Redefining Service and Support with Remote Management

As a great man once said, “The times they are a changin” This statement could not be more accurate in depicting the world we live in today.  We live in a communication age where information is easily accessible and can be transmitted instantly through connected devices. Gone are the days where news feeds and reports are broadcasted over regular television. Other forms of media have staked their claim in defining how information is displayed and communicated.  Nowadays, breaking news feeds are available in full video on YouTube rather than the morning news.

People expect businesses to be connected to the internet, to the cloud, to your suppliers, across all divisions etc.  When IT uptime of 99.999% is average, device downtime is no longer tolerated. Customers demand fast, effective, even proactive service and support. In many industries, customers expect everyone else to take on more responsibility for the routine operation and performance of the systems that they have sold or leased to them—the same applies to third-party systems.

Within many companies, service and support organizations need to deploy costly global service personnel to support a global customer base. They are charged with delivering improved productivity to support continually increasing numbers of products and locations with the same sized staff. They are under pressure to reduce costs, while meeting higher expectations. Many companies in various industries are successfully achieving these goals through a new generation of high-value, on-demand remote management software solutions.

Remote Network Management enables:

-Product manufacturers to provide a new generation of high-value remote services

-Service companies’ tools to become proactive and increase efficiency and provides operators and location owners’ ways to reduce costs and measure performance in real time.

Businesses can maximize the value of the products they sell through services that increase uptime, streamline operations, and reduce cost of ownership. Companies benefit from increased revenue through product differentiation and higher value service contracts—all delivered at lower cost through remote management.

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Avoiding Analysis Paralysis: How M2M Solutions Can Bridge the Information Gap

The data that is handled by most business organizations these days can be classified into two major categories. There is structured data, which is organized around a common trait and is often neatly stored in databases. This data can be accessed, updated and manipulated by different means, all the while leaving the structure intact. Unstructured data, on the other hand, can be found in email messages, hard-copy documents, voice messages, handwritten notes and other sources.

For all the efforts that modern enterprises have undertaken towards paperless offices and cloud computing solutions which centralize data, such as Software as a Service (SaaS) and centralized document repositories, efficient data management is still a complex matter to handle. Businesses are producing more information than ever. The different methods of capturing data often do not add up to a silver bullet solution that lets employees know exactly where all the information is contained.

The Value of Information Management

Internet search engines like Google grew out of clear necessities to organize and retrieve the growing amounts of electronic data the Internet brought along. For the business enterprise, it’s not only a matter of finding information, but also being able to know exactly what happens to that information after an action has been completed. For example, when it comes to deleting sensitive information from a database, a business wants to ensure that no other version of the deleted data, structured or otherwise, resides or exists elsewhere.

If the record resides in a hard-copy document that a customer presented, then the record still exists in an unstructured data format. The concern that lingers over this failure to delete all data instances can lead to analysis paralysis, whereby a business can never make sure they’re getting the entire story, based on incomplete or unorganized data.

Avoiding Analysis Paralysis with Machine-to-Machine (M2M) Protocols

An M2M solution based approach to information management can lessen analysis paralysis considerably. Unstructured data can be converted to structured data by machines and software applications, which communicate with each other in a common data format determined by the enterprise. Through endpoint management, remote machines can handle the process of extracting data from unstructured sources and sending it to a single structured database where it can then be indexed for future retrieval. This method of collecting data is much simpler and effective in defeating analysis paralysis by ensuring all sources are accounted for, and properly or effectively reporting data to the right sources, in a pre-determined format. When employees retrieve this information, it is now organized, consistent and thoroughly collected.

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Will M2M Exceed Social Networking?

Machine-to-machine (M2M) technology is bound to become one of the most talked-about advances in the future of computer networking and telecommunications. Given some of the parallels that can be drawn between M2M and online social networking, it is not too far-fetched to think about M2M one day becoming as ubiquitous as social media is today.

