Possible project

[Chippiewill]

I am currently thinking of running some kind of low charge help desk service using secure remote assistance software, the whole idea is that users pay a couple of pounds per month which pays for software and staff to run the site. There would then be options to resell access in bulk. E.g. a web host could include it as part of their web hosting package so that if they need help with web coding then they can get the assistance they need. At first I think all software would need to be opensource or cheap but later on the ability to move up a price range would be useful and provide better options and security. Here is the prospective pricing:

What it is - Price - More details

Remote Assist - £2/£3 pm - Screen assistance via screen control
Chat assist - £1 pm - Talk to a helper
Ticket support - £4 pa - Submit a ticket for each incidence

All of the above include the one below it....

Bulk options:

Remote assist w/branding - 50p per pre bought, a further £1 for activation
Remote assist wo/branding - 50p per prebought,a further 60p for activati
Chat assist w/branding - 20p per pre, 40p for actviation
Ticket support w/branding - £2 per pre (Per year), £1 for activation

Is the pricing good?

Which software?

At first I am not sure what software we are going to use for remote assist but later on I can almost guarentee that we will use Logmein rescue.

I think about 5-10 staff per 100 people sounds about right but it does depend on which market this is targeted at. At those costs that would seem to me that staff would earn around £15 per month but they would not be needed to look at the support screen, it would send an alert when someone is requesting assistance. This is probably faster money (and more convenient) than clicking ads. This is based on:

100x £3 = £300 - £150 (for hosting and remote assistance software in future). This would also be for just first 100 users, the pay would go up as more users joined as hosting cost would be relitively spread across them.

Then there would also be adverts e.t.c. but that would probably pay for the development team who would be coding e.t.c.

I am currently looking for some free or cheap remote assist software, so if you know of any then please post it below.
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Please leave comments, suggestions and critisims

[Dentafrice]

In my opinion, this sounds stupid. You're giving people access to other people's computers (through screen control software) that probably don't have any experience whatsoever.

What's to say that "operator" won't just try to "fix" something, or "help" someone, and mess something completely up and just say "**** it" and log off.

I think in your mind, this is logical, but in a reality sense.. you are not going to be able to pull it off.. this is too big of a project for you.

Plus, these companies that provide the screen control software, are not going to like you charging for using them ;) Especially open source ones.

[Chippiewill]

A lot of open-source remote assistance software makers really dont mind if you modify and sell the same software on, so providing a service using the software seems not quite as much

[Dentafrice]

A lot of open-source remote assistance software makers really dont mind if you modify and sell the same software on, so providing a service using the software seems not quite as much
Software developers that work their ass off on developing a product, and community based developers don't want to see their work, given free, being sold again as a mediocre product that halfway works.

This isn't going to work.. give up now, it's that obvious. You have high dreams of something you're not going to be able to accomplish.

There are so many risks involved, it's not even funny.. plus your outlook on wanting to use this software commercially, is laughable. Can you say lawsuits?

I've seen really stupid ideas on this forum, but this is up there with them. Who is going to trust you with access to "fix" and "help them" on their computer, when you don't even get the laws on open-source software.

[Chippiewill]

For some reason people trust the indians who read flowcharts at dell to fix their computer....

[Dentafrice]

For some reason people trust the indians who read flowcharts at dell to fix their computer....
And those people are hired, well actually contracted out, through Dell. Dell. Not some guy sitting on an internet game forum who believes he can provide actual support through free VNC software.

No one is going to trust you, maybe your little friends from school, but no one who really needs help.

Those "indians" who help you, are actually highly trained individuals who are monitored constantly, and are constantly being introduced in training programs.

I suggest, if you want to get into this field, "The World is Flat" is a great book to introduce you to it, a very interesting book on globalization.

[RyanDOT]

And those people are hired, well actually contracted out, through Dell. Dell. Not some guy sitting on an internet game forum who believes he can provide actual support through free VNC software.

No one is going to trust you, maybe your little friends from school, but no one who really needs help.

Those "indians" who help you, are actually highly trained individuals who are monitored constantly, and are constantly being introduced in training programs.

I suggest, if you want to get into this field, "The World is Flat" is a great book to introduce you to it, a very interesting book on globalization.

Why put it in brackets? YEAH INDIA!

Looks alright but i agree with Dentafrice, that they might be unexperienced.

[Dentafrice]

Why put it in brackets? YEAH INDIA!

Looks alright but i agree with Dentafrice, that they might be unexperienced.
I don't see any brackets whatsoever in that post.

[Chippiewill]

He means the speech marks, I think it was because you were empisising on that though. Also in terms of trust of the operator there would be a loyalty system and logmein rescue contains a built in customer review system so that bad operators can be reported

[Blob]

Or the webhost can just hire people for their own support centre that they know can actually fix most of problems.

I'm not quite sure what one I would pick. :rolleyes:

[Chippiewill]

Or the webhost can just hire people for their own support centre that they know can actually fix most of problems.

I'm not quite sure what one I would pick. :rolleyes:

On small web hosts that may be difficult and the cost of screen control software is high so using a quite cheap service from another contract would be easier. Also I finally worked out how to get the price for the log me in software in pounds and under new calculations staff would be able to be paid £20 per month. Also has anyone seen the price of dells version of this?

http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/topics/topic.aspx/emea/topics/presto/pricing?c=uk&cs=ukdhs1&l=en&s=dhs

You would be paying per problem and upto £89 for onsite, rather similar to screen control fro £3 pm from the service Im planning

[Blob]

I would think that most people that can actually get on the web and buy hosting can go on support and follow step to step instructions, free of charge, with no screen control needed.

If not,

http://www.tightvnc.com/

Yum.

[Awfy]

Pointless idea, the actual software and to-do is already there. Why replicate something which is actually extremely hard to do in the first place.

It's not as easy as you're making it out to be. Clients won't understand why a support member needs to access their computer and when they do it will cause all kind of problems if anything goes wrong at the client end. You'll get blamed for any sort of viruses or spyware as that's the only reason they can see that could have caused it.

Stupid idea.