Agentix offers telephone, e-mail, chat, and desktop sharing support, all integrated through a single online interface.

by Jeff Goldman [June 20, 2003]

Note: We cannot confirm this company still exists.

Agentix Solutions, Inc. was founded in 2001 as an offshoot of the Internet-based support provider, PCSupport.com. According to Agentix's co-founder, Ron Smouter, time and money eventually caught up with PCSupport.com, and most of its assets were picked up by Voyus. In the meantime, however, Agentix had already been created to focus on the ISP space.

Smouter started with PCSupport.com in the late '90s, but he says the basic principles behind ISP support have remained the same over the past few years. "The best solution is the one that can get users technical support when they need it, whether that's by e-mail, chat, or telephone," he said. "It's still the basic support services that are going to win the battle."

Agentix Solutions, Inc. Voice: (888) 365-DESK info@agentix.com

These days, Smouter says, affinity groups and VISPs provide some of the best customers for outsourced tech support companies like Agentix. "We see some of our growth, certainly in the future, with VISP-type providers who are looking to market an ISP service to an affinity group, where the VISP is looking for a completely outsourced solution," he said.

One of Agentix's key assets is the MyHelpDesk application, which was originally developed at PCSupport.com. MyHelpDesk provides a fully branded user interface through which an ISP's customers can get help using e-mail, online chat, an online knowledge base, or a desktop sharing solution that allows a technician to access the customer's desktop directly.

Smouter says MyHelpDesk has been a strong differentiator for Agentix's offering. "Most of the other providers in our space are currently offering e-mail support, and a few of them are offering chat support, but I don't think that any of them have been to roll it all together into a nice, neat user interface like we have with MyHelpDesk," he said.

Centralized management tools
Still, the most important factor in any call center is the technician sitting behind the desk, and Smouter says the skills of Agentix's techs are crucial to its offering. "There are a lot of call centers out there that hire people for eight to ten bucks an hour: college students looking for a part time job," he said. "We hire guys coming out of college with a year or two of tech support experience under their belts already."

That means the techs cost more, but Smouter says, the breadth of its offering requires advanced skills. "We're providing support for warranty folks, for corporate IT folks, for wireless in hotels," he said. "Our agents have to be familiar with a wide range of technologies, from wireless to networking to a little bit of hardware and a lot of software."

Agentix offers support in both French and English, with a standard SLA promising 80 percent of calls will be answered in 60 seconds. All agreements, however, are flexible. "We customize SLAs for any of our customers who need specific call answer times," Smouter said.

In addition to its online customer interface, the MyHelpDesk application provides extensive reporting and management for the ISP. "They can access the administrative interface and pick from six different reports in real time, look at escalations, manage their users, add and delete users in our database, and they can view case details," Smouter said.

Two pricing models are available: per-subscriber and per-minute/per-incident. The latter two are combined, Smouter says, because support can be accessed through e-mail, chat, and desktop sharing, as well as over the telephone. "It would be ambiguous to talk about that on a per-minute basis," Smouter said. "When you do an e-mail support action, how do you time it?"

Responding to challenges
Peter Frischknecht is Product Manager for Empowering Solutions, a company that installs and manages broadband services for apartment buildings and college dormitories. In addition to providing Internet access, the company also uses its broadband network to deliver messages to tenants, either through their computers or through a separate box installed in each unit.

Because the company manages properties in different states, communicating with customers is a big challenge. "It takes a long time to get a good reputation, and it only takes a couple of angry residents to destroy it," Frischknecht said. "No matter how hard we try to foolproof the network, there's always something that can go wrong—and it always goes wrong at three o'clock in the morning."

As a result, Empowering Solutions began looking for an outsourced call center last spring. Frischknecht says he eventually settled on Agentix because of the company's ordered approach to the business of customer support. "They have a very solid technical background, and they work in a very systematic manner," he said.

Another key factor was the approach that Agentix took to the prospect of working with Empowering Solutions. "They told me that they wanted more than just a partnership, that they wanted to be an extension of my company," Frischknecht said. "They really wanted to work in concert with my company, understanding my problems and relating to my customers."

Because many of Empowering Solutions' properties are college dormitories, its business is very seasonal. "For most months of the year, we don't get many support calls," Frischknecht said. "But when it's moving time, we get a lot of phone calls. We'll go from three or four phone calls a day to 40 to 50 phone calls an hour: it's a huge difference."

The first time that happened while the company was working with Agentix, Frischknecht says, he was impressed by the efficiency of their response. "Even though we had some warning, we didn't realize how many people would call," he said. "And they compensated: they were able to bring people in immediately so they could handle the call volume."

"They're really a superb company," Frischknecht said. "I've recommended them to several other companies in different industries, and I would have no reservations about recommending them to anyone."

— End

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	[Jan. 22, 2001]	When Your Help Desk is Distant
	[June 2, 2000]	Building an ISP Business Plan Part 4: Operating & Organizational Plans