Fundamental Parallels Between M2M and Social Media

User profiles have always been the driving force behind online social networking. Everything that is meaningful and essential to the social media experience is contained in a user profile. Looking back to the early days of social media, a profile was a little more than a simple online record. A Facebook profile these days is a lot more complex and capable of accomplishing a lot more. The new Timeline profiles, for example, are highly interactive in the sense that they organize information chronologically, display media, track physical locations and user movements, link to other profiles, and allow control of the flow of information.

In terms of M2M, the online virtual presence of a physical device is similar in function to a social media profile. Online social networks offer different Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) that allow third-party developers to create apps to improve the social media experience or address a specific need. In a very similar fashion, the publisher or administrator of a device’s virtual online presence can release an API for developers to create apps for other devices to connect and interact with each other. An example can be a wind gauge that collects and broadcasts data online. The wind gauge’s API can be used by developers who can enable communications with similar weather measurement devices with virtual presences.

Social M2M

Social media is a network effect. With regards to M2M, the fundamentals of social media can be applied to the way that devices interact with each other, as well as with social networks made up of individuals. The idea is to take the best practices of social media, particularly as they relate to business models, and implement them to M2M in a collaborative fashion. Some of the ideas behind the social M2M concept date back to 1982 when Carnegie Mellon University announced that its Computer Science Department had successfully connected a Coke vending machine to the Internet. The University of Bradford in West Yorkshire keeps a number of web-connected telescopes and other instruments.

With social M2M, Coke machines and telescopes would have more meaningful virtual presences, since they would have unique profiles, publish blogs, share -rather than merely display- data and files, and more. Social M2M is a truly untapped market, and considering the number of devices around, it could easily exceed online social networking in terms of scope over the next few years.

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The Benefits and Challenges Facing M2M

Before diving into how M2M can help your business achieve greater efficiency and optimize performance – Let’s first identify what Machine-to-Machine (M2M) really is all about. The M2M market has somewhat flown under the radar over the past few years, however this will quickly change! So you may be wondering – Why all the fuss about M2M? Well let me tell you. By incorporating M2M solutions into your business, not only can it help ensure that your business operates smoother, safer, and smarter; but ultimately your business will realize positive results in the long run.

M2M is all about bridging the communication gap by connecting people, networks, and everyday objects while interpreting data that can be acted upon in a timely manner. By utilizing connected products, businesses can create what is often referred to as “super apps” that not only provide additional value to the product, but also opens the window for the creation of solutions that are capable of providing interactions with many connected products. As M2M continues its evolution into the mass market, more and more products will become hubs for massive activity.

However, that is not to say that adding M2M solutions to your business does not come with its share of risks – cost, training, and employee concerns, combined with the staggering economy are potential factors that may cause concerns in the adoption of M2M technology.

Perhaps the greatest challenge facing the M2M sector to date is complexity, according to Olivier Beaujard; group VP of market development for Sierra Wireless. He argues that there is a lot of complexity among various value-chains ranging from segment-specific technology requirements to service pricing. Therefore, reducing complexity will benefit everyone in the value chain and is the key to unlocking growth according to Beaujard.

Enabling remote and/or mobile machines to communicate with a central server environment using M2M technology has many benefits:

• Operational – improving the level of automation and consequently the efficiency and control of resources reduces operational expenses
• Quality – advance service quality by minimization of failures, shorter response times and an improved security level
• Decision-making – gathering data from remote assets near in time enables smarter and better informed decision-making
• Environmental –monitoring and control all over the business processes anytime and anywhere internet access is available
• Financial – new service-based offerings can provide new sources of revenue

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Remote Network Monitoring Software: What Your Software Should Do for You

Time is an expensive commodity, too expensive to waste with downtime and technical issues that hurt your end-users’ bottom line. Remote network monitoring and management software is the key factor in resolving and avoiding technical issues, while keeping your end-users happy, your technicians productive and your resolution times and service delivery costs at an all-time low.

