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Unlimited IT Support

ItsAJackal

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Would you pay a monthly fee to have unlimited home IT support? I find myself constantly helping in-laws and my parents with little issues they have with their computers and/or phones.

Instead of having a bill every single time you are called, I was thinking more of the approach of a membership. Could scale up if the client load is too much.

Perhaps a premium tier that has home visits as well?

Not sure, just throwing it around a bit.
 
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ItsAJackal

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I suspect you'd compete with the customer's nephew. And he's free.

At least when you're going for consumers.

Exactly though, that's what I'm thinking about. There are so many nephews/son-in-laws/daughters/etc that have to be IT support for family. I do it for mine as well, but I actually enjoy doing it. It's fun to explain how to do something in the simplest terms possible.
 

BigRomeDawg

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Yeah this is actually a popular business model. I've been doing managed services for 6 yrs but never to consumers. It's a totally different game but can be very profitable if done right
 
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Kevin88660

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Would you pay a monthly fee to have unlimited home IT support? I find myself constantly helping in-laws and my parents with little issues they have with their computers and/or phones.

Instead of having a bill every single time you are called, I was thinking more of the approach of a membership. Could scale up if the client load is too much.

Perhaps a premium tier that has home visits as well?

Not sure, just throwing it around a bit.
There will be many people paying for it. But you must figure out of a way to execute it and charge it.

Nothing is really free in this world.

Because for people who are really bad with computers you have to do it face to face, the service fee is really high, it only makes sense to charge on a per service basis.

A lot of boomers holding high office positions with high pay are struggling to use it for work. No problem spending 1k a month to solve a pain in the a$$ when you are drawing 5 digit monthly salary.

I think it has to be for work related execution not about downloading an old song from youtube otherwise the service has no economics sense.
 

ay47

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There will be many people paying for it. But you must figure out of a way to execute it and charge it.

Nothing is really free in this world.

Because for people who are really bad with computers you have to do it face to face, the service fee is really high, it only makes sense to charge on a per service basis.

A lot of boomers holding high office positions with high pay are struggling to use it for work. No problem spending 1k a month to solve a pain in the a$$ when you are drawing 5 digit monthly salary.

I think it has to be for work related execution not about downloading an old song from youtube otherwise the service has no economics sense.
I would target consumers that have oldish parents and high paying jobs. They don’t have the time. But wish they could help their parents
 

Kevin88660

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I would target consumers that have oldish parents and high paying jobs. They don’t have the time. But wish they could help their parents
I am already doing this on a part-time “friendly rate” basis. Both generations have high paying jobs.
 
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Kassadi

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It's best if you go with a company whose client base includes everything from lots of start-ups and charities to dozens of large and small commercial organizations in various market sectors, as well as several large corporate clients located in the City of London, Greater London, and surrounding areas. The knowledge of sphereit.uk and experience in a variety of industries such as IT support in hospitality, retail, finance, construction, legal, and HR ensure that they go above and beyond to meet your requirements and goals, whether you want to upgrade a single computer to a fully managed Wi-Fi solution in London, they have the tools to provide your business with an exceptional staff with unrivaled support services.
 

ItsAJackal

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Because for people who are really bad with computers you have to do it face to face, the service fee is really high, it only makes sense to charge on a per service basis.
Didn't expect this thread to pop back up!

This is the part I struggle with, and I think is what would greatly hamper the ability to scale.

I wonder if there is a middle ground in there between a full home visit (e.g. GeekSquad) and them calling their grandson over the phone asking for help.

Maybe something using TeamViewer (or a different remote desktop software) for quick 15-30 minute fixes? I seem to remember there was a wordpress site that did support and they only handled quick problems, not big problems. wp ninja or something like that?

Then there's the problem of trusting the people you hire. Let's say this actually goes well and I'm able to outsource some of the support. Maybe to college kids or off-hour freelancer IT support. Maybe you record all sessions through TeamViewer to make sure people aren't trying to see sensitive documentation?

