5 Remote Support Features IT Needs to Support a Hybrid Workforce
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There are hundreds of different options when it comes to choosing remote support software, and deciding exactly what’s right for your hybrid team can be a challenge. What features are the most important? How do you know which feature will work best for your hybrid team?
In this article, we’ll break down five of the best remote support features that help IT teams support a remote or hybrid workforce.
1. Attended and Unattended Support for a Large Variety of Devices
Modern businesses often have a nice mix of devices, ranging from point-of-sale devices to complex workstations with unique operating systems or software. The challenge for remote support teams is finding software that can manage all of those devices, regardless of the type of device or operating system. Luckily, Splashtop provides teams with remote support for a wide array of devices such as Chromebooks, Linux desktops, Mac, Android, and Windows.
In addition, Splashtop provides technicians the ability to provide both unattended and attended access. With Splashtop, IT technicians can remotely access any end user device to provide support the moment help is needed. If your support team is looking for unattended access to proactively support managed devices, even without an end user present, then Splashtop has you covered.
Julien Boissat, the technical director at Groupe Delta, stated a need to help manage his end users for a variety of devices. The team at Groupe Delta turned to Splashtop for this issue.
“My technicians just needed to invite users to get connected to their devices, and Splashtop was so easy to use that even non-technical individuals could use it,” Boissat stated. Groupe Delta was happy to support their clients with Splashtop for both attended and unattended support.
2. On-Premise Remote Access
For some industries, cloud-based software just won’t cut it in terms of security or for their individual workflows. If your organization is looking for remote access software but has stricter guidelines for how information flows within your server, consider a remote access tool with on-premises capabilities.
Industries that handle sensitive information, such as healthcare or intelligence agencies, may have on-premise requirements for any software their team chooses to use. Splashtop On-Prem is a self-hosted remote access and support solution designed to meet these security and compliance requirements. During the COVID-19 pandemic, doctors at the Sensing Clinic of Slingeland Hospital were looking for ways to monitor high-risk patient vitals while also minimizing the risk of spreading the virus.
“The Sensing Clinic needs to reduce physicians’ trips and still receive all the data,” Koen Van Dulmen, the project manager of Slingeland Hospital states. Luckily, Van Dulmen introduced Splashtop On-Prem as an option to remotely monitor patient vitals. With Splashtop On-Prem, doctors were able to monitor high-risk patients and prioritize support to the patients that needed care most urgently.
3. User and Device Management
When you’re working with several technicians, hundreds of devices, and hundreds of end users, your team’s organizational skills can make or break your workflow. Providing the ability to organize users and devices in ways that work for your support team is crucial for optimizing productivity.
A common use case would be to group specific types of devices to one technician. This is especially helpful if you have a technician who specializes in Mac computers, or one who knows the ins and outs of Android. This could also be useful for organizing devices by physical location, or based on a specific team that requires certain software.
Computer grouping is also a simple way to give certain users access to devices or software they need for their daily workflow. This is an easy way to increase security, because you’re ensuring that your end-users are only accessing the information necessary for their job performance. Anything further can introduce potential security risks.
Implementing Splashtop can help create a more scalable remote solution for those looking to introduce a remote solution. The team at Heinz Hammer GmbH identified the need to remotely manage 80 different workstations in an efficient manner. They turned to Splashtop for help.
“The easy administration and creation of groups and especially the intuitive administration and access via iPad or iPhones were the deciding facts for us to choose Splashtop,” states Jens Kernchen, communications manager at Heinz Hammer GmbH.
4. Automated Events and Configurable Alerts
Creating preventative workflow strategies can help save hours of future work for IT. This is especially useful when teams are distributed, and IT can’t physically manage devices in person. Tools like custom event notifications can help alert technicians to specific activity, such as when software is installed or uninstalled, or if a device needs updating. Custom events help the IT team prevent larger issues from occurring and minimize the amount of downtime end users experience.
Consider how this could benefit teams from the perspective of a managed service provider. Midwest PROTECH, an MSP that manages more than 1,000 devices was looking for a replacement for their complex, but expensive remote monitoring and management software. The team at Midwest PROTECH turned to Splashtop as their solution of choice.
“Splashtop really gives us the core of what we need,” states Matthew Buechler, the president and senior technical consultant of Midwest PROTECH. “Features like log alerts, CPU throttling alerts, and installed or uninstalled software alerts are big ones for us.”
5. Integrated Security Features
When multiple technicians access thousands of remote devices, security is essential not just on one device, but the entire fleet. If you’re looking for a remote access solution, one that has end-to-end encryption and other security features already integrated into the platform is essential.
Security features such as single sign-on (SSO), multi-level security, and compliance with standard laws and regulations are important factors to consider when choosing remote access software. Integrated security features help provide you with ease of mind.
The IT team at Virginia Tech College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) is responsible for supporting more than 2,200 devices across 140 different sites, and the team knew security was of utmost importance to them.
“We like that you can force two-factor authentication across all your technicians,” states Edward O’Dell, the IT support specialist at Virginia Tech. “If you just leave the accounts open without two-factor verification and someone happens to get in, then they have access to every single machine loaded in your system.”
Manage Remote Devices With Ease
Your IT support team's organization is directly correlated with your workforce’s success. Whether you’re working remotely or in the office, your support team needs to be able to access and manage devices quickly to reduce downtime. Splashtop has many different capabilities to help create more efficient workflows for IT teams while still maintaining thousands of devices.
Interested in learning about how Splashtop can help support your hybrid IT team? Try Splashtop Enterprise today.
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