According to a new post on ITManagerDaily.com, in 2012 IT  departments will spend $10 billion on iPads and $9 billion on Mac computers (Forrester, Jan2012 report). The big boom in IT spending on Apple devices is driven by more and more employees bringing their own devices to work, despite IT’s insistence otherwise.

Is your IT department prepared to handle and support these devices? Setting up such capabilities should be a top 2012 IT priority. Indeed, businesses of all sizes are increasingly seeking new ways to keep their workforce connected and productive without tethering them to their desks and laptops.

In this endeavor, the Citrix Online “GoTo” application suite offers crucial solutions to support employees on the go. Products like GoToMyPC, GoToMeeting and, of course, GoToAssist carefully balance personal freedom and connectivity with company security. Whether working from home or held up in the airport, employees can access everything they need. And by creating a more mobile and agile workforce, businesses realize the benefits of increased employee engagement and productivity.

Did you know GoToAssist lets you provide remote support to Mac computers?  In addition (and now more importantly), you can provide remote support from an iPad if you have the free GoToAssist Express/GoToManage iPad app. Give yourself (and your IT department) a break – go mobile.

Sent from my iPad

We were sure busy. We rolled out our new website and pushed our integration of fast tech support and 24/7 IT monitoring in GoToManage. Delivered on a free GoToAssist Express iPad app that’s a crowd pleaser. Issued a new app integrating Salesforce, the leading CRM solution, with GoToAssist Corporate. We upgraded GoToAssist Express with a beta version of unattended access to Mac® computers. And, we expanded GoToAssist Corporate with new functionality to support mobile devices.

However, before we dive into 2012, we thought we all ought to take a few moments to reflect, relax and laugh. To help you, here’s some amusing videos thought up by witty and prolific IT blogger Brian Madden. Enjoy!

Best wishes for 2012 from the GoToAssist crew.

We have taken this step because the GoToManage platform gives us the ability to more rapidly roll out new features (e.g. Wake-on-LAN and support from your iPad®), which benefits both GoToAssist Express and GoToManage customers. You will continue to see us accelerate the rollout of new functionality over the next few months because of this.

BTW, have you checked out GoToManage? We’ve taken everything you love about GoToAssist Express and poured it into GoToManage Remote Support. All the features you’re used to and more:

• Shared team-based access to unattended machines
• Multi-site support to manage all of your sites or clients from one account
• Administration center ‒ assign access rights to technicians and use permissions
• Integrated monitoring module (optional)

And as a valued customer, you will soon have the opportunity to take advantage of all the added remote support functionality that GoToManage has to offer at no additional cost to what you are currently paying for GoToAssist Express.  Look for additional communications about this in the coming months. 

You can choose GoToManage’s Remote Support module, its Monitoring module or both – Customize GoToManage to fit your business!

Did you know GoToManage uses the same underlying technology of GoToAssist Express?   In fact, we’ve taken everything you love about GoToAssist Express and poured it into GoToManage Remote Support.  All the features you’re used to and more:

• Shared team-based access to unattended machines.
• Administration center ‒ assign access rights to technicians and organize client accounts.
• Integrated monitoring module (optional)

GoToManage cloud-based user interface

GoToManage Remote Support Lets You:

• Provide unlimited live support to PC and Mac users
• Connect to unattended computers and servers
• Utilize teams of technicians
• Includes an iPad App, so you can provide support on-the-go

GoToManage Monitoring Lets You:

• Visualize the health and performance of servers
• Inventory all hardware and software (PCs and Macs)
• Track network usage patterns
• Be proactively alerted before something breaks
• Manage multiple sites or clients from one account

More Info for GoToAssist Express Customers

GoToAssist Express customers will soon see a fresh new look of our GoToAssist.com and GoToManage.com websites.  In addition, look for a change to the GoToAssist endpoint and FastSupport.com connect for support page.  Both will soon display the GoToManage logo and be  powered by GoToManage! 

More information and a special promotion coming soon for GoToAssist Express customers who are interested in testing out the easy, robust power of GoToManage!

Frost & Sullivan honors Citrix Online with the 2010 Best Practices Award as Market Leader in Remote Support.

 Frost & Sullivan presents this Award to companies who demonstrate excellence in capturing the highest market share within their industry while maintaining four key performance factors:

• Factor 1 – Success of the remote support solution
• Factor 2 – Global acceptance
• Factor 3 – Resilience in a competitive environment
• Factor 4- Innovation for the future

Frost & Sullivan believes that Citrix Online has achieved the market leadership position through sound strategy and excellent implementation and delivery of their solutions. Here’s a quote from the Frost & Sullivan report: “Citrix Online’s GoToAssist solution has found favor with users, for both internal and external support. The company’s offerings are designed to be simple to use, secure, cost-effective and reliable.”

Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! Keep on providing excellent support to your customers and using GoToAssist!

IT Wizard (Photo courtesy of Linus Bohman, Flickr).

But the mysterious magic of Unattended Support may cause your customers to worry over security. What are the best ways to reassure them and build trust? And how can you best use Unattended Support to your advantage and to deliver value to your customers?

To answer these questions, we at Citrix Online have created a user guide of best practices. Gathering tips and insights from IT professionals, help desk managers and consultants, we have compiled this guide to help you get the most out of Unattended Support and our remote support service.

To access the guide in PDF format, click here.

If you have any additional best practices, tips, feedback or wizard’s tricks, please send them to us.

Mysticgeek at How-To Geek reviewed our beloved remote support product and gave us 4.5 stars (we’re thrilled).

You can read the full article, his conclusion is below.

“GoToAssist, which is powered by Citrix, and is a dead simple way to support other user’s Mac or PC remotely. The performance is surprisingly fast compared to some other remote assistance software out there. It provides a great toolset that allows you to transfer over needed files like software patches, easy to use chat, easy to find diagnostics, and settings which help increase the speed of your remote session. If you have a lot of people to help at a given time, it allows you unlimited live support with up to 8 sessions at a time.

It makes supporting computers much easier than trying to figure out what users are saying over the phone. You can dial in to see and control what is happening and explain what you’re doing, or start an unattended session and just fix the problem.”

Who you gonna call when rustlers, hackers and malware start hanging around your homestead?

Have you seen our new GoToAssist advertising campaign? We’re having more fun than hogs in a fresh mud slop, and we think you’re going to enjoy it too.

Our new publicity tips a giant 10-gallon hat to the spirit of the old West. Soon roughriders, bull wranglers and sharpshooters will be emblazoned across our Web banners, magazine ads and emails.

“Why the old West?” you might ask.

Because we think the mythic heroes of the old West live on in today’s support professionals. Just like those lone gunmen of yesteryear, tech professionals ride into town, delivering hope and help to desperate Americans everywhere. In these modern days, when decent folks need assistance fast, they best call an unassuming but determined and skilled troubleshooting support guy or gal who is ready to spring into action.

Feast your eyes on this pretty picture:

Now appearing in magazines everywhere.

And while you’re at it, join us in the fun of mashing up old western movie quotes into something new and sweet for tech support. Here’s a few ticklers thought up by Trey Clark, Alleah Gogley and Tom Schultz of the GoToAssist remote support posse.

“One support slinger against a world of technical problems? I like my odds.”

“Wherever he goes, he leaves a trail of slain technical issues.”

“Technical problems can run, but they can’t hide.”

“This virtual desktop ain’t big enough for both me and that virus.” [Based on “This town ain't big enough for the both of us, and I'm going to give you 24 hours to get out.” Spoken by Wheeler Oakman in The Western Code (1932)]

IT support cowboy: “In the cool of the evening, when the computer problems arise, that’s when I appear.” [Based on “In the cool of the evening, when the food and liquor and women are ready, that's when I appear." Spoken by Walter Houston in The Virginian (1929)]

Or mash up your own classic Western movie quote, and send them this way. We’d love to read them!

Follow these simple steps:
• Go to following URL: https://www.fastsupport.com/unattended
• Click on “Set Up Unattended Support”
• You will be prompted to login to your GoToAssist account
  • Enter your GoToAssist username and password
• You will be prompted to enter your system username and password
  • (e.g. Domain Admin, Local Admin, Local User Account with install rights, etc.)
• You will be prompted to enter the following information
  • Computer nickname (e.g. Bob’s Office Computer)
  • Access Code (Unique to this machine)

That’s It. Your Computer will now show up in your Unattended Machines list!

Click on icon below to watch a step by step presentation of the steps outlined above: