Seagate Software onsite support goes virtual

Business intelligence software specialist, Seagate Software, has announced global availability of its VISIT support programme - a Web-based system offering enterprise and priority support customers, such as Vodacom and PG Glass locally, virtual on-site visits by trained technicians via secure Internet connections.

Vivek Thomas, regional manager for Seagate Software in South Africa, says VISIT is based on SupportNow technology from NetManage and offers real-time technical support solution using the Internet. "This new service is available at no additional charge and with immediate effect to Seagate Software enterprise and priority support customers as part of their existing support contract."

Jeremy Matthews, MD of local NetManage distributor, Dax Data, says SupportNow enables the support call centre to remotely view customer problems as they occur and fix them over the Web. "This means the majority of technical issues can be resolved with a single phone call."

"Customers can also record, forward and play back annotated sessions, so if a similar issue occurs again it could be solved immediately and in-house," he adds.

Thomas says Seagate Software customers have piloted VISIT globally and all have found the service to be fast, secure and productive.

Monika Nordlund, manager information development and support at Ericsson in Sweden confirms this. She says VISIT gives the company efficient new ways to get assistance from experts at Seagate Software when it is needed, cutting out unnecessary downtime.

"Not only can we handle incidents faster, we`re also getting the solution recorded in case the same issue occurs again. The software is easy to use and we are extremely comfortable with the security aspects," she notes.

Another happy customer is Russell Norman, information centre manager at Sea Containers: "VISIT will have an immediate effect in reducing the time spent on logging and detailing support calls. Queries and technical issues can now be viewed by Seagate Software online, with the customer remaining in control and in a secure environment." He expects the system to contribute measurable cost savings to Sea Containers` bottom line.

According to Matthews, the system offers advanced security features that allow privacy to be maintained throughout diagnosis and solving of technical issues. "Customer`s can control the level of access rights given to Seagate Software technicians, choosing from read only or full access functionality," he comments.

"VISIT does not compromise security at the end user organisation or at Seagate Software. Both can continue to work from behind their respective firewalls, without the need to open inbound ports."

The service is available for use with all Windows applications by installing the VISIT client, which can be downloaded from the Seagate Software Web site.

Thomas says VISIT is just another example of Seagate Software`s commitment to an ideal experience for their customers in South Africa and opens the door to a new set of support services their partners can offer locally. "The time this saves can often be crucial for enterprise customers," he concludes.

For information on all other Seagate Software technical support services, check out the Seagate Software Web site http://www.seagatesoftware.com. For information on Seagate Software products, please phone +27 11 448-1966.