PlumChoice Launches Technology Services Solution
PlumChoice today announced an expansion of its portfolio with its software-as-a-service platform, Technology Services Solution (TSS).
TSS provides end-to-end technology support services. PlumChoice partners can use TSS to build, manage, and grow premium technology services businesses or augment existing technical support programs.
TSS integrates preventive, self-initiated, and technician-assisted service automation technologies to empower end users and service desk agents to better support customers at the first point of contact.
TSS includes Virtual Support Agent (VSA), a desktop application that monitors devices, proactively fixes basic issues, detects problems that require intervention, and sends user alerts, providing recommendations to assist users with resolving problems. VSA connects users to a support technician to resolve more complex technical issues.
According to Josh Goldlust, vice president of product marketing and management at PlumChoice, the VSA solution uses a series of diagnostics and knowledge bases to let customers potentially serve themselves before reaching a technical support agent.
TSS also includes the Triage and Service Portal (TASP). In conjunction with VSA, the portal delivers customer tracking and ticketing capabilities, device telemetry and changes, and an Incident Automation Library to initiate service automation. TASP does not require remote control access to deliver support services.
The VSA and TASP applications together can look up information about the caller's problem and deliver all the relevant information to the agent prior to picking up the call. Intelligent routing insures that the call is routed to the agent with the right skill set to handle that particular technical support issue. "It informs the agent what's happening with the device and how it's being used," Goldlust says. "The customer can have one interaction with technical support rather than having multiple hand-offs."
The TSS platform "has a diverse set of capabilities," Goldlust states.
And by offering it via a SaaS-based model, PlumChoice insures that all applications and knowledge bases are updated dynamically, Goldlust maintains. "It's a single solution that's hosted and managed," he says.
TSS is ideally suited to telephone and Internet service providers, hardware and software manufacturers, business process outsourcers, and other technology providers with high call volumes, Goldlust says, pointing out that password resets are a big use case for the product. He also notes that TSS is geared primarily toward midsized to larger businesses with many customer interactions.
PlumChoice partner NEW Customer Service Cos., a provider of extended service plans and product protection programs, selected TSS as its technology services solution. Tim Smith, director of product development at NEW, said, "Our research of premium tech support platforms focused on solutions that would allow our customer care team to operate at peak performance while delivering a seamless, unmatched industry experience to our end users. With the increasing number of connected devices in the home and consumer demand for support, we saw opportunities for our partners and wanted a way to take our tech support to a new level. Partnering with PlumChoice did just that. Their customer-centric platform innovations and proven leadership in the industry allow us to deliver a one-call-does-it-all service experience resulting in complete customer satisfaction."
"TSS is a game-changer," said Ted Werth, chief strategy officer at PlumChoice, in a statement. "Smart devices, mobile and wireless capabilities, and interconnected digital entertainment products have transformed the way consumers live and work, but the support infrastructure hasn't kept up with new demands. With TSS, companies can create and manage successful technology services businesses to meet that demand."