Remote support software is more important today than it's ever been, especially as a key enabler of hybrid and flexible work models. What is remote support software? It's technology that IT teams can leverage to immediately solve end users’ technical issues. These tools not only keep employees productive wherever they’re working, but also enhance employee experience in a WFA (work from anywhere) world.
As hybrid work continues to predominate today and into the future, small and midsize businesses (SMBs) need to raise their remote support game and provide their IT teams with the right tools to support their workforce — no matter where people work.
Remote Support Software: Driving the Employee Experience and Company Productivity
As the Great Resignation has proven, employees are willing and able to leave organizations that don't offer flexible and hybrid work options. Offering work flexibility and enhancing employee experience have now become mission-critical for all companies striving to retain their talent while competing to hire new talent. According to Gartner, 83% of employees say they’re more likely to stay at their current company if they’re allowed to work flexibly. SMBs that don’t offer employees a consistent, high-quality support experience for remote/hybrid work will be at a significant competitive disadvantage when it comes to retaining and hiring talent.
What is remote IT support? The answer goes far beyond "just" having a trained IT team and the right remote support software to provide support. Remote support is also an increasingly important driver of the employee experience for organizations of all sizes as the vast majority of employees (over 80%, according to Gallup) want to work remotely all or some of the time. They want a frictionless workday, wherever they are working, and if they run into technical issues, their productivity and level of engagement will suffer for it. Organizations that are able to solve these issues swiftly and seamlessly can ultimately see better employee satisfaction and retention rates.
What is Remote Support? Driving the Agent Experience
Retaining and hiring IT talent is always a challenge. Help desk staffing and agent engagement levels are significantly impacted by the quality of the remote support software your team deploys. When you give your team insufficient and inadequate tools, they’re likely to struggle to meet your KPIs no matter how hardworking or well-trained they are. Worst of all, they may even leave your IT team for companies that empower them with better support tools.
A major success factor for remote support software is its ease of use for your IT help desk agents as they provide remote support to end users. When you give them the right tools, they can solve issues with ease and speed, boosting agent satisfaction as they boost user satisfaction – a win-win.
7 Must-Haves for Remote Support Software
What remote support capabilities are most important for your SMB?
- Easy to implement and even easier to use for everyone on your IT team.
- Allow for a “right fit” support experience so agents can choose the best solution to resolve issues fast. Agents should have the option of using remote view for simple “show and tell” fixes, full remote control when they need to dive deeper into the user's device to troubleshoot and solve the problem, or camera sharing to see physical spaces and equipment through the end user’s mobile device camera.
- Make remote support easily accessible for agents and end users. IT support should be an integral part of everyone’s everyday workflow. Conversational ticketing moves the typical ticketing workflow into the company’s messaging system, allowing employees and agents to easily create, manage, and comment on tickets in Microsoft Teams.
- Enable agent collaboration within a support session to resolve issues quickly. Agents should be able to easily bring in senior solvers to help troubleshoot tough issues and get the end user back to work.
- Prioritize security. Look for industry-leading, government-approved protocols that deliver unbeatable security, including permission-based support, end-to-end 256-bit advanced encryption standard (AES), transport layer security (TLS), zero-trust identity-based access control, multi-factor authentication (MFA), and single sign-on (SSO).
- Consolidate frequently used IT tools. Agents don’t want a cacophony of disjointed tools that force them to toggle back and forth between tools. When remote support, remote access, remote monitoring and management (RMM), ticketing and camera sharing are all in one tool, agents can be happier and more productive.
- Cost-effective. you don't need the unlimited resources of a giant enterprise to have flexible, reliable remote support.
No matter how complex the challenges of remotely supporting a hybrid and flexible workforce, GoTo Resolve puts usability and security first. Learn how GoTo Resolve can help your SMB IT team provide great IT support for hybrid work.