RSM McGladrey, Inc is a leading national business-services firm offering midsized companies a wide range of accounting, tax and business-consulting services. The firm has more than 100 offices throughout the United States.

The challenge
How does a firm maximise billable consultant time while maintaining a superior level of client service? Steve Kleinwort, an information technology manager at RSM McGladrey, explains his firm’s dilemma: “We were travelling to client sites almost daily for software development, system integration or to resolve an issue.”

As a result, the firm’s consultants were spending hours on the road rather than performing higher-value consulting work. “We needed a way to quickly resolve issues and reduce our travel,” Kleinwort says.

Boost billable activities by providing efficient remote support
Kleinwort recently discovered the right solution. Consultants and other professionals at RSM McGladrey now rely on Citrix GoToAssist each day to provide real-time remote support to clients. With proprietary screen-sharing technology and best practices support tools, consultants securely share a client’s server or desktop just as if the consultants were actually on-site.

“Instead of travelling, we can be consulting. It’s a much more effective use of our time,” says Kleinwort. “With GoToAssist, we help our clients faster and more efficiently. Everything about GoToAssist has exceeded our expectations.”

With a typical round trip to a client averaging two hours, travel costs add up rapidly.

“Because we charge clients for travel time and mileage, using GoToAssist saves them money,” says Kleinwort. Issues that previously required hours of travel now can frequently be resolved in just minutes.

“Most of our calls using GoToAssist are 15 minutes long – I can’t even walk to my car and get out of the parking lot in less than 15 minutes,” he says. With consultants travelling less, they can now spend their time on higher-value consulting services, thereby increasing their billable activities. Because GoToAssist helps us resolve issues quicker, we can perform higher billable rate activities,” he says.

“Our consultants are more efficient and are now earning more.”

Exceed customer expectations with faster resolution
Not only are consultants more productive with GoToAssist, but clients are raving about the immediate support and service the firm now provides.

“I can definitely say that we have higher client satisfaction with GoToAssist,” says Kleinwort. The proof? “We receive glowing comments every day from our clients telling us GoToAssist is wonderful and is so much quicker than an on-site visit.”

Through higher client satisfaction, the firm expects to retain clients longer and secure additional business in the future.

Even issues that consultants handle over the phone have seen resolution times slashed since the debut of GoToAssist. “For issues that we were previously handling over the phone, we have cut the resolution time by as much as 75 percent,” says Kleinwort. “Clients started demanding we use GoToAssist more often.”

In fact, GoToAssist has proved so popular with clients that the firm now charges extra for GoToAssist support sessions, thereby creating an additional source of revenue.

“Clients were very accepting of the additional fee because we’re helping them so much faster,” he adds.

Improve job satisfaction by assisting from anywhere
Because consultants often need to be on call for emergencies, providing instant remote support via GoToAssist can often save the day - literally.

“Some of our consultants have very specialised knowledge, and there is often only one person who can help a particular client,” explains Kleinwort. A consultant can now assist clients in a pinch by working from home using GoToAssist.

“In many cases we can resolve issues the same day rather than next day,” he says. Through security features such as end-user permissions and 128-bit end-to-end AES encryption, GoToAssist helps assure clients in sensitive industries that their data will remain confidential, even if the consultant is working from home.

“Our tools must be secure to pass our firm’s standards. GoToAssist is totally secure,” says Kleinwort.

Because consultants are no longer travelling as much and can assist customers from almost anywhere, GoToAssist has provided some unexpected benefits.

“I can honestly say that GoToAssist has greatly enhanced the quality of life of our consultants,” says Kleinwort. “Our consultants want to be home for their children’s ballgames, and GoToAssist has allowed them to do that.”

The result is happier, more productive employees. “With GoToAssist, we’re achieving higher employee retention, higher employee satisfaction and less burnout,” he says. “Our people love GoToAssist.”

For more information
Phone: 0800 42 4874
GoToAssist

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