Softline Pastel, South Africa’s leading provider of SME accounting and business solutions, is launching GoToAssist, an application that allows support staff to remotely take control of customers’ computers, to resolve any complicated support queries they may have while using the accounting software. 

Pastel is the first South African accounting software firm to offer a remote support service like this.

GoToAssist is a product from Citrix Systems Inc. – world leaders in application delivery infrastructure – that allows a contact centre agent to see what’s happening on a customer’s screen, and remotely resolve the problem.

Customers are emailed a hyperlink from which they can download the GoToAssist utility in a matter of seconds. Once the utility has been installed, the call centre agent will have access to their computer. A pop-up warning reminds customers to close any confidential documents.

“The beauty of the product is that it takes the guesswork out of resolving a customer’s query,” says Steven Cohen, managing director of Softline Pastel. “Because our support staff can see everything that’s happening on the screen, they are able to resolve the call in a much shorter timeframe – allowing the customer to get back to their work sooner.”

The GoToAssist utility is completely secure, and once the session has been closed, the agent cannot regain control of the customer’s computer. The Pastel call centre also saves a video for review and for coaching agents.

GoToAssist is available to Cover customers – subscribers to Pastel’s support service. It has been bundled with the 2009 Pastel Upgrade at no extra charge to Cover customers. There are no specific hardware requirements, although the Utility will only work on ADSL – it will not work on dial-up.

Pastel Cover is a voluntary support plan that offers unlimited telephonic and email support, free software upgrades, magazines and regular newsletters focusing on support, tips and tricks for the Pastel customer. Support is delivered from an award-winning call centre, where 145 agents take over 50 000 calls a month.

Tags: Softline Pastel