Remote diagnosis of hardware, software or network issue for non-technical users is challenging. PC Help Desk technicians rely upon non-technical users to describe issues and follow instructions. This approach is frustrating for users and expensive for IT support organizations. It typically results in miscommunication and misdiagnosis.
SOFIns offers a way to convert a user's laptop into a remote analysis tool, allowing a help desk technician to diagnose problems directly from the network location and hardware platform where the user is experiencing problems. To create this remote tool, a user is required to reboot the laptop using a SOFIns Boot Disk. This proves to be a faster, less expensive and simpler alternative to requiring a non-technical user to follow technical instructions.
The computer will be booted and connected to SOFIns. The remote technical will be able to directly identify:
problems with the ISP, such as blocked ports
problems with the local network, such as parity mismatch
problems with network devices that may be sending out errors
problems with the hardware, such as failing hard disks or exploding laptop batteries
problems with the software, such as viruses
problem with the peripheral devices, such as whether the right driver is loaded for a USB printer
Techical Support is Critical and Expensive
Technical support is a critical service. The quality of a vendor’s technical support influences customers’ perception of the quality of the vendor’s products. As can be expected, almost all vendors selling IT goods and services have a technical support operation.
Technical support is expensive to provide. Costs include labor ($10/hr - $20/hr), training ($200-$500 per agent), communications ($0.01 - $0.02 per minute) and facilities and infrastructure ($100 - $300/agent/month).
Adding to this expense is the is the unpredictable nature of demand, which results in staffing problems: either there are too many agents at work (which increases the cost per minute) or there are too few agents at work (which decreases performance metrics because of increased hold times).
The estimated cost to provide technical support to end users is $0.70 per minute.
The First 20 Minutes of a Tech Support Session are Wasted
While it is expensive to provide technical support services for the vendor, it is a very frustrating experience for the user:
The problem may exist in hardware, firmware, software or network. The user is most-likely calling the wrong company for support and that company will likely respond with "not our problem"
The user will be asked to crawl under his desk to retrieve serial numbers hidden underneath the computer
The user will be asked to describe technical problems and follow technical instructions
This all represents waste and is the standard procedure today. At $0.70 per minute, this waste is also expensive.
