GoToAssist: Remote Support, Computer Remote Control, Remote Assistance, Remote Support Software, Helpdesk Software, Desktop Sharing, Remote Desktop Control, Pc Anywhere, Online Collaboration



Product Review - Citrix gotoassist express		January 17, 2008 By Felton D. Frantz

Citrix Online is approaching rollout of a downscale alternative to their gotoassist help desk software, dubbed gotoassist express. Targeting small software support providers, gotoassist express is designed to fill a price and performance gap between currently available remote access products (gotomypc, logmein, vnc, etc) and full blown enterprise level help desk systems (gotoassist, webex)

GoToAssist and GoToAssist Express are two similarly named but completely separate products. To avoid confusion, this review will refer to GoToAssist express as Express and GoToAssist as Corporate. While reflecting fairly extensive hands on experience with Express, this comparison may suffer from my limited familiarity with either product. It may also include some Express features which are in the development queue but not currently implemented.

Common features Remote screen sharing Remote keyboard control Support session links can be emailed or phoned to Customers; Express Customers can click the email link, or visit http://www.fastsupport.com/ and enter a session ID to accept your support invitation Transfer files to/from client Expert/client chat Remote diagnostic reports Express advantages Unattended login capability. The ability to access and maintain unattended client systems during off hours is a must have for some support organizations. As I understand it, this feature is currently only available in Express, not Corporate Works from any internet connected computer. Corporate must be installed and configured on licensed workstations or flash drives. Express is completely Web based Lower cost. Corporate license costs approach $200 per technician. While not published to date, Express should be substantially lower. In addition, an express license is not tied to a "seat" (a technician or specific computer) like Corporate, but can be shared (non concurrent) by 2 or more technicians in a small shop The combination of Web based architecture and per concurrent session licensing makes Express a great choice for mobile consultants and organizations with multiple technicians not needing concurrent access to clients Designed for small support organizations - much simpler to use Will feature simple single user reporting The Express beta forums are great collaboration tools. Hope they remain available after beta period Mac client support Corporate advantages Designed for larger support organizations with many support technicians Team collaboration (multi technicians on same support call) Incident queuing and technician assignment Session transfer (one technician to another) Customer surveys Branded web site Session recording Centralized administration, monitoring and control of support activity Online support queue Multilanguage support Hipaa compliant Beta users' suggestions for the next release Both products suffer from bare bones file transfer functions - a step down from gotomypc, which features a side by side folder view well as a bidirectional folder sync capability Remote printing capability - another feature in GoToMyPC missing from Express Internal definition of Customer identities; one click connection/invite to non-unattended as well as Unattended customers Use Customer identity for session names. "Customer 73" doesn't cut it Customizable default text in message body for Email invitations Multiple Experts accessing the same Customer (it's a meeting!) Session logging; export logs to .xls or tab format for analysis and billing; ODBC log access Additional skin options for the black screen averse Clipboard copy/paste between Expert and Customer desktops Expanded send control character set, or send any control character Bottom line Its streamlined interface, unattended login support, ability to run from any internet connected computer and (anticipated) aggressive pricing will make GoToAssist Express the hands down choice over GoToAssist Corporate as well as other competitor's products for many small support providers. Incorporating the gotomypc file transfer interface would raise the grade on Express from A- to A+. I Expect gotoassist express will take the lower tier help desk market by a storm.

Availability The beta is open for signup at http://express.gotoassist.com/ Use is free of charge until Express goes commercial, probably Q2 2008. Highly recommended.

References Document G2A_xc_product_comp_final.pdf, available from Citrix sales as of 01/10/07.


Back