The tech-support time sink

Technical support is most important for companies today , i also contacted a tech support company for my company , because due to this efficiency was very low of my company , now the efficiency is very high , so i will suggest you for some technical support company

Before this my company had a technical support canada staff , which was ok but that was not abale to fix critical problems , that's why i contacted technical support company

Close cooperation with software developers is one of Intel’s key activities, and integrating support of the remote control technology of the Intel(R) vPro(TM) platform into Radmin is a great example of this," says Alexey Rogachkov, Regional Architecture Specialist of Intel. "The results of this cooperation gives Radmin(R) users new capabilities, providing remote control over computers with the Intel(R) vPro(TM) processor technology, even when the computer is turned off or doesn’t have an operating system."

There are lots of company which are giving technical support to individual usrs or companies , but you should select technial support companies according to your need that is money

source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13880_3-10102082-68.html

Remote Computer Support Solution

It is becoming very difficult for small business owners to run in this tough economic conditions because they want to expand their operations but they don,t have money for this , in such situations the cheap products are very popular for example bomgar remote support tool through this two computers can be connected through internet.

The study, conducted by Rasmussen Reports, LLC for Discover(R) Small Business Watch(SM), and published this week, showed slight improvement in the small business outlook compared to September. Nevertheless, 74% of small business owners still think the U.S. economy is on the decline.

While most are managing to survive -- only 23% have had to borrow to cover basic expenses -- 55% have suffered a loss of income over the last month.

Bomgar's appliance-based remote support solution opens the door to several avenues that may help the situation.

In addition to providing secure remote access to customers' computers and virtually eliminating the need for on-site visits, companies who deploy Bomgar's help desk support solutions can realize a reduction in total call times of up to 90%, a similar reduction in second tier escalation and a 20-85% increase in first call resolution. This improves customer satisfaction significantly while enabling the company to handle increased traffic without the need to increase staff.

With Bomgar's remote support solution, small businesses can also ensure business continuity for executives and sales people on the road so they have ready access to anything needed to close a deal or provide information for potential new customers. Bomgar can even help virtualize the office -- including remote tech support agents -- to lower the costs for premises, utilities and so on.

With Bomgar's unique licensing model, companies can also realize a savings of up to 60% over the cost of competitor solutions.

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Soulution: http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Remote-Support-Solution-Gives-Small/story.aspx?guid={D2E390E1-A8BA-4FA4-A143-EF64535E76A1}

Remote Control: NASA works to repair Hubble's failed computer

NASA scientists and engineers have been working since Tuesday night to fix a computer failure on board the Hubble Space Telescope that hobbled the instrument and derailed a shuttle mission.

A spokesman for NASA said today that scientists worked overnight to switch the telescope's failed data formatter and control unit over to an onboard redundant system. He added that they expect to find out later today whether the computer support canada switchover and reboot was a success.

Late last month, the space agency announced that the computer failure was preventing data from being sent to Earth. Michael Moore, a program executive for the Hubble Space Telescope, has said in a previous interview that the computer problem is the worst the Hubble has suffered since it went into orbit more than 18 years ago.

This is the first Hubble computer malfunction that has required the installation of a replacement system. "There's nothing young in the system," said Moore.

The Science Data Formatter is designed to take information from five onboard instruments, format it into data packets, put a header on it and then send it to Earth at speeds of up to 1Mbit/sec. Without this computer, Hubble can't take on long-planned research projects.

NASA scientists are now working to switch the Hubble over to onboard redundant systems to resume services until the space shuttle arrives with another system, which then will act as the new backup. NASA postponed the space shuttle's planned October repair mission in order to get the replacement computer system ready.

As of now, John Shannon, shuttle program manager at the Johnson Space Center, said the flight will likely be rescheduled for next February or April.

According to Moore, remotely switching over to the redundant systems should take about 10 hours. The switchover will involve shutting the telescope down then commanding it to come back up running on another set of boxes.

