Why Local IT Support Outshines Remote Support

Should you let a local technician work on your system, or should you let remote support technicians do the job? There are pros to cons to each option, and while your schedule and other personal constraints factor into your final decision, you need to know that local and remote are not the same service.

Here are a few details about local IT services to help you understand more about making the right tech support decision.

You Can Keep Your Privacy

What kind of information are you storing on your system? That’s no one’s business but your own, but you should be asking yourself that question. Do you want someone else to have hours of access to your system without monitoring? It’s okay if you don’t mind that, because not everyone saves personal information on their systems. If you’re like many people who handle business or personal information on their computer, your data is at risk if you’re not careful. From saved documents and pictures to search results to even deleted data, it’s all accessible.

Do you know what the technician is looking at inside your computer? With a remote support professional, you can’t be too sure about what they’re checking. It’s not just about what you see on the screen. A remote technician can run any number of scripts–files with automated commands–without you knowing. You won’t see a bunch of windows or compromising screens to tip you off unless you’re dealing with an amateur thief. These scripts can download entire sets of files while the remote person does anything. They can continue to do their regular job or even be a fantastic, over-the-top engineer for you while saving your personal information for later.

A local technician can do that as well, but it’s a bit harder to sneak in a few automated scripts without a customer asking why. Knowing what the technician is doing is essential. Still, if you don’t know anything about computers, a skilled technician could figure out how to sneak a few looks at certain things. The difference here is that you’re dealing with a real, in-person technician that can be held accountable.

With remote technicians, how do you know who you’re talking to? If the tech isn’t in your country, can you hold them accountable for their mistakes? If they’re scammers, how can you report them to authorities if you don’t know who they are? With local technicians, you have a face to go along with the name. It’s a real person who you could report to authorities, but also a real person who you can build rapport with. Being able to see the person who handles your personal information means having greater control over your privacy as your system is repaired, cleaned up, or enhanced.

Get Repairs Done Quicker

Local, onsite repair has the advantage of hands-on control. It’s faster in most cases, but you won’t realize that until you see how remote support can slow things down. In a perfect world, remote technicians can click, type, and run whatever they need to get the job done. Most tasks happen as quickly as they would if the technician was sitting in front of the computer. What happens if the internet connection is weak? What if a virus is so aggressive that it slows down the way you connect to remote technicians? What if the computer is too slow to open a safe, remote access meeting?

Finally, the most common what-if: what if you need to restart the computer more than once? The most frustrating part of remote support has to restart the system. While modern advances in technology have made it easier to start a remote connection after a restart, the technology is still a bit unreliable. It’s not the act of restarting that is difficult. Instead, necessary security options make it harder for remote technicians to start sessions as needed to complete their job without strict controls and great troubleshooting skills. If it were easy for a legitimate remote access technician to restart your computer and regain access, it would be easy for remote hackers. The problems exist because of needed security, but that doesn’t change the fact that it can be a slow process.

Finally, what happens if the internet doesn’t work at all? If there’s no network connection, remote technicians can’t connect. If you get your computer repaired in-home, you don’t need to worry about network issues disconnecting your tech. Local support solves some of these issues by providing a technician who can physically start, shut down, and manage hardware. Network issues can be managed without you needing a crash course in troubleshooting to figure out the right key to press.

Learn More About Your Computer or Systems While Being Repaired

What if you want more than a crash course in troubleshooting? What if you want to learn more about your computer, either to use it effectively or to avoid common problems. Charging money for every single, small issue isn’t efficient for everyone. It’s smarter to set up the system to fail less often, then train the users in fundamental ways to stay productive when trouble strikes.

Along with a Service-Level Agreement (SLA) covering the types of services offered, you can agree to tech education and training. Your team can learn from professionals who not only know their trade, but ways to teach new and experienced users. General system use, specific program use, and techniques for streamlining your business tech can be documented and prepared for training with proper notice and materials. Training teams best handle guides and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).

All of this can be done in-person by a local technician who can point to exact pieces of hardware, specific parts of programs without network delay, and provide examples onsite. If you want more details on how local computer repair specialists can deliver the best services for your business, contact a tech support expert today.

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