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Newark, NJ, January 26, 2022 – Edge, the region’s nonprofit research and education network and technology partner, has announced a partnership with BlackBeltHelp, to make their SIMPLIFY IT Help Desk Services available via its EdgeMarket Cooperative Pricing System. EdgeMarket provides safe, simple, smart technology procurement options for higher education and public sector entities. As the result of a thorough RFP process, EdgeMarket has awarded a contract which will give its participants the ability to efficiently and affordably procure IT help desk support services.

BlackBeltHelp’s SIMPLIFY IT Help Desk service offers flexibility, economy, and powerful tools that combine to increase service levels and end-user satisfaction while reducing overall cost of operations. Help desk services provided by BlackBeltHelp go beyond traditional IT, to include LMS, LMS, ERP, SIS and other live 24×7 help desk services.

“Edge collaborated closely with our members and EdgeMarket participants to craft and award an RFP that meets their needs for help desk support,” said Dan Miller, Associate Vice President, EdgeMarket. Miller continued, “BlackBeltHelp’s reputation for excellence in 24×7 service for a wide range of applications makes them an ideal partner for EdgeMarket participants looking to lighten the help desk support load on internal teams. Working with a partner like BlackBeltHelp will enable IT staff to focus more on strategic, value-add initiatives, and less on transactional tasks like help desk tickets.”

“We are excited about this strategic partnership with EdgeMarket. Edge understands the higher education landscape and has been adding value in the industry by empowering their community with affordable, efficient digital transformation technologies and services. We look forward to extending the value proposition by delivering best-in-class IT & OneStop student engagement support services, so that their members and EdgeMarket participants can enhance their user experience and achieve student success goals,” said Anthony R. Humphreys, President, BlackBeltHelp.
Today, BlackBeltHelp serves 200+ higher education clients, including Cornell University, UCLA, Pasadena City College, Community College of Baltimore County, and more. Help desk services provided by the organization have historically reduced average time-to-answer to less than 60 seconds, while reducing operational costs by up to 40%.

Existing Edge members and other institutions interested in leveraging the EdgeMarket purchasing consortium for access to streamlined technology purchasing and preferred pricing can find more information at https://njedge.net/solutions/edgemarket/.

About Edge:
Founded in 2000, Edge, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation, serves as a purpose-built research and education wide area network and technology solutions partner. Edge connects members with affordable, easy access to high-performance optical networking, commodity Internet and Internet2 services, and a variety of technology-powered products, solutions, and services. The Edge member consortium consists of colleges and universities, K-12 schools and districts, government entities, healthcare networks, and businesses spread throughout the continental US. The group is governed by the New Jersey Presidents’ Council with offices in Newark, Princeton, and Wall Township, NJ. For more information, please visit: www.njedge.net.

Media Contact:
Adam Scarzafava
AVP for Marketing and Communications, Edge
855-832-3343
adam.scarzafava@njedge.net

About BlackBeltHelp:
BlackBeltHelp is the #1 AI-powered Contact-Center-as-a-Service provider for students, faculty, and staff in higher education. Our solutions are designed to help higher education institutions unify all applications into a single, easy-to-navigate, analytics-powered dashboard to drive institutional processes and improve the user experience. Our integrated, omnichannel platform – Simplify empowers the institution to integrate disparate systems across the campus to provide a simple yet powerful student service tool that increases institutional efficiency and helps in achieving engagement objectives effortlessly.

Media Contact:
Aaron Daniel
Director of Marketing, BlackBeltHelp
844-255-2358
aaron_daniel@blackbelthelp.com