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According to recent research by ServiceXRG, the top two self-service resources used by customers are knowledgebases (used by 42%) and downloadable updates and patches (34.9%). The same resources were named as the two categories users find most effective, with knowledgebases and updates/patches both cited by 38.8% of respondents.

Sweeny contends that service organizations allocate a disproportionate level of resources to delivering content through one-to-one channels vs. creating content for self-services — despite the fact that such labors remain one of the “low-hanging fruits” of support. Even with self-service making such strides, he says, many support organizations still have the model where “one rep is fielding 30 phone calls daily on the same simple subject. It’s grossly inefficient when this doesn’t get captured and pulled into a knowledge repository.”

The support industry has laid the infrastructure for delivering information via self-service channels and has driven early behavior transformation among customers. Now, businesses need to develop the feedback loops that will let them continue to build on early successes.

Far and Away

Building good self-service content is a major piece of a service portfolio, but service organizations need tested escalation processes and technologies in place for assisted support should a user not find what they’re looking for. For some companies, telephony-based escalation options still make the most sense, but more and more businesses rely on such options as email and chat. Increasingly, support organizations are adopting remote tools that allow technicians to view an end user device and applications over the Internet, diagnose problems, and take control to fix them.

Though companies have employed remote connectivity solutions for some time, says Matt Healey, an analyst with IDC, recent growth trends stem from the adoptionof clientless solutions, which allow for Web-based support to be delivered without the need for the end user to download software.

“With no preinstalled software on [the client] machine, you just need an Internet connection. It opens up this tool that has been pretty well-received in enterprise scenarios for the internal help desk, where IT can control the image that goes on the PC and ensure everything’s installed and running correctly. It takes that functionality and opens it to the uncontrolled world,” says Healey.

A recent IDC study highlights the growing adoption rate. The research firm expects the worldwide market for clientless remote support services tools to increase from $126.1 million in 2007 to $335.7 million in 2012 — a CAGR of 21.6%.

According to Healey, the clientless remote support market breaks down into three primary use cases:

• Technology companies supporting their own customers: This group represents the largest user segment for clientless remote support software, representing $63 million of current total revenues.
• Service providers/outsourcers supporting customers.
• Enterprise service desks supporting employees: This group represents the fastest-growing user segment for clientless remote support software, projected to have a CAGR of 35% over the next five years.

Consider Yourself at Home

A strong driver for the uptake of clientless tools in the enterprise is the increasingly distributed nature of the workforce, says Healey. These can be non-IT workers, or IT professionals themselves, who in turn may be using clientless remote support tools to support customers or employees.

“Most organizations have telecommuters, remote branches without dedicated IT support, or traveling road warriors,” he says. “Each of these may have trouble getting to the VPN, or may not have high-bandwidth connections. Any type of tool that helps those employees not on campus becomes powerful.”

Remote support applications such as cobrowsing, remote control, and file transfer are indeed on the cusp of a significant adoption cycle, according to Keith Dawson, an analyst with Frost & Sullivan.

“Remote support options are just at the beginning of the deployment cycle and will soon be adopted en masse. There’s a window of opportunity for companies to deploy these very quickly now and gain a certain competitive advantage,” says Dawson.

The security issues and user concerns that thwarted early adoption no longer exist, Dawson continues. “Sometimes it takes a larger institutional deployment, with a big security stamp on it that says ‘IT-endorsed,’ to make a product more accepted,” he says. “People have become accustomed to remote support as employees who’ve seen their IT guys take over their machines. Therefore, as customers, they’re much more at ease with a tech support person taking over their machines remotely.”

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