I really feel like there is something here but I can't place my finger on it. I'm constantly doing IT support for my in-laws, my parents and my brother-in-law. 85% of it could be done in less than 15 minutes if I was sitting in front of their computer.
 

Kevin88660

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Didn't expect this thread to pop back up!

This is the part I struggle with, and I think is what would greatly hamper the ability to scale.

I wonder if there is a middle ground in there between a full home visit (e.g. GeekSquad) and them calling their grandson over the phone asking for help.

Maybe something using TeamViewer (or a different remote desktop software) for quick 15-30 minute fixes? I seem to remember there was a wordpress site that did support and they only handled quick problems, not big problems. wp ninja or something like that?

Then there's the problem of trusting the people you hire. Let's say this actually goes well and I'm able to outsource some of the support. Maybe to college kids or off-hour freelancer IT support. Maybe you record all sessions through TeamViewer to make sure people aren't trying to see sensitive documentation?

I really feel like there is something here but I can't place my finger on it. I'm constantly doing IT support for my in-laws, my parents and my brother-in-law. 85% of it could be done in less than 15 minutes if I was sitting in front of their computer.
I almost laugh when I heard about TeamViewer.

Because I have actually helped many baby boomers with their IT issues. The kind of people who have a lot of money to pay for your service and they are terrible with computers.

They are not even familiar with core And essential IT skills like upgrading ios, connecting whatsapp to desktop, arranging email inbox emails by dates, setting up zoom invitations.

Trust me on this verdict : There is no escape around face to face service. It is like you have to be there to demonstrate for the first time, they will write it on a notebook and follow the step one by one, and subsequently , they can video call you if they get stucked. (Which they sure will) Just because you have taught them once they will forget everything in one month. And if it involves an operation with multiple apps face to face is always essential because they can never grasp.

The problem is that their son and nephew are not there to help them because they are busy with their own life and work and cannot be there 24/7. If their relative is free to zoom with your assistant they wont need your assistance.

You have to find your own target audience to make it a cost-effective business. There are boomers who are permanently not retired drawing six figure income but struggle with basic IT skill in their work and personal administration and find it embarrassing and a big issue. Their son is working in the law firm and cannot be at home to do this service and you have to find a personal assistant who can travel there and they don’t mind paying for a few hundred dollar for a trip. It is B to C in name but actually it is B to B economically speaking. People are willing to pay if they need this service to continue to draw their pay.

The entry barrier is can you find trustworthy people with no criminal background to do this, especially to help with internet banking and so on? And if you are just running a platform, can your service assistant get rid of you when they have a trusted relationship with the client? I have thought about this before. The need and willingness to pay is there. It is very easy for you to do it alone finding people willing to pay for you selling your time as a hobby. But to be a cost effectiveness scalable business there is no good way to go about it, so far I can think of.
 
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ItsAJackal

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Just had a thought, what about a consulting service you sell to businesses for lunch and learns to go over basic software?

I know every job posting says you have to know excel, word, etc. but I know from sitting in a large office 1/2 the people can't figure out basic things and IT is too busy (aka doesn't care) and will never walk them through anything.

Maybe it's not targeting the people at home on their home computer, but the boomers sitting at a desk and don't know what to do?
 

Kevin88660

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Just had a thought, what about a consulting service you sell to businesses for lunch and learns to go over basic software?

I know every job posting says you have to know excel, word, etc. but I know from sitting in a large office 1/2 the people can't figure out basic things and IT is too busy (aka doesn't care) and will never walk them through anything.

Maybe it's not targeting the people at home on their home computer, but the boomers sitting at a desk and don't know what to do?
This is already a competitive field in my country where government subsidize the companies who sent their staffs for such trainings.

Everyone (on their own basis not related to their job) has annual credits to use also to for skill upgrade.

The problem is for people of a certain age and above most of they are no longer fast learners of series of routine instructions.
 

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