Ed Weiler, the associate administrator of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA, had noted in a previous interview that the switchover and subsequent installation of new redundant systems should add another five to 10 years to the Hubble's life. "Hubble has a habit of coming back from adversity, and the Hubble team, which includes the Shuttle team, works miracles. And you know, I am not too concerned about this," said Weiler. "We will find a way to get this fixed."

source: http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9117259&intsrc=news_ts_head

8,000 support staff members to help teachers maintain computers

KUALA TERENGGANU: IN AN effort to help teachers focus on their jobs, 8,000 support staff members will be placed in schools to maintain their computers.

Deputy Education Minister Datuk Razali Ismail said the staff would be sent to about 10,000 primary and secondary schools in computer support canada laboratories nationwide.

“The Public Service Department has approved the appointment of the support staff and they will commence their duties during the schooling session early next year,” he told reporters after the Puteri Umno Kuala Terengganu Divison meeting here, recently.

He said the ministry had set up computer laboratories in schools without taking maintenance into account until it became a burden to the teachers.

Now, with the support staff, teachers would be able to give their full attention to teaching, he added.

Razali said the support staff would contribute in reducing the cost of computer maintenance because previously the schools had to use the services of private companies. “The support staff will comprise those with qualifications from polytechnics and skills training institutions, who will help to maintain the computers at no extra cost.”

In another development, he said they were also studying the problem of teachers not being able to focus on teaching because they had to handle clerical work as well.

“The ministry will ask the Public Service Department to approve more support staff, especially clerks, so that teachers will no longer have to do clerical work,” he said. - BERNAMA

source: http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2008/10/14/southneast/2258414&sec=southneast

New product helps you assist other computer users from afar

Trying to help a less-knowledgeable friend or family member solve remote computer problems can be very frustrating -- especially if you cannot sit with him or her in front of the PC. It can be slow and awkward merely explaining the steps you would like the other person to perform to diagnose and solve the problem.

The best approach is to control the distant computer remotely -- with the owner's consent -- during the problem-solving session. That way, you can directly manipulate the machine while explaining what you are doing over the phone.

There are a variety of services and software that allow such remote control. Tools for doing so are even preinstalled in obscure corners of the Windows and Macintosh operating systems. But many are too complicated for average users -- even those with enough knowledge to help solve common problems. Others cost money, or require you to establish an account with a service, or are aimed mainly at folks seeking unattended access to their own remote computers.

This week, I tested a remote-control product designed specifically for collaborative help sessions solicited by the person seeking help. It is free, simple and can be used without setting up an account. And it also has an added dimension: If you have a problem and lack a tech-savvy friend or relative who can help, the company that makes the software maintains a directory of thousands of geeks who can help you, usually for a fee.

The product is called CrossLoop and can be downloaded at crossloop.com. It currently works only with Windows computers, but the company plans to release a Macintosh version in a few months.

To use CrossLoop, both you and the person you are helping must download and install the free program, a quick and simple process. When you run the program, you are invited to create a free account, which allows you to track your sessions and rate people who help you. But there is a clearly marked Skip button that permits you to use the program with all of its features even without an account.

The software has a very clear, simple interface. It consists of two large tabbed sections: a gray one labeled Share for the person whose machine is to be operated remotely, and a green one labeled Access for the remote operator, called the "helper" by the company.

For security reasons, CrossLoop doesn't allow its users to gain control of unattended machines. The process must begin with a person at the remote machine clicking the Share tab. That click generates an access code that is different for each remote session. The person seeking help then gives that code, usually over the phone, to the helper. The helper then clicks on the Access tab on his or her PC, and types in the code. The person on the other end must confirm that he or she wants to go ahead. Only then is the connection opened.

Once this process is complete, the helper sees a large window replicating the desktop of the remotely controlled machine, and can control that PC using his or her own mouse and keyboard. The helper can even transfer files to the remote machine.

