Q&A With Joel Bomgar, Bomgar Corp. CEO & Founder

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David Sims
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Q&A With Joel Bomgar, Bomgar Corp. CEO & Founder

DS: When you were an IT rep, you say, you were "amazed" at the time you spent traveling and on the phone. Tell us when you realized there was a better way.

JB: When I looked at the price of GoToAssist and WebEx Support Center and saw that both have high monthly fees. I evaluated their respective features, and it became clear that in order to find the product I wanted to use, I would have to build it.  I also really wanted to own the technology, not rent it, which is what you had to do with all the solutions offered in this space.

 DS: What did you think of the early remote tech support tools and products that were available?
 
JB: As a former IT technician, it frustrated me to no end that the products and vendors on the market at the time had never put enough focus into the remote support technology market to make their products strong. They got their products to the point where they thought they were "good enough" and then got what I call "executive A.D.D.," where executives have a constant urge to do anything other than what they are currently doing. That is usually when they start introducing new products, acquiring other companies, trying to sell their company, or trying to merge with someone. This disease is also called the "grass is greener syndrome" where you constantly think some other market is hotter and looks better than whatever market you are in. Due to a lack of focus and execution, neither vendor had a very strong product - and they still don't, to this day, over five years later, so I set out to create the product I really wanted.
 
DS: Are you saying there wasn't anything suitable for your needs?
 
JB: Apart from the mediocre products built to support end user computers, I could have tried to use the myriad of point-to-point "old school" remote control tools like Timbuktu, pcAnywhere, VNC, Carbon Copy, Remote Desktop, etc., but all of these products required a pre-installed software client, which usually wasn't present on the end-users' PC, and they didn't work elegantly over the Internet, which was what I needed since all of my customers were remote. Those two fatal flaws kept me from even trying to make the old-school point-to-point technologies work.
 
DS: When did you feel comfortable enough to leave your job and strike out with your own company?

JB: With a simple one-page website and cost-effective Google advertising I brought in $25,000 in about two and a half months over the summer of 2003, selling the technology I had created to other support engineers like myself. The decision to sell the technology instead of use it was driven by the entrepreneurial bug so many have. It was a pretty easy decision to dedicate all my time and resources to try to get Bomgar Corporation off the ground.
 
DS: Describe your coffee-drinking habits throughout the day.

JB: You'll never believe this, but I'm actually not a coffee drinker. I've been told that my energy level is already so intense that if I injected any caffeine or sugar into the system I'd be likely to explode. Maybe when I'm 80 or 90 and start to slow down, I'll pick up the habit. Until then, I'm bouncing off the walls without any help!

DS: You're right, I don't. So what's the tradeoff companies make in using remote tech support instead of receiving an on-site visit?

JB: Receiving support virtually usually means the support is faster, because the rep can connect right away. It's more competent because the rep is best-equipped to fix your problem, and more secure because everything is logged and auditable. There really isn't any significant trade-off, and most customers like it better overall.
 
DS: Are there reasons other than cost savings that account for remote tech support's growing popularity?
 
JB: I'd have to put efficiency as the #1 driver. The efficiency of doing support virtually versus on-site or pure phone-based support is huge.

Apart from efficiency, security is a key driver as well. When you do support virtually, you can record every aspect of the support interaction. When someone is on site, you have no idea what they actually did or what they saw sitting on someone's desk.

Collaboration is another huge upside. When you are on site, it is just you. When you are doing support virtually, you can invite another tech support rep from anywhere in the world to look over your shoulder and assist you.
 
Also, you can work on multiple systems simultaneously when you are remote. On site you end up staring at a progress bar most of the time. When you are working virtually, you can handle three or four systems at a time.

Customer satisfaction goes way up as well. You are able to respond to incidents immediately rather than schedule an on site visit.

DS: What instances would you recommend companies not use remote tech support?

JB: Certainly there are instances where you need "face time" with your customers, so it does make sense to show up every now and then to keep the relationship in good standing. Normally a yearly on site visit with your best customers is recommended. Apart from that, doing everything remote really works a lot better.

DS: Is there a certain kind of support rep more suited to remote work than on site work?

JB: No. Every support rep can benefit greatly from the ability to work on remote computers or from remote locations.
 
DS: The ideal vacation is...
 
B: Somewhere without cell phone reception! My wife and I have recently traveled to the Middle East (Israel, Jordan, and Egypt) as well as to Japan. In both cases I could have made my BlackBerry work, but I just turned it off instead of going through the trouble. A real vacation just isn't going to happen as long as the BlackBerry is on. I'd rather take vacations "off the grid". As long as I'm off the grid, I like beautiful places -- mountains and beaches.

DS: You're at a cocktail party.  Someone says "Oh, I like it when the tech guy comes out, he can usually fix other problems, too."  You say...

JB: Wouldn't it be great if the tech guy could be everywhere at one time? Rather than fix problems one-by-one, what if he could connect simultaneously to all the systems that needed help and resolve all the issues at one time? Also, what if your tech guy didn't have to schedule a time to show up on site, but could connect to your systems the moment you called? Wouldn't that be a total support nirvana?
 


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