IT professionals cannot realistically or efficiently audit all critical services spread over a large geographic area at once. Those who try are reactive in their response, dealing with issues once the damage has already been done. The leading remote network management software solutions offer an automated bird’s eye view of your network, allowing user-defined alerts to notify when specified thresholds are reached. IT administrators are then given an opportunity to remedy concerns before they result in costly downtime for your end-users.

Operational costs are lower with the leading software solutions, which offer improved intelligence reports on your network status. With these quality reports, maintenance can be scheduled appropriately, both routinely and when needed. Unnecessary travel to check-up on devices or network issues due to neglected maintenance work are subsequently avoided.

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You should also expect your remote network management solution to do the following:

• Offer constant monitoring of email servers and web servers, as well as other network or web-based services.
• Notify your IT professional when critical servers go down, when end users modify hardware or when a potential security threat occurs.
• Test network and Internet connections using a ping command.
• Test DNS, SMTP, POP or HTTP services.
• Automate commonly performed tasks.

Remote monitoring should also provide IT administrators with the appropriate tools to monitor any network device through a centralized and secure web-based portal, offering detailed reports with critical insight into the performance and reliability of your network devices within an accessible interface. While detailed data helps your team understand the status of your network, your network monitoring software solution should be intuitive and easy to understand. Complicated and unclear systems mean expensive team training, not to mention the likelihood of improper usage and system failure if your staff has not been properly trained.

A proactive approach to monitoring your network is the most efficient method to increase your uptime levels and attract a larger customer base, while keeping your existing clients happy.  A full-featured remote network management solution is a necessary tool to help your business succeed.

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The Emergence of Remote Management – Today’s Future

Remember the good old days when you had to get off your couch, walk across the room, adjust the channel antenna then walk back to your couch? Neither do I. The simple nuisance of this task led to the invention of television remotes, and now today you and I can enjoy the luxury of watching T.V. from the comfort of our Lazy-Boy. Similarly, is the daunting chore of having to wake up in the middle of the night to restart a server from its centralized location. Television relied on its dependence on the remote solution as a means of server management. Remote management can be viewed in the same vain. Maintaining your server and its accompanying endpoint devices is no longer fruition, but rather we need to embrace the realization.

There, has been a massive influx in software over the past few years capable of monitoring everything, which includes running services on your desktop or server, disk space, and data analysis. Enter the age of remote management, where any software running on any connected device on a network connection can be monitored. All that is required is a client installed on a machine that reports back to a centralized server, device, or website that will provide notifications on the status of the machine and the necessary actions to take.

Esprida Corporation has been utilizing this technology and has been pioneer in remote management for the past decade. Our LiveControl platform enables users to monitoring each device from a remote location. The Esprida platform is able to diagnose user data for each deployed device, generate comprehensive reports, and take the appropriate actions needed to rectify the initial problem. By deploying Esprida’s solutions, customers are able to decrease service costs, in addition to eliminating operational and hosting costs.

Remote management technology has altered the landscape of business management. It is no longer the future, it has become reality!

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Leveraging Remote Management Solutions to Enable Proactive Customer Service

Businesses today require both ‘out-of-the-box’ thinking and proactivity when it comes to customer support. Where a basic-level of customer service may have worked in the past, competitive businesses require a more comprehensive form of customer service that engages the customer, ideally encountering issues before they turn into customer service problems as a means to differentiating them from their competitors.

What is Proactive Customer Service?

Having a proactive stance at the highest-level means companies understand potential issues surrounding their products and services and then taking care to avoid these issues at all cost by proactively mitigating risk. There are multiple levels of customer service proactivity ranging from reactionary to avoidance. It is best explained in the following example of dealing with a customer whose flight was cancelled as described by Bruce Temkin at Customer Experience Matters.

