Cal State University Uses WebDemo to Remotely 'Show and Tell' Tech Support Solutions to Faculty and Staff

The Situation:

California State University, San Bernardino (CSUSB) is the sole public regional university serving the Riverside and San Bernardino counties of Southern California. Founded in 1965, the University has grown considerably since its inception and now provides a national-caliber learning environment for 15,000 students as well as 1,700 faculty and staff.

In addition to its nationally accredited MBA program and a teacher preparation program that is among the country's ten largest, CSUSB offers learning tracks in computer science, geographic information and decision sciences, psychology, accounting and finance, health and public administration, and much more. Such a complex academic landscape puts tremendous strains on systems and technology-something Jeff Hicks knows all too well.

Hicks, Director of Data Center Services at the University's Information Resources and Technology (IRT) Support Center, is the person responsible for providing all the contact and support services for the school's computers and central servers. Whenever a faculty member or administrative employee has a tech support issue with a desktop PC, one of Hicks' tech support people gets the call.

"Our help desk staff is small-just three first-line and four second-line analysts," Hicks noted. "We've experienced a 40% increase in PC/Macintosh trouble calls in just the last year. With our limited budget, we felt it was essential to find a way to extend our department resources without incurring additional staff costs."

Hicks realized that help desk personnel are often called on to explain the "nuts and bolts" of PC fixes to non-technical callers. These fixes burn valuable time that could be better spent helping other users. "We began looking for software that would allow us, with user permission, to remotely 'see' and even operate the user's computer from our support center," said Hicks.

The Solution:

After seeing Converging's WebDemo Web collaboration software at a trade show in March, 2001, Hicks was sure he was on the right track. He subsequently tested collaboration and remote control software from several different manufacturers, as well as ASP (Application Service Provider) alternatives, but came back to WebDemo as the best solution.

"CSUSB is comprised of numerous autonomous departments, each with its own concerns about intellectual property loss. It's simply not feasible for the university to achieve common protocols and security configurations campus-wide," he said. "We like  WebDemo because it doesn't require a client plug-in, and works exclusively over the Internet. Our staff retains their sense of autonomy while we get the authority we need to expedite repairs."

WebDemo, the latest in Converging's Linktivity line of browser-to-browser communications and control software, is an affordable way for small-to-medium businesses and organizations to connect and collaborate over the Web. Available in Server-Based and Integrated System solutions, WebDemo allows users to easily share information in real-time over the Internet. Its uses range from e-Learning, conferencing and collaboration to e-support and remote control, assuring maximum security, stability, and data confidentiality in all configurations.

Once Mr. Hicks chose WebDemo for the University's remote help function, installation and roll-out took place quickly. Software installation took just a half-day, with another half-day for training.

"Our set-up was very, very simple, with no significant installation problems," Hicks reported. "Within a couple of days our entire staff was trained and using the system.

The Results:

Almost immediately, the support center reported an increase in the speed with which it could resolve trouble tickets. According to Mr. Hicks, even first-level tech support personnel could quickly "see" what was happening on user screens.

"Many times support personnel have difficulty understanding what university staffers see on their monitors. WebDemo lets them 'look' directly at the PC from afar, and if the user feels it's acceptable, even operate the PC remotely."

With WebDemo, the IRT Support Center has enjoyed a significant increase in help desk productivity without an increase in personnel. There has been another benefit as well-the ability to teach users how to fix their own computers over the Web.

"We find that WebDemo can actually turn a frustrating trouble call into a positive experience for our university staff," observed Hicks. "Everybody has a thirst for knowledge, and with WebDemo we can show users how to configure their PCs or fix software problems for themselves, without having to actually travel to their location."

With the advent of Ethernet cabling in student dormitories, Mr. Hicks feels confident his department will now be able to handle any increases in tech support requests. In fact, the University is weighing the advantages of extending WebDemo beyond the confines of the IRT Support Center to an entirely new use-e-Learning.

"Our director of distance learning has seen a demonstration of WebDemo, and he was very impressed. The University is considering the software as the platform not only for e-Learning at its satellite campuses, but also for its grant to train U.S. Navy personnel around the world," said Hicks. "WebDemo has the ability to interface with remote computers without creating holes in security firewalls, making it ideal for distance learning applications." 

In the eyes of Cal State's Data Center specialists, WebDemo has made a significant difference in the speed and effectiveness of help desk support. "We're very pleased with WebDemo's contribution to our quality of service," Hicks concluded. "It's capabilities simply outshine the competition."

About Linktivity
Linktivity, a 20 year-old Tucson, Arizona-based division of Converging Technologies Inc., provides server-based communications and control products that enable person-to-person interactions through a browser window. Linktivity products include WebDemo, a Web-based, real-time conferencing and collaboration software tool, and WebInteractive, a real-time software tool that gives support professionals an efficient way to manage and resolve online support requirements for personal computers. For more information, please visit www.linktivity.com.