110 E 17TH ST VANCOUVER, WA 98663 Get Directions
110 E 17TH ST VANCOUVER, WA 98663 Get Directions
A Short History of iSupport Software
iSupport Software is the oldest, privately owned, continually operating company in the help desk/customer support market. Founded in 1992 as GWI Software, our goals have always been simple and consistent: Customers, Company, and Community (the three Cs). By focusing on these three principals in that specific order, we have overcome numerous obstacles to remain a company that grows both its customer base and its feature set year after year. Privately owned and operated by Daren Nelson, iSupport Software has an unprecedented track record of over 75 profitable quarters. Only a handful of companies in any industry can claim the financial discipline and continued reinvestment that has been a hallmark of iSupport Software.
How It Started
In 1994 while doing an email deployment of Lotus Notes for a large insurance company, Daren Nelson was asked to write an IT help desk application to be used while the company was spending 18 months deploying a much larger solution. A year later Mr. Nelson took that application and released it as a commercial solution called Help! for Lotus Notes. At the time it was the first shrink-wrapped software solution of any kind for the Lotus Notes platform.
In 1997 GWI Software was also highlighted in InfoWorld Magazine with a new product called Help! for the Web. At the time of release Help! for the Web was the first 100% browser-based IT help desk solution on the market. Help! for the Web was a watershed moment for the support industry as it signaled the shift from client/server-based applications to web-based solutions.
In 1998 Help! for Lotus Notes was surprisingly named the Best Help Desk Solution by InfoWorld Magazine in a comprehensive review of the three leading solutions at that time. Whereas all three solutions are still available today, Help! for Lotus Notes (or iSupport as it is known today) is the only one that continues under the same ownership. This consistent vision has always been a competitive advantage for us; later in 1998 Lotus Notes was named an InfoWorld Product of the Year, and in the accompanying editorial Help! for Lotus Notes was the only application singled out to demonstrate the type of added value Lotus Notes provided to businesses.
In 1999 we released Collaborative Front Office, a solution that included sales, support and marketing applications. Again we were one of the first companies to have a full suite of products that would define a market we know today as CRM.
© Dun & Bradstreet, Inc. 2025. All rights reserved.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.