A customer arrives at an airport to discover his/her flight is cancelled and cannot find anyone to help remedy the situation. This encompasses the first level: Ignore. The second level, React, is achieved when at the airport; a service representative helps the customer find a new flight. At the Alert level, the airline sends the customer a message informing her of the flight cancellation prior to her airport arrival, while the Self-Heal level also sends alternative options to help the customer reimagine and/or reorganize her itinerary in addition to an alert. Pre-empt suggests the airline would alert the customer of the cancellation, while also proactively booking a few alternative seats on related flights that fit her existing itinerary. Furthermore, if an overnight stay is required the airline books a hotel room. At the final level, Avoid, the airline finds a way to keep the customer’s original flight time and arrangements on-track regardless of the circumstance.

The Tools for Proactive Customer Service

In order to properly implement proactive customer service, a company must have a significant understanding of how their customer base uses their products and services, as well as any potential hiccups that could arise throughout the process.  With this in mind, proper monitoring equipment and software solutions can go a long way in keeping your customer base satisfied. Remote monitoring systems, such as the Esprida platform can monitor, manage and report on remote deployments and content in real-time. For instance, flight delays can be quickly monitored, customer lists managed and service agents alerted to any issues that arise. Software applications running on Esprida LiveControl can provide up-to-date status information to customers, informing them of service delays or inventory shortages at the React, Alert and Self-Heal levels. At the Pre-Empt and Avoid levels, customer service agents can monitor systems: replenishing and maintaining proper inventory levels to prevent shortages, for example, and thereby avoid potential issues before they have any chance of affecting customers.

In competitive markets, where customer retention is key, companies should be aiming for the top tier levels of proactivity. Proper monitoring systems, which manage and report in real-time are key components of a proactive customer support strategy.

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Customer Experience and Application Enablement Principles to Machine-Based Solutions

One of the most exciting trends of automation in the telecommunication arena is the integration of machine-to-machine (M2M) technology. With billions of smartphones, tablet computers and other devices,which will be dependent on powerful wireless broadband expected to come online in the next few years, M2M solutions will be a sensible option for promoting efficiency and functionality to providers of services such as video surveillance, managed services, patient monitoring,and cloud computing.

At its most basic level, M2M technology allows devices to communicate with other devices or with networks to accomplish certain functions. A more advanced function resides in the application enablement approach. Under this concept, a network packages access to its features and capabilities into application programming interfaces (APIs). These APIs allow third-party developers to make good use of the network by fostering innovation and increasing its value. Application enablement makes M2M attractive to end-users because the third-party developers have an inherent interest in providing a positive customer experience. After all, many end consumers are driven to choosing an intelligent device -such as a smartphone -over another because of the quantity and quality of apps available.

The business model resulting from M2M applications brings about a situation in which customer experience principles must be applied. Service issues will arise, as they always do, and the end consumer will look to the network operator for solutions. This is why customer experience must be managed in environments where the operator is central to the operation of the network. Under this model, the operator has a high degree of control: it provides the data, the development environment and the retail platform – like an application marketplace. Regardless of whether the end-consumer is an enterprise or an individual, a certain level of customer relationship management is expected. Just because machines are communicating with each other does not imply that the network’s brand or reputation should be neglected.

While operating an application-driven M2M network may sound tempting due to the return-on-investment (ROI) opportunities available, network congestion is an unpredictable factor that is sure to dampen the spirits of operators. To ensure that critical issues such as congestion do not threaten customer satisfaction, service-level agreements (SLAs) must be in place. For an SLA to be considered adequate for a M2M business, it must guarantee proper network connectivity, coverage and quality of service. The SLA must ensure that the network is analyzed and optimized to prevent congestion, and it must be prepared to address the needs of customers. Remote network monitoring solutions are key to offering a solid SLA. Properly devised SLAs will become key differentiators for M2M businesses moving forward, and should be included in your future considerations.

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Print Media Makes Room For Digital Signage

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