On the other end, the person being helped can be passive or can share control of the computer. At any time, the person being helped can disconnect the session or limit the helper to just viewing the screen rather than controlling it.

The company says that it keeps no record of any of the sessions and that its software encrypts all communication between the two computers involved.

I tested CrossLoop in two scenarios. In one, I used it to help my friend Alan configure his new copy of Microsoft Office to save files in the older Office formats. The remote-control session worked fine, although Alan's Internet connection was so slow that there were long delays in seeing changes occur on his screen.

In the second scenario, I hired one of CrossLoop's listed consultants for $25 to clean up a Sony laptop I own that was running sluggishly. He spent over an hour deleting needless programs and removing others that were unnecessarily set to launch automatically. He carefully consulted me by phone to make sure he was not cutting anything I needed or wanted. Again, I considered the session a success.

The only problem I saw in my tests was that when helping someone with a Vista machine, you may have to temporarily disable a security-warning feature called User Account Control, which pops up frequently and cuts off the connection.

CrossLoop eventually hopes to make money by charging the paid consultants in its network a fee. But it does not guarantee that they are effective or honest, and merely relies on the ratings of others who have used them. It is theoretically possible for such a person to steal your data or plant malware on your computer.

Source: http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20080929/ARTICLE/809290302/2413/BUSINESS?Title=New_product_helps_you_assist_other_computer_users_from_afar

Direct Connect Computer Troubleshooters Depends on ‘Flawless’ NTRsupport to Help Grow Revenues While Delivering Superior Quality Customer Support

"We chose NTRsupport for several reasons," said Amanda Duncan of Direct Connect Computer Troubleshooters. "It’s easier to use for the support technician and the client, it’s more cost effective and the level of service from NTRglobal is above and beyond what we’ve expected -- our previous provider was difficult to get in touch with.”

Duncan added, “All in all, NTRsupport is a superior tool. It’s flawless software.”

Managed service providers (MSPs), such as Direct Connect, can provide end-to-end support capabilities with NTRsupport for fast, effective help desk support and IT diagnostic assistance from anywhere at any time, reducing travel needs, increasing productivity among IT staff and employees and enhancing customer service. Using a variety of Web-based tools, including chat, remote control, VOIP and video, NTRsupport enables help desk representatives to virtually “see, reach into” and repair devices via the Internet, saving time and money while increasing productivity for IT workers and employees.

Switched to NTRsupport Because It Offers Superior Performance and Service

Direct Connect Computer Troubleshooters needed a better remote support solution to resolve the challenges faced by other franchises around the world, including:

• Connectivity, Reliability and Performance: Before NTRsupport, customers had a hard time connecting to the remote assistance software that Direct Connect was previously using. With NTRsupport, Direct Connect now enjoys consistent connectivity, reliability and performance.
• Reporting: NTRsupport’s administration and management tools offer much greater tracking capabilities than the prior solution.
• Purpose-built for 360-degree support: NTRsupport offers an end-to-end solution for remote support. It is more than a remote-access log in tool.
• Customization and Integration: NTRsupport allows a much more flexible partner solution including integration and customization.

“NTRsupport allows us to embed a button on our website to which we can direct clients when they want to use our remote service option and get problems solved as quickly as possible,” said Duncan. “From a business standpoint I can run reports using NTRsupport to ensure that we are covering the expense of the service, while providing customers with quality service and increasing our productivity.”

Added Duncan: “And listing NTRglobal as a partner on our website increases our ranks on Google. Bottom line, NTRglobal provides us with several options for service and allows us to grow. Our growth was restricted by our previous supplier. With NTRglobal we can expand our operations and make adjustments to our business model, which allows us to move toward managed services with almost a hands-free approach. As our company continues to expand, NTRglobal will be one step ahead of us.”

