First Data Systems, Inc. provides complete technology solutions to the title and settlement services industries.

The Challenge
For more than 25 years, real-estate companies have relied on First Data’s automation products and services. The protection of its clients’ sensitive and confidential financial information is of utmost importance for First Data, which is why the company chose Citrix GoToAssist when it needed to implement a secure support solution. Within a matter of days of using GoToAssist, First Data was able to slash travel costs, reduce call-handling time, increase productivity and enhance client satisfaction.

According to Director of Support Services Michael Steelman, GoToAssist helps the company’s support team react rapidly when troubleshooting client systems. “We’ll first try to answer the client’s question through a live chat session,” he says. “If we can't fix the problem through chat, we’ll invoke the ‘show me’ technology,” he says, explaining that with just a few clicks, a support technician can see what the client sees. “We can show a client how to use our application or just fix the problem ourselves. GoToAssist has helped us resolve issues more quickly and has aided us in educating our clients on how to use our software more efficiently.”

Before the company implemented GoToAssist, travelling directly to the client was the only way to effectively install First Data’s software. “There are so many variables that come into play during an installation that we needed to be on-site to install it appropriately,” says Steelman. Not only did travel take valuable personnel away from the office for an extended time, but the trips were costly, with most trips necessitating airfare, hotel and other expenses. That has changed dramatically since implementing GoToAssist. “In the last two months we have cut out 15 trips we would have had to make for installations and upgrades,” he says.

“We have significantly reduced our travel costs and shortened troubleshooting time.” Because the company charges clients for travel expenses, the lower cost makes First Data even more competitive. “We can save clients thousands of dollars in airfare alone,” Steelman says.

In addition to the travel savings, support-team productivity is higher because issue resolution is so much faster with GoToAssist. “Since we’ve used GoToAssist, our call volume has increased by 30 percent,” explains Steelman, “but I haven’t needed to hire any new employees.” Because the support team is at the office rather than on the road and issue resolution time has been reduced, First Data has realised a rapid return on investment (ROI) with GoToAssist. “We have been able to give faster support to our clients and keep costs at the same level even though our call volume has increased,” says Steelman.

Since implementing GoToAssist, First Data has discovered additional uses for the technology. “We now use GoToAssist to train clients over the phone rather than travelling to their offices,” explains Steelman. “It’s a lot more convenient for them.” This enhanced training and support has resulted in increased customer satisfaction, as evidenced in the GoToAssist Management Center reports. “In the first six months of using GoToAssist, we conducted more than 4,000 support sessions -- all reporting highly satisfactory results except for eight incidents. Each of those sessions were available for us to carefully review to clearly understand how we could improve already phenomenal results,” Steelman says.

As a vendor in the real estate industry, it is expected that First Data’s products and services conform to the highest security standards. That’s why the company is confident in the strong security and end-to-end 128-bit encryption provided by GoToAssist. “GoToAssist helps us maintain the network security and integrity that clients demand,” says Steelman.

Through GoToAssist's industry-standard security measures, companies can conform to regulations that control how financial institutions share personal information, such as the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA).

The purchase of GoToAssist was easy to justify to First Data’s senior management. “After I explained the results of our trial evaluation of GoToAssist, management wanted me to purchase it immediately,” says Steelman. Now GoToAssist is an essential component of the company’s support and training programs. “I have so many great stories of how we have used GoToAssist to help clients,” he says. “It’s incredible.”

For more information
Phone: 0800 42 4874
GoToAssist

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