Getting fast support when it comes to your information security is important. Many of us unfortunately have been in situations where our technology needs were addressed at slow speeds. Slow support costs us money, halts productivity and can impact your accounting firm’s customer service. Our CEO Andrew Lassise discusses this topic in the latest episode of his podcast and you can read about it here as well. He covers proactive and reactive measures that can help you keep your accounting firm running when it comes to informational technology.
As always, if you need help to move from slow to fast support please fill out the form below and we will help:
When fast support matters in IT
Many of us have been in situations where we felt the pain of slow support:
- The blue screen of death long before IT is available
- Being locked out of the system for one reason or another
- A ransomware attack
- Any problem really that prevents us from getting any work done and is related to our computers or their networks
Certainly, getting a slow response time for help when we need fast support is a problem from a productivity standpoint. Sitting there and waiting for help also makes us feel less productive than we could be.
It also costs money. Think about it this way: If your firm bills $200/hour and there’s a problem that takes 4 hours to fix and 5 employees are impacted. That’s already a loss of $4,000 in billings and employee salaries were also being paid for those downtime hours. Downtime can impact customer service as “we are in the digital age and everyone wants everything fast, fast, fast,” Andrew said.
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How to get fast support for your accounting firm
It all starts with realizing the need for speed before you need it. For example, some tech support companies offer a 48-hour response time. That doesn’t sound terrible until you need it. Start with the proper service level agreement. We recommend a 30-minute response time.
Remote support for faster assistance
One way to get fast support is through remote support. Years ago, IT staff would stop by employees’ desks to fix a problem. In the remote support model the tech specialist can be located anywhere. For example, our techs are based on the East Coast of the United States and work with clients all over the country. Some examples of what remote support can do for you include…
1. Better performance
Your computer can be running slow for a variety of reasons. It’s common for there to not even be anything major wrong with the machine. All too often we see that most computers just need a tune-up. There might be a ton of old files maxing out your hard drive space. Rarely used programs might be constantly running in your system tray, eating up your computer’s resources.
Your internet connection might be to blame as well. Your computer’s performance is just one aspect of the equation. It can be in pristine condition but connected to dial-up-like speeds. That means that Google Chrome windows load slowly or even crash. Without the knowledge of what exactly is causing the slowdown, you might go out and buy a new computer thinking it will fix the issue. Having a technician in your corner who is capable of diagnosing difficult issues is a huge benefit of remote support. We will do our best to return your computer to factory-setting performance.
Read next: 31 orgs victims of ransomware – are you prepared?
2. Fix blue screen issues
Blue screens are some of the scariest things that can happen for a PC user. They often come out of nowhere and unless you feel comfortable researching the fix from the diagnostic info, it seems to happen for no good reason.
3. Remove viruses and malware
Viruses are one of the common benefits of remote support. Many only seek technical assistance once a major problem comes up. Luckily for those who sign up for our yearly service these issues are all covered. Remote support specialists can handle infections as they happen rather than letting multiple problems build up. There are many classifications of malware. Some malware is only interested in advertising to you in a very ostentatious way. Other malware wants to hold your computer for ransom and force you to pay someone anonymously via cryptocurrency.
There are countless ways for these infections to occur. Sometimes malware is acquired through email, malicious websites, or piggy-backed from other downloads. Regardless of what kind of malware it is, however, remote specialists are able to resolve it.
4. Troubleshoot
Not every computer problem is a virus or a major problem. Many of the common issues are specific settings that the customer wanted to be changed. Oftentimes these issues are resolved with a few clicks by experienced technicians.
5. Answer technical questions quickly
It’s common for our customers to ask for basic assistance questions. The trick here is as well to get them answered quickly.
6. Help wherever you are
For many years tech support was either conducted by bringing the computer into a shop or the IT department would stop by. Remote support can reach you wherever you are with your computer currently.
Read next: What accountants must know about managed services
How remote support works with us
Step One – Call us!
Call us toll-free at 844-881-7874 and speak with an United States-based, English speaking, certified technician. You will have a personalized experience focused on your needs. We have technicians available weekdays 8 a.m. – midnight and weekends 8 a.m. – 8 p.m. EST.
Step Two – Connect with us!
When you call us, you will be paired with a tech analyst suitable for your needs. Your technician will walk you through granting them access to your computer. They will connect to your computer remotely to diagnose and fix the issue. They will communicate the time frame and you have the option of remaining on the line or receiving a call back when everything is finished!
Proactive support
We have spent some time talking about reactive support. Proactive support is also important and good firms offer this in the form of monitoring.
“Suppose you didn’t know this problem exists because you didn’t have to access a program for four hours,” Andrew said. “Since we are monitoring the problem is already in our queue.”
When you need to use the program it’s already fix. It doesn’t impact your productivity.
“We have the technology now to just patch those problems,” Andrew said.
Monitoring software also can catch when a large batch of files is being changed by ransomware. Once the alert is received the right amount of files gets fixed. That’s hard – maybe impossible to catch with just human attention.
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It’s best to catch issues proactively and fix them quickly. “You don’t want clients calling you saying your email bounced back because your server was unavailable,” Andrew said. “They also probably aren’t the first ones to notice. They are just the first ones to mention.”
Proactive measures are cheaper than reactive ones as well. So the more issues we can catch before they become a problem, the better it is for your accounting firm on many levels – security, customer service and from a productivity level.
Fast support from your technology partner in a proactive and reactive way are important parts to keep your accounting firm humming along and don’t fall victim to technology problems and slow response times.
“If you can’t respond to emails, can’t access files you can’t have a business,” Andrew said. “That’s why this setup is so important.”
