The Bulletin - April 2006 Edition
Technical Tips
By Tom Snyder Ph.D.

How to Reduce Technical Support Costs While Improving Service

Over the past few years computers have become a critical part of the office environment. So critical in fact, if your computer is having problems you might be unable to work. Small businesses can be hit particularly hard because the lack of a full-time technical staff means having to wait while someone is dispatched to address the issue. Larger businesses can have similar problems if they have small branch offices or remote employees. Problems can often be solved over the phone, but this is not nearly as efficient as having someone on-site. Does,
“Go to Start. Select Run. Type in W-I-N as in Nancy. Press Enter. Now what do you see?” sound familiar?

Fortunately, a more effective and fast way to solve many problems exists. At Xantrion we refer to this as “Remote Assistance”.

Remote Assistance allows for immediate help, as opposed to the delay (and expense) required to fight Bay Area traffic to your office. It allows a support professional to not only see what is on your screen, but also, with your permission, to take over your computer to run tests and correct problems. It also allows them to run optimizing utilities and even install new software after hours. It is cost effective for mid-sized businesses to configure Remote Assistance so that if a computer’s hardware completely fails, a new computer can be taken out of the closet, plugged in, and be ready for use in about two hours. Best of all, Windows computers (including 95, 98, Me, NT4.0, W2000 and WXP) can be set-up for Remote Assistance using free software that can be configured in less than 5 minutes per computer. You no longer need to pay for pcAnywhere or any other product (often at $100 per license). In fact, Windows XP now includes built-in Remote Assistance capabilities which require almost no configuration at all.

Desktop security is maintained by using a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to provide Remote Assistance. Information that travels across a VPN is encrypted and a username and password is required to establish the VPN as well as to connect to the computer requiring assistance. Servers are secured by ensuring up-to-date security patches are installed, by turning off unnecessary services such as telnet and e-mail and, if necessary, by placing them behind a firewall.

By reducing the need to drive to your site, allowing maintenance and troubleshooting to be done without your being present, and allowing support professionals to provide help from any location with an internet connection; Remote Assistance securely reduces service costs while improving responsiveness and service quality.

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If you have questions or concerns about your particular situation, please e-mail me at tpsynder@xantrion.com.
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