What a year. And I can’t believe it is already in the past. Many of you might agree, 2021 felt like the same year as 2020. A continual year that has presented us with new challenges, trying times, rollercoasters of uncertainty and emotions, but also moments where we’ve seen the best of humanity. My first and foremost thanks go to those that have kept our service and business running. We have such an amazing staff that genuinely care about our work-family and care for our customers. As in 2020, our remote tech support membership has provided isolated and lonely individuals, not only with resolutions to their tech issues, but also with support for their emotional issues. Many times I have overheard our technicians or customer service consoling or offering an open ear to members that feel pain or grief during these times. How can we thank our staff enough? I’d also like to thank our members. Thank you for trusting us and our services. Thank you to those that have been kind to our representatives even when you’re dealing with frustrating tech issues. These days, all workers could use a little more niceness from customers. And I’ve been told that our customers are very often very friendly and kind. We are very appreciative of that and that makes our jobs all the more worthwhile.
One of our most celebrated moments this year was achieving 50,000 subscribers on HelpCloud’s YouTube channel. Take the time to explore the channel. Aaron has done a great job creating helpful tech tips for non-digital natives but also for serious gamers. It’s not easy to create different tech tips for very different audiences. Congrats Aaron!
What is HelpCloud’s Mission?
To provide everyone with a resolution to their tech issue. Be it through HelpCloud Search or through our supplemental support services (HelpCloud Tech Support membership or HelpCloudTechnician by-the-hour).
If you’re wondering what HelpCloud is and what we do, learn more in this video.
How Much Did We Help Our Customers in 2021?
31,784 Support Cases in 2021
We created and resolved over 31,000 cases in 2021. These cases are issues that we can resolve via remote tech support via a computer or laptop, or via our mobile support services. We can connect with most devices to control and fix an issue. When it’s a hardware issue (especially printer and scanner issues) we connect with the LogMeIn RescueLens app. This allows us to view the customer issue through their smartphone camera. It’s been monumental in shifting how we help our customers with their at-home tech issues. In 2022 we will put a special focus on and continue to train our technicians how to become better at helping resolve hardware issues via a smartphone. As always, we’ll continue to optimize all the wizardry of our technicians when resolving issues via a remote connection on a laptop, PC, etc.
We have launched a training program for our technicians to become A+ certified and are excited for the positive impact that will have.
173,437 Phone Calls Answered in 2021 by our Support Team
Not every tech resolution is technically logged by us as a “case”. A lot of our customer issues are resolved on a phone call with us. Often on these phone calls we’ll still connect with a customer’s device and help resolve an issue. If the issue is too technical for our Customer Service Representative then we create a case and let one of our trained technicians resolve the issue.
We Want to be the Role Model Remote Tech Support Company
In 2021 we joined the Tech Care Association. We joined to help our industry develop standard practices and to band together to deal with industry issues. From their website, the Tech Care Association is:
“The Tech Care Association (TCA) is a 501(c) 6 nonprofit trade association formed in 2020 in the Washington DC metropolitan area. The TCA is designed to advance the tech repair, reuse, and recycle industry.” Source
To date, we remain the only remote tech support company as a member. We believe in and adhere to the TCA’s Code of Ethics.
- Our employees will be trained to provide efficient and courteous customer relations.
- We will handle all complaints promptly and courteously.
- We will maintain fiscal responsibility for all work undertaken.
- All customer property will be handled with care and we will be adequately covered by accident and liability insurance.
- We will make available (published in-store and/or online) our basic prices and estimated costs. Invoices will be rendered to all customers (paper or electronic) indicating the work performed and parts used.
- We will perform work only as needed and authorized by the device owner and use parts and/or materials acceptable to industry standards.
- We will advise in a truthful manner with no false or misleading copy.
- All manufacturer relations will be carried on in a professional manner. At no time will we knowingly misrepresent the manufacturer or their products.
- All local, state, provincial, and federal laws and regulations will be followed in order to protect our customers, employees and the environment.All local, state, provincial, and federal laws and regulations will be followed in order to protect our customers, employees and the environment.
- We will maintain fiscal responsibility for all work undertaken.
We believe in being a part of this organization, we can set the standard for remote tech support. That will help bring legitimate tech support companies into the light. A few points to prove legitimacy in our industry are:
- A straightforward advertising and sales process
- An easy purchase and online checkout process
- An easy to read receipt with item descriptions and legal language that protects the consumer (i.e. explains right of rescission, how to cancel, etc.)
- Not charging fees when unable to deliver on services purchased
- A 14-day satisfaction guarantee: we will revisit the initial issue as many times as needed until the customer is satisfied, at no additional charge
- If offering a monthly membership, provide an easy and straightforward way to cancel via various methods
- Responsive and available support staff that adhere to their promised normal business hours
- For our member service, we have technicians available 24/7 via the HelpDesk
- Delivering realistic expectations regarding services rendered and time to complete those services
- Produce content to give back and educate the customers. We have:
- The HelpCloud Learning Center
- The HelpCloud YouTube channel
- The HelpCloud blog
- A weekly Tech Tip per email
- Join and participate in a trade organization (like the TCA) in order to hold yourselves and others accountable
- Just be honest and straightforward, lots of people can benefit from and are in need of remote tech support.
Issues in the Tech Support Industry:
The tech support industry still remains an industry with bad and good actors. Just like any industry. But we have to still prove how our industry can be beneficial for others. We stand by these videos we’ve made to address a couple things. How to legitimately provide remote tech support and why our industry has a right to exist, i.e. the Right to Repair.
HelpCloud’s Best Company Events in 2021
We like to have some quality events as a company. Nothing like shutting down the office for some bonding time. Typically we are go-kart racing, bowling every Halloween, having good ol’ fashioned potlucks, and this year we added a summer field day event. The day included some BBQ, foursquare in the air, HelpCloud Employee of theYear recognition, and, best of all, a dunk tank this year. The dunk tank was so fun that we’re making it a yearly tradition. This dunk tank video montage on HelpCloud’s Instagram was one of my favorite social media posts this year. Enjoy some photos from our company events this year.
What We Hope in 2022
Hope is an endeavor that, at times, feels futile. We have hoped for many good things over the past couple of years that have only let us down. But hope is a thread to hold onto in order to keep you on a desired path. We continue to hope while we also continue to push ourselves and work hard. We hope while we survive. And in 2022 we hope that the unfair tech support advertising ban by Microsoft and Google is lifted. We hope they finally respect the consumers’ right to repair while respecting the third party businesses that have set up a business model to offer tech support.
We also hope that everyone recovers from the impacts of a pandemic. Physical, mental health, and economic recovery are needed in so many aspects of our lives. Let us be kind to others.
Lastly, we hope more customers will choose our services. We are a business, and we are a small business. We want to thrive so that we can grow just a little more and also help improve the lives of all those that work here. We have a tight work-family and we want that to continue.
So all the best in 2022! We all can certainly use a blessed year.
