Top 7 things to consider when selecting a remote control tool

Posted:
05/18/2017
| By: Jeff Bishop

As a technology solution provider, remote control is one of your greatest tools. It frees you from traveling to remote locations, allows you to provide services to customers faster and much more—the faster, the better. But choosing a remote control solution can be tricky. They all have slightly different features. Some charge for new releases, others don’t. Some include meeting capabilities standard, others charge for them. It’s a complicated labyrinth of options to untangle.

To help you set a comparison baseline when evaluating remote control solutions, use these seven essential features:

1. Online collaboration

Just remoting into a device is hardly enough to complete the job. Online collaboration is key. Look for a remote control solution that allows you to host meetings with an unlimited number of attendees. This will empower you to quickly pull key parties together to solve issues or present solutions to customers.

2. Compatibility and integration

Compatibility is a must. Make sure the remote control solutions you’re evaluating support Windows, Apple, Linux, Android and iOS devices. To gain even more efficiency with your new tool, it’s wise to choose one that works seamlessly with your existing business management platform (or PSA) and remote monitoring and management solution.

3. Single-pane-of-glass system visibility

Switching between several different screens is cumbersome. And it leaves the door wide open to forgetting something important—like tracking billable time or finishing a job. By putting everything into a single-pane-of-glass view, you can rest easy knowing all time worked on the remote control device will be automatically tracked and billed according to the client’s service level agreement.

4. Universal, lightning-fast connectivity

If it takes longer to connect to a client’s device than it would to actually drive to their location, that’s a huge problem. Not all remote control devices are created equal, so it’s a good idea to test them out for yourself before committing to one. The faster you can connect, the faster you can resolve issues and the happier your clients will be.

5. Ability to control machines

Being able to see what’s happening on a client device is nice, but taking control is so much better. Make sure that the remote solution you select truly allows you access, view and control your customer’s devices—regardless of whether they’re powered on or off.

6. Ability to chat with users

Often, it’s necessary to communicate with the customers while you’re taking over their device(s). They want to know what’s going on and when they can expect issues to be resolved. While you could do this over the phone or through a separate chat feature, it’s far more efficient to use a chat feature that integrates with your remote control solution and business management platform (or PSA).

Why?

Because this approach lets you do everything in one screen and capture billable time as you go—instead of switching back and forth between multiple applications, which is clunky and inefficient.

7. Ability to record sessions (Hello, HIPAA compliance)

There are any number of reasons why you might want to record a session—HIPAA compliance, training purposes, or just proof of performance. To make sure you get the most from your experience, look for a remote control tool that enables you to record sessions.

And if you really want to take things to the next level, look for a remote control solution that also integrates with your business management platform (or PSA), so those recordings are automatically captured in service ticket audit trails and time entries.

Remote control supercharges your efforts by letting you perform actions in many places at once. If you’re wondering if there’s one tool that has all the features mentioned above, the answer is yes!