The easiest way around this problem is to be sat at the computer taking a look yourself. This is great if you work in the same building (or live nearby if its a family member or friend). If your not able to get to the computer the next best step is to remote access it. If your on the same network this can easily be achieved by using any of the free VNC programs out there like Real VNC or Ultra VNC. The problem with solutions like VNC is that if you want to use them out side of the network you need to configure your router to allow connections. This can be a hassle to do, and if you have multiple machines you might want to access you need to route multiple ports. Log Me In offers one solution to this. You install an application on the target machine and then log into an account on a web page where you can access this pc from. The problem with this (and to some extent with VNC solutions) is that this requires physical access to the computer in the first place in order to install the client software. If this software isn’t there you cant connect.

For companies that are third part software suppliers installing a remote access tool on a clients computer is not a viable option. Therefore another solution is needed. Team Viewer is one answer to this problem. With Team Viewer, the technician that will be supporting computers installs a server module on to his computer.When a client needs support, they are directed to visit the Team Viewer website and click the button marked Start Customer Module. This then runs an application on there computer, when the application loads on the client machine it gives an ID number and a Password. The ID number will be the same any time TeamViewer is run on that machine however the Password changes each time. The reason for this is simple, with a changing password it means that the client has to give you access each time, removing any fears of their data being accessed without their knowledge.

Once the ID and password are entered into the technicians software they can connect to the remote computer, view/control the desktop as if they were sat at the machine. They can also transfer files across to the target machine from their own via a file transfer screen.

Log Me In do a simlar idea with there Log Me In Rescue solution, however the software is only compatable with windows machines and also it is not possible to control the desktop of a machine running Windows Vista with UAC enabled, you can only view it. Team Viewer can work on and from Mac OS and it doesnt have the same problem with UAC as Rescue does. We have recently bought a Team Viewer subscription at our office and found it to be very useful

As a finally bonus Team Viewer has a free for none commercial use version while Log Me In Rescue only has a free 15 day trial.

1. Learn, learn, learn – My first and most important piece of advice is to know what you are on about before even attempting to support something. If you are going to support something you need to know how to use it first. Learning a piece of software isn’t just about sitting and listening to someone tell you how to use it, you have to have experience of using it. Its all well and good being able to repair a corrupt file, but you need to know how to do the basics like add a user to the system as well.
2. Patience is key – So ok, you spend your time learning how things operate and you are now on a call to a customer. You are having trouble getting the customer to do what you want or tell you the exact problem. Don’t get frustrated, don’t get angry, keep your cool. Remember that the person at the other end of the phone probably doesn’t know the software as well as you. As I often point out when asked about how I know things, I get to spend all my day using the program and learning about it. Unless your software is Windows chances are the average user will get at most an hour a days use of the software.

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3. Don’t be afraid to take a break - You’ve got that typical 12:00 flasher on the phone (see note at end of page). You are struggling to get across to them what you need them to do, or to get out of them what you need to know. You are going round in circles covering the same points that the client cant grasp. Take a break, find a reason to put the client on hold for a moment. Say you have to confer with a colleague or something. Anything so long as you can put them on hold. When dealing with a frustrating customer it can be hard to thing, hard to find a way around the problem. Getting a break for a few moments might just give you that chance to refresh your brain and approach the problem from another angle. At the very least you can blow off some steam (although be completely sure they are on hold before you do that).
4. Ask for help – This one is particularly useful for newbies. Theres a good chance you wont know everything about a software package. But chances are the bits you don’t know will be known to someone else in your office. Never be afraid to put the client on hold while you really do confer with a colleague.
5. Know your surroundings – Whatever software you are supporting will probably run on some kind of OS, similarly it will also have other programs that it interfaces (for instance I deal primarily with time and attendance softwares, we interface with payroll packages). If you are going to support your product well you at least need a basic understanding of how these other products work/interface with your software, i.e. supporting a Windows app you should at least know the basics of Windows operating system.
6. Keep good records – When dealing with support you will find the same problems come up again and again. Keep records of this for two reasons. One if it was a hard problem to fix the previous solution may well provide pointers. The other reason is that if you see that the same query coming up time and again for multiple users it might be something to suggest gets added or update in the help files.
7. Remember to unwind between calls – Its a fact of life that when doing support there are going to be times when you have a particularly hard support call to deal with. This call will wind you up and frustrate you. Either because you cant fix it or the client is just annoying. Once a call is finished with, you need to drop those feelings though, you cant carry them on into the next call or else you will just make that one as bad.
8. Keep the client informed - Problems arent always easy to fix. Sometimes they take time to complete. Now in an idea world clients would be patient and wait for you to find a fix with out getting frustrated themselves. This isn’t an ideal world. If you don’t keep the client up to informed they will wonder whats going on and get frustrated. Regular contact is the way to go. Call the client back with updates. If the problem will take a while to fix give them progress updates every couple of days. Keeping them informed will mean less frustration all day round.
9. Find a stress relief – Support is stressful. A lot of people don’t realise just how stessful it can be when looking in from the outside. Stress is no good for you, you need to find ways to release it. The best way is to find a hobby out side of work to get ride of it. One of the best I’ve found is working out at the gym. Take the stress and all the annoying things and use them as motivation to train harder at the gym. Pump your self up on your anger. It keeps you sane and it keeps you fit. I used to find kickboxing was good too, you could imagine the pads where a particularly annoying customer!
10. Get a remote support tool – The hardest part about support can be having to give the customer instructions while having no way of knowing if they are following them correctly or not. Relying on the customer to give you an accurate description can be annoying as well. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could see their screen remotely, even take control. Thats were a remote support tool comes in to it’s own. There are few out there, I have tried Log Me In Rescue and Team Viewer both of which are pretty good as remote support tools go. They both give you remote access and control of a clients pc with out installing software on them first. Both allow you to transfer files between your pc and the clients. Team Viewer has the advantage that it runs on both Mac OS and Windows, while Log Me In Rescue is Windows only. Team Viewer also has a free for non commercial use version that is useful for the support person looking after his family. Where LGMIR comes into it’s own though is the ability to reboot a client machine and have LGMIR reopen as the machine boots back up, it can even have the client enter their log in details keeping them secure for any need to reboot, so they can leave you alone to fix the problem.

