The concept of help desk is exactly what it sounds.  A help desk in research provides assistance to budding investigators to help make sure that their design and statistical methods are appropriate.  These have been used in academia, but have been of limited use,  for only one university or department. In contrast there are 1000s of international help desks/call centers world wide for such products as computers, Mobile Phones, appliances, etc.  We plan to build “industrial strength” virtual help desks to assist investigators.