One of the most advanced (and cool) deployments of remote service software I have seen is from storage industry leader NetApp. On his blog this week, Senior Vice President of Global Support for NetApp, Rusty Walther, provides some great insight into their next generation remote service capability called the Remote Support Diagnostics Tool.

From Rusty's Blog:

"A while back, we started thinking about what our next-generation of remote support tools should look like.  We talked to a lot of customers, fully digested what worked and didn't work about our prior generation tool (SupportConsole), and also took a long, hard look at the competitive landscape.

The result was a design that embedded into every high-end controller, didn't require any new hardware, allowed the customer to determine if and when it could be accessed, had the ability to "view" everything but "change" nothing, and had Symantec-certified security characteristics to protect against any vulnerability. It had to have all those features, along with the most important one ... allowing a Technical Support Engineer to troubleshoot problems "as if" they were sitting in front of the controller, but prohibited them from ever accessing the data, changing the configuration, or disrupting file services in any way. "

Rusty goes on to describe the new features introduced by the Remote Support Diagnostics Tool, but my favorite part is the reference to the magic of the solution being powered by Axeda:

"This magic is based upon an RLM card integrated into the ONTAP operating system, with an Axeda diagnostic agent surrounded by custom code, and integrated into both our workflow and our support systems. How cool is that?"

We are continuously impressed by our customers and how they apply their expertise to Axeda technology to take customer support to new levels. Congrats to Rusty and NetApp on the launch! 

 

Earlier this week we announced that Data Innovations is using Axeda® ServiceLink to proactively support their clinical lab middleware (called Instrument Manager^TM).  Data Innovations provides a good example of how remote service software solutions are expanding beyond machines and equipment.

Service organizations supporting complex machines have a clear business case for proactive service.  Anything that can avoid a trip to the customer site represents a direct cost savings.  Software companies are a bit different.  The support model is often completely reactive - there is no support involvement until the customer calls with a problem. Support is provided from a central call center and there isn't the need or expense of putting service engineers on the road.  Software can be just as complex as any machine and just as mission-critical to the customer.  Anything that can be done to get ahead of, or even better, to avoid problems results in a benefit to both the customer and the support organization.

To help illustrate how proactive service can be applied to software support, I thought of some examples that we have seen from our customers and prospects.

1. Software Updates. A problem found at one customer can quickly ripple through the entire customer base.  The ability to remotely deliver and install updates, patches, or fixes immediately can significantly reduce the impact of a product imperfection.  The alternative is to develop the fix and then wait for your customers to have an issue - and call into the support center - one at a time.
   
2. Database Management.  There are a lot of products that have databases embedded within them.  But, customers often forget to do the necessary maintenance or administration of their system.  When they run out of table allocation space or fill up the disk, the system crashes - losing all of their critical data.  What if you could detect this danger and warn them about it in advance?  Even better, what if you could call and offer a service to provide the necessary maintenance remotely (for a fee of course)?  You not only avoid the problem, you get paid for helping your customer make better use of your product!  
   
3. Configuration. Every support engineer has experienced this scenario.  The customer calls with a problem.  You ask, "Did anything change?" "No," they reply.  Some period of troubleshooting later you discover that someone had made a configuration change that created the problem.  Argh! 
   
   Users never want to admit that they made a configuration change that has had a negative impact on the software performance.  With continuous monitoring, you could detect that configuration files had been changed.  In some cases, you may even choose to upload the files after each change so you could compare what had changed.  Or... you could even offer a service to backup and restore critical configuration files. 

Proactive support can be just as effective for mission-critical software applications as it is for machines and equipment.  It's not just for hardware anymore!