Remote assistance as form of support?

[ITHost-Korey]

Im not sure how many people are farmiliar with remote assistance, but what do you think about offering it to clients as a support and troubleshooting option? What would you charge extra for this? Or better yet, what would clients be willing to pay for this service?

[Chicken]

You mean like when the ISP logs into your computer to adjust your settings? I'm not sure how that would work in the web hosting realm?

[ITHost-Korey]

It would obviously be done when all issues point to the clients computer settings, but what do you think?

[Chicken]

...what do you think about offering it to clients as a support and troubleshooting option?
Clarify "the clients computer settings" ... in relation to what? If you're talking about basically unrelated general computer help for your clients, that's one thing. I just can't figure out what "support and troubleshooting" you're really doing? Point is, what settings on your client's machine affects their web hosting (again, unless you're just talking about general unrelated computer help and support).

EDIT: OK the *one* area I can see is things like FTP and email set up. IMHO, if you have a solid tutorial and/or instructions, it is unlikely you'd need to log into the client's machine.

I'm not sure how people (in general) feel about people on their machine in the first place. Maybe you need a poll to see what the thoughts on it are to begin with.

[scanner]

im not sure im in the correct thread let alone the correct forum

Im looking for a combined software package whereby i can support remote clients, and charge for this serice be it a subscription or pay as you go.

visitor would sign up for remote support log a call (ticket) and get assistance.
I need to collect the payment befor the service or else how do i get paid for the tech support.

I am looking at helpdeskreloaded but need a billing frontend befor the support starts
phpcoin looks like it can do the job except its all about domain sales.

hope this is not too confusing

it would help if someone can point me in the right direction.

[hostingpod]

Wouldnt that be some sort of security issue there?

[talkntickets]

It's an interesting idea but, on the negative side, it might create more problems than it solves. For example, if a person contacts you asking you to fix something on their machine, then your technician tries to log in to do it but encounters, say, a firewall issue with the customer's own computer or perhaps with their ISP or whatever, so is unable to access the client's machine in order to fix the problem. You might then have a much more difficult problem to solve than the problem they were trying to contact you about in the first place. Of course, hopefully this kind of headache would not occur often, but it does introduce a new set of potential problems and it seems a bit doubtful about whether that would be worthwhile given, as mentioned in a post above, most issues can be resolved easily enough through more traditional support methods.

[LifeSteala]

There is a software like LogMeIn.. free remote control.. over encryption

[huendin]

Im not sure how many people are farmiliar with remote assistance, but what do you think about offering it to clients as a support and troubleshooting option? What would you charge extra for this? Or better yet, what would clients be willing to pay for this service?

What do you mean?

[davet]

We offer remote assistance but I only have to use it every once in awhile and it's typically for the newbies... mostly setting up their email client.

There's a free solution you can use out there. We use UltraVNC SC (Single Click) (http://www.uvnc.com/addons/singleclick.html)

Basically I send the customer to a url which downloads and runs the program. It then alerts me on my workstation that someone needs remote assistance. I can then connect to their machine remotely. It doesn't install any software on their computer and doesn't change any settings. I'm also able to access computers with firewalls installed. One drawback I noticed recently is it doesn't support Window Vista clients.

If you're looking into offering extended support for your customers such as local network or pc repair support then I would look into http://www.netsupportmanager.com/ instead.

[[DWH]Yuxuan]

Eh, I personally still don't see why a web-hosting business should offer remote assistance...

Well... I lie. But I still don't think it is very practical.

[davet]

Yuxuan']Eh, I personally still don't see why a web-hosting business should offer remote assistance...

Well... I lie. But I still don't think it is very practical.

to stay competitive in the hosting industry I have to offer something the other 50,000+ hosting companies don't.

Offering remote assistance to those who may need it is a personalized service they just can't get anywhere else. Most hosting companies do not offer remote assistance. It also helps with up-selling them on computer maintenance packages which we offer. I can perform maintenance tasks for a little extra once I'm connected remotely to their computer.

Normally for $50 extra I'll install Spybot & SpyBlaster and run the scan for them... I'll also make sure they are running an updated anti-virus program, do any windows updates, clear out all temp files & run a defrag. I sometimes sell them on a remote backup solution for their files too which now that I have remote access I can setup that up for them too.

I only use remote assistance as the last draw. I offer it to customers who just can't figure things out and are getting frustrated with my service. I don't blatantly advertise I offer it, I only use it for certain circumstances.

Just think of how frustrated that customer was before I helped them. Now think about how much longer I will keep that customer cause I went above and beyond. :xmas2:

[hostdime-roman]

Wouldnt that be some sort of security issue there?

Possible, Unless you develope your own tool for that with Encrypted connection source. that no one else does in any other remote control program.

[davet]

Possible, Unless you develope your own tool for that with Encrypted connection source. that no one else does in any other remote control program.

There are plenty of secure remote desktop programs and services out there that can be used.

Checkout UltraVNC SC (http://www.uvnc.com/addons/singleclick.html)

If you look on their community forum there is also a version that supports Vista.

Or there are services such as www.gotoassist.com that you could use.

[UrbanVPS-Jamie]

UltraVNC now offer a remote support software, its free to a certain extent. If firewalls are a worry this thing gets round them, again to a certain extent.