For MSPs worldwide, NTRglobal is a Trusted Partner

“By definition, MSPs such as Direct Connect Computer Troubleshooters serve global businesses of all sizes working on multiple platforms,” said Luis Font, CEO of NTRglobal. “The satisfaction of their customers is not only their stock in trade but ours as well. With customer satisfaction as our primary focus, we are dedicated to helping our customers around the world deliver service quality from a single source with the on-demand capabilities global businesses need today.”

source:http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20080909005362&newsLang=en

TOTAL CROSS-PLATFORM WEB COLLABORATION LAUNCHED REMOTE SUPPORT WITH YUUGUU

September, Manchester: Real-time collaboration tool Yuuguu has launched Linux support for its screen-sharing conference technology for businesses and consumers.

The launch widens the real-time collaborative technology’s support to the increasingly popular Linux platform as well as Windows and Mac.

Free to download, Yuuguu is a new real-time collaborative technology that enables secure screen sharing, instant messaging and the ability to work on the same document together in real time.

Yuuguu enables users to securely share their screen with anyone at any time on PC, Mac and Linux. The company’s powerful personal networking tool also allows you to see when colleagues or friends are online, and is the most flexible, simple and cost effective solution in the online collaboration market today.

Many businesses are becoming more concerned about their environmental impact, and effective remote conferencing can massively reduce a company’s carbon footprint, as well as travel expenses. It also means that a workforce can be more flexible and mobile, for example, current Yuuguu customers use the service for applications including remote team working, online presentations, remote support and project management.

For consumers, Yuuguu has proved a popular tool for IT support among friends and family and sharing documents without having to upload them to a website or send in an email attachment.

Founder and CEO of Yuuguu, Anish Kapoor said: “Yuuguu is designed to allow diverse groups of people to collaborate online in real time, and the launch of Linux support is just the latest step down this road. We’ve seen a huge rise in interest in Yuuguu from smaller businesses, remote contractors and freelancers as it really does put you on the same screen. It’s ideal for complex collaborations and will become a vital part of many conference calls.”

The free software is extremely simple and quick to set up and allows up to 30 people to collaborate on the same project. Revenues to support the free service are from a conference call facility, and enterprise versions of the product will be available soon with enhanced features. There are obvious benefits for SMEs as well, as no IT support or infrastructure is required to begin collaborating.

Kapoor continued: “Yuuguu is more than just screen sharing, it’s full web conferencing, allowing shared control of screen and audio. We set up the company to fill the gap between typical IM clients – which have no screen visibility and limited collaboration use – and top end enterprise-class networking tools that cost considerable sums and require qualified maintenance.”

SOURCE :http://www.sourcewire.com/releases/rel_display.php?relid=41410&hilite=

U.S. investors jump at India’s iYogi

PALO ALTO, Calif. – iYogi Technical Services Pvt. Ltd., an India-based company that provides remote computer technical support to consumers and small businesses, has secured nearly $10 million in second-round funding from a consortium of Silicon Valley venture capital firms led by SAP Ventures.

The $9.5 million investment, which iYogi announced July 24, includes funding commitments from Canaan Partners, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based firm that invests primarily in early-stage companies in the high-technology and health-care sectors; and SVB India Capital Partners, a $54 million fund based in Santa Clara, Calif. that targets Indian companies and joint-investment deals with other venture capital firms.

SAP Ventures contributed the lion’s share of the funding, though company officials declined to say how much. However, according to SAP Ventures partner Doug Higgins, the firm typically invests about $1 million to $3 million initially in any given company, with consideration given to future investments.

IYogi represents the first India-specific investment for SAP Ventures, which is close to announcing several other deals with Indian companies, according to Higgins. The Palo Alto-based firm, which is the corporate venture-capital arm of German software giant SAP AG, has traditionally invested in software and IT-services companies that it considers “innovative and disruptive.”

“At SAP Ventures, we have the luxury – a lot of opportunities – to invest in many different types of companies and countries,” he said. “That said, what attracted us to iYogi is the quality of the company and the people behind it – they are dynamic and charismatic leaders and they really impressed us.”

Higgins added that SAP Ventures could theoretically invest in a retail venture, but its focus is “anything IT-related or IT-enabled services that we can give an advantage to.”

IYogi plans to use the funding to expand into a dozen new regions worldwide, including Australia and India, by 2009, and increase the variety of services that it offers, including personal-computer recovery, anti-virus and anti-spyware programs, data back-up and computer optimization. Presently, iYogi serves customers in the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada.

Vishal Dhar, an iYogi co-founder and the current head of its operations in the United States, said the investment will allow the company to grow its business by forging partnerships with Internet service providers and other Web-based companies. “Thus far, iYogi’s primary channels for growth have been through Internet searches by our customers and what our dedicated team does in India,” Dhar said. “That will continue, but we also plan to grow our business by establishing partnerships with ISPs, and that’s what this investment will allow us to do.

“Since we launched commercially last year, our objective has been to provide direct-to-consumer and direct-to-small business technical support. It’s a more customer-centric way of serving our small customers,” he added. “This approach has worked – our business has grown to around 50,000 customers, and we expect our payroll to grow from about 450 to more than a thousand workers by the end of the year – but we also want to build a global brand, and this investment will allow us to do that.

IYogi, which was founded in May 2005 and launched in 2007, currently has about 50,000 customers – most of them located in the United States. The Gurgaon-based company, which bills itself as the “first global technical support brand based out of India,” provides personalized, remote technical support services directly to consumers and small- to medium-sized businesses via the Internet.

For a flat subscription of $120 per machine, the company offers its customers unlimited, annual technical support spanning more than 70 Windows-based desktop software applications, servers, hardware devices, printers, peripherals, routers and modems. iYogi does not currently support Macintosh computers, but Dhar said that will change in the future.

In contrast, Minneapolis-based Geek Squad Inc. – a subsidiary of electronics giant Best Buy Co., and perhaps the most easily recognizable of the various online tech-support services – charges a minimum of $69.99 for basic, online diagnostic services and a maximum of $399.99 for onsite diagnosis, repair and file backup service by a technician. And unlike iYogi, Geek Squad offers no monthly or yearly subscription plans.

In less than a year, iYogi has emerged as one of most highly rated online tech-support companies by consumers and the media alike.

According to Dhar, iYogi’s emphasis on service has enabled it to reach a customer-approval rate of 93 percent and a resolution rate of 87 percent, which are among the highest published benchmarks in the computer-support industry. Meanwhile, PC Magazine recently rated the company a “good” buy for consumers who want to save money:

“If price and availability were the only considerations, no other service could come close to iYogi. For those who know the right questions to ask and are vigilant, it can be a good deal,” the magazine stated in its July 22 issue.

The company’s focus on serving individual retail customers and small businesses represents a relatively new but fast-growing segment of the offshore-outsourcing industry. Known simply as “personal offshoring,” it includes so-called “virtual assistant” services that provide everything from professional administrative help to tutoring for schoolchildren. One enterprising company in Bangalore even advertises that it will help time-strapped Westerners with their personal chores.

Personal offshoring has become a big business, according to Evalueserve Ltd., a global market-research firm based in India with offices worldwide, and it is likely to continue growing. The company issued a report on person-to-person offshoring in April 2007 that projects the industry could be worth $2 billion by 2015, up from $250 million just two years ago.

Kurt Scherf, vice president and principal analyst at Parks Associates, a Dallas-based firm that researches the high-tech industry, predicted that as consumer technologies continue to grow more sophisticated, more and more people will seek out personal IT-support services – such as the kind that iYogi offers – to solve their most complex problems. “In primary research, we found more than one-third of consumers are willing to pay for competent and professional remote support services, and 60 percent express a strong interest in software solutions – what we refer to as ‘PC dashboards – that automate many basic PC performance enhancement and troubleshooting features, solving many PC-related problems before they are even noticed by end users,” Scherf said.