Remote Hands Vs. Smart Hands

Remote hands and smart hands are both IT support solutions that allow companies to complete IT projects at locations outside their home, staffed office. The primary difference between remote hands and smart hands is the complexity of the project handled.

Remote hands services typically refer to initial or lower-level support tasks completed on behalf of a client at a location away from their staffed locations, such as at a data center or satellite office. Smart hands services often refer to more complex tasks handled at offsite locations, providing a more skilled layer of support.

Importantly, “remote hands” as a phrase can be used to refer to the on-site IT personnel used as local resources for off-site IT teams managing tasks remotely and can be used as a catch-all phrase meaning on-site support across all layers of technical complexity.

What are remote hands services?

Remote hands IT services can refer to the delegation of IT management and issue resolution tasks to on-site personnel, like those at data or colocation facilities, often overseen by a managed service provider or data center staff.

Remote hands is an efficient way to complete on-site IT tasks at a physical office without on-site IT staff. Companies often utilize managed IT services, IT staff augmentation, remote hands services, and other outsourced IT support solutions for these tasks. By doing so, companies can fill gaps, relieve overstretched employees, lower operating costs, cover multiple locations, avoid costly downtime, and more without hiring additional full-time staff.

What are the pros of remote hands services?

Remote hands IT services offer a long list of pros, which we’ve listed below. In the case that employees or assets require IT support, the faster they can get it, the faster that peak productivity and functionality can be resