Definition of a geek: (gēk) noun. slang. An expert or enthusiast in an analytical field such as technology. Once used as an insult, it is now considered a badge of honor among technical people.
Loving Geeks
Valentine’s Day has come and gone.
Hurray!
Perhaps no day tests relationships like Valentine’s Day. Society respectfully suggests that we better demonstrate our love or else risk dire consequences. And, it can be a struggle if you are a romantically challenged bloke like me.
Should you chose the wilted red roses or the petunias? Which box of candy does your mate really prefer? Yes, your marriage may hinge on your choice of white or dark chocolate.
Well, the hoopla has come and gone and luckily we survived.
Now it’s time to answer the real questions about love, the ones that dig deep down into the soul and reveal the truth of your relationship:
Q: Is your significant other a geek?
Q: Do you know a geek?
Q: Are you a geek?
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!
Have you noticed our exciting new changes? We are rolling out a new release ‒ GoToAssist Express users now have the ability to remotely turn on their unattended machines with the new Wake-on-LAN feature. In addition, GoToAssist Express is now powered by GoToManage®. You will notice updated GoToManage branding when launching a remote support session and at www.fastsupport.com. Your product experience remains exactly the same ‒ simply continue to log in with your current GoToAssist Express credentials. Your plan details and billing will stay the same too.
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.
Web-collaboration tools have emerged as one of the most popular technologies across all service divisions. This suite of tools – ranging from desktop sharing, collaboration between support reps and even supervisor silent monitoring – is seeing high rates of adoption and planned spending.
Download this free webinar with John Ragsdale, TSIA’s VP of technology research, as he reveals for the first time the new TSIA 2011 survey results, including rate of adoption of web-collaboration tools, satisfaction levels and spending numbers.
View this webinar to discover:
• The ROI of web collaboration for technical support, including metrics impacted
• Key areas of product differentiation
• Why “freeware” increases risk for your organization
• And more…
Most support managers are expected to maintain or improve C-SAT scores while reducing expenses. In other words, “do more with less.” This may appear to be impossible – but there actually is a way to achieve both goals.
Join this live webinar with Dave Brown, founder and president of Support Center University, as he shares proven methods that will drive your support organization’s performance to new levels while lowering costs.
Dave will detail industry benchmarking data that shows how customer satisfaction is impacted by specific performance factors. These same factors are the key drivers of cost.
Date: Wednesday, September 28
Time: 10 AM (PDT) / 1 PM (EDT)
During this interactive webinar, you’ll discover:
• The relationship between “time to resolution” and C-SAT
• Why efficiency metrics must be considered together, not separately
• Improvement techniques that maximize benefits to your organization
Conquering the tech generation gap. Photo courtesy of Ollie Crafoord at flickr.
By Niklas Edlinger
I’ve recently made a pretty useful remote support discovery. Despite the fact that my elderly parents are eager to join the computer world (hello Facebook), they aren’t quite the best at navigating computer problems when they arise.
In the past, I’ve tried talking them through issues over the phone (or worse yet, email), which as anyone who has tried knows, is no easy feat.
“My Word has an extra page I can’t get rid of.”
“Have you tried scrolling as far down as you can and then holding backspace?”
“Of course I’ve tried that – the page is still there!”
And so on. I’m always happy to help when I can, but boy can it be frustrating. That’s when I realized remote support is for more than just professionals. One URL and a couple clicks later, I’m viewing their screen, solving the problem painlessly. It’s almost too convenient – soon they won’t even try to figure it out themselves, and that worries me and my free time.
Reuters just published an article on a group of elderly Japanese who formed their own IT support group, called “Computer Grandmas.” That sounds like a fantastic idea to me. I might have to leave that page open on my parents’ screen the next time I remote in.
Google too recognizes the looming tech knowledge gap between us and our elders. They’ve taken a stab at solving it with these easy self-help videos, and they’ve made it fun to send one to Ma or Pa.
Who knows, maybe someday, my mom will be schooling me in the complexities of IT.
Automation, self-service, web chat, remote tech support – these strategic tools are the modern face of customer support. Contact centers continue to adopt novel support channels in a drive to enhance productivity, reduce costs and excel in pleasing customers.
But as Valerie Peay, head of the customer experience team at global communications giant BT, explains in a short video, these tools shouldn’t be understood as simply interchangeable elements. The goal isn’t to simply substitute support channels with lower costs per transactions for those with higher costs.
Case in point is BT’s experimentation with the use of GoToAssist Corporate’s new web-chat support tool FastChat™. BT has been an early and enthusiastic adapter of FastChat. The point of such chat tools, Peay says, is not to replace phone service. Instead, customer contacts centers have to work towards the best dynamic combination.
FastChat interface
Hence BT’s strategic approach to FastChat, GoToAssist’s web-based chat interface that launches instantly without any customer download. BT applied FastChat to the 20,000 customer calls coming into their wholesale division each week.
The rollout of FastChat was part of a targeted approach that sought to “eradicate the reasons to call in the first place,” says Peay.
FastChat, which BT branded as “eChat,” helped BT “move our customers into an e-service environment.” “If you can move them into an online environment,” Peay says, “then you can teach them using chat how to be able to self-serve.”
Of course, BT does not plan to eliminate phone support; they want to keep all communication channels open with their valued customers.
The project under Peay’s team was a smashing success. Incoming calls were cut almost in half from 20,000 a week, with eChat handling approximately 40 percent of those. BT plans to accelerate its deployment and make eChat the primary form of contact with wholesale customers over the next 3 months, in addition to expanding the use of FastChat to another 5 BT divisions.
BT’s research into customer experience also reveals an “absolutely fantastic” 20 percent boost in customer experience. As part of BT’s innovative approach to customer service, Peay and her team have continued to drill into the data to see what works by looking at customer surveys and transcripts of the chat session.
35% of IT employees said they’d give up 10% of their salary for the chance to work from home full-time, reports IT Manager Daily, drawing on a recent survey by IT job board Dice.com. Some companies are looking for ways to satisfy IT employees without impacting their budgets. Working from home, says IT Manager Daily, is a no-cost benefit to the company and a perk to many employees. It’s a win-win for both. View entire article here.
www.ITManagerDaily.com
Is your company prepared for telecommuting? It’s a great time to learn what business tools are available. GoToAssist Express is a great solution for IT employees who want to work from home; it allows them to provide their valued service to customers using the market-leading remote support tool.
In fact, many of our Citrix Online products are designed specifically to allow users to work with anyone from anywhere. Check out our full suite of products. And speaking from experience, telecommuting is a good thing. I work from home about fifty percent of the time since I live in West Los Angeles and our Citrix Online office is in the Santa Barbara area which is a 2 hour drive. I am definitely more productive and I’m happy I don’t have to fight the terrible I-405 & I-101 traffic everyday to get to work.
According to the International Telework Association and Council, on average, workshifting yields:
22% increase in employee productivity
20% decrease in employee turnover
60% decrease in employee absenteeism
And to learn more about the many advantages and best practices of telecommuting or remote work, visit this informative site: www.workshifting.com.
Inspiring nightmares everywhere. Photo courtesy of John_Morgan at flickr.
Dom da dom dom. The final day is approaching—the final tax submission day that is. In case it’s dropped off your radar, taxes are due Monday.
Yes, it’s crunch time for just about everyone – accountants, businesses and average Joe and Jane citizens. It‘s also crunch time for the firms that manufacture, install and support tax software.
One such company is CCH, a business unit within Wolters Kluwer. CCH offers about 30 software solutions to accounting firms and corporate tax departments. Their software support team works out of Wichita, Kansas, smack dab in the middle of the country, and it really gets busy about now. CCH’s 200 full-time tech and accounting representatives are joined by another 200 temporary workers in tax season.
By mid-April, pressures and temperatures start rising. Customers call demanding help fast. Luckily, CCH is able to react quickly, delivering speedy solutions while enhancing its productivity by using GoToAssist.
Read the CCH case study here. Now, if there was only such an easy, effective solution to my truly scary tax bill. Ouch.
Frost & Sullivan honors Citrix Online with the 2010 Best Practices Award as Market Leader in Remote Support.
What does that mean? GoToAssist Remote Support is #1. Well, we say it’s our customers who are number one for utilizing our market-leading remote support tools each and every day, so Thank You! We know you have other options but you choose us.
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!