I hope some of this is useful to people that both work in and are looking to work in the support indusrty.

Note for those of you wondering what I mean by 12:00 flasher see this video which used to be part of the training for our new staff

One of the hardest things about doing IT support over the phone can be actually determining what problem the customer has encountered. Lots of people can not gasp the concept that the techie on the other end of the phone does not know every detail of the product intimately. They give vague descriptions and use terms like “thingy” and “whatyermacallit”. Not really helpful to the person on the other end of the line trying to solve their problem for them. Or the other favourite, you give them explicit instructions on where to click and they totally ignore you and click else where. I’m not going to get involved in customer bashing, there are plenty of sites out there like Clientcopia and Not Always Right out there that do that. I want to look at two ways of making this process easier.

One of the nice things about being an internal IT guy is the ability to have some kind of remote desktop viewer/control software installed like Real VNC. Saving you the hassle of having rely upon the customer who might not be computer literate, these kinds of programs allow you to view or even take control of the users PC and see for yourself exactly how it is responding to various inputs. It’s not as easy for support staff from third party software providers like me though. Most IT departments wont allow you to use there remote support structure to help a client with an issue (obviously there are exceptions to this. Usually they don’t wish to make changes to how their infrastructure is set up to allow access (i.e. port routing to allow VNC access from outside their network).

Thankfully there is a way around this, two that I have some experience with in fact. One is make by log me in, a company who’s utilities I have used for a while especially the remote desktop connection, called Log Me In Rescue and the other is an application called Team Viewer. For a while at work we have had Log Me In Rescue and have found it to be very useful but now we have also purchased a Team Viewer license.

Both provide the same basic features:

• Remotely connect to a client PC across the internet with out any pre installed software
• No need to set up any port forwarding to get past a router
• Full control of the client PC as if you were set in front of it
• File Transfer through the software

Log Me In provides a few extra features most of which a competent IT person should be able to determine from the PC by built in parts of Windows (i.e. running processes, service, etc). One extra it does provide though is the ability to have the user input their domain log in and password so that you can reboot the machine and get it to log back in with out their interaction. Useful if they go off to do something else while you fix the problem.

Team Viewer has the basics, file transfer and remote control. One advantage it does seem to have though, it works correctly under a Windows Vista PC with User Account Control enabled (Log Me In Rescue will only allow you to view the desktop under UAC). The other advantage with Team Viewer is scalability. By default both systems only allow one concurrent user of the software at a time. Both have the option to buy additional users, with Log Me In each users cost the same as the original. Team Viewer cuts the price for additionally users. Also long term costs for Team Viewer are better. Log Me In works on a yearly subscription, so each year you have to pay again. Team Viewer works on a life time license so when you buy it you can use it forever. Although upgrades to the new versions maybe chargeable.

Over all both software’s have their merits. Log Me In is good in many aspects but a lot of the extra features you pay for can be done by other means. Team Viewer is a little more basic, but it still gets the job done.

As an added bonus, Team Viewer has a version that is free for none commercial use, so if you need to remotely support a family member’s PC you can download and run it free of charge.