement interest from you.   There is also a random survey you will see (no more than once every 6 months, based on the browser cookies), this also serves as an important measurement for how we are meeting your needs.   The best method is the actual feedback option described, and if you do provide your contact details, we will also get back to you if requested, or if we want to learn more about the idea.

One other area, that we get your feedback, is on the actual knowledge you review.  You can provide comments about the quality of the content with a 5 star rating, and even provide written comments.  The written feedback is the most helpful, as we can the plan the right action.

So, I did mention that the IBM Support Portal can save you time.  Key features are:

1.  My notifications, you can register to get weekly, daily, or both types of updates on all your products.  I recommend daily for new fix availability, and the scheduled webcasts.

2. Check out the new features on the fix downloads application known as Fix Central.  You can now upload you product inventory and get a complete listing of all fixes that would apply to your environment.

3. The product display options now offer the ability to toggle from all selected products to just one.  This can reduce the amount of detail shown on the site, without making a change to your products selected.

4, Registration for Service request is now simpler.   You can quickly get your company online for electronic problem reporting.   Here is a quick link with the steps to do this: http://ibm.co/GAxlnG

• Provides faster creation of your requests for service
• The problem descriptions are in your words, providing an accurate detailing for the product experts to assist you
• You can see all the updates made by IBM
• You can submit the data collected immediately as your problem is opened, saving time and allowing us to triage the next steps quicker
• Easier collaboration with your own organization, as your reported problems are also available to your local team. They can also take over for you, if your unavailable on a problem through the features of Service request
• Service request also provides for useful reporting, that is available online, or you can export the details for your local tracking

5. To save even more time, try the IBM Support Assistant to collect the diagnostic files for you.  The plugin's for this tool know exactly what files are needed for the type of failure you are troubleshooting

To learn about all the time saving features, we have a new information solution that is also integrated into new social media options.  For more information about all of IBM's Electronic Support sites and tools, please visit: http://www.ibm.com/electronicsupport

I hope you found something new in this update and saves you time!   Please let us know how we are doing.