Many Devices, Complexity Challenge Tech Support, Say Consumers, Experts
The role of technical support is changing amid connected homes, said Parks Associates analyst Patrice Samuels on a webcast with Emily Rickman, Support.com vice president-services sales and account management. An increasingly competitive landscape is making support a bigger priority to…
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brands, Samuels said Tuesday. Some companies let customers use smartphones for diagnostic purposes, said Rickman of Support.com, which has customers including Comcast and Staples. Cable connections with smart TVs have benefited from smartphone diagnostics, said Rickman. “Sometimes, it takes putting eyes on it. Using the camera to quickly and easily do that is by far a better customer experience than having to schedule a truck to come out to the home -- and in some cases days, later, with a four-to-five-hour window" of a consumer's day, she said. Ease of getting to a tech support agent is an area where consumers aren't satisfied, said Samuels. A start is with “self-healing” options on desktop PCs and mobile devices, said Rickman. Although data breaches have gotten attention from high-profile hacks of Home Depot, Target and others, Rickman said, “Very few customers changed their shopping habits because of them.” Customer onboarding can help overcome “inertia,” she said, providing steps people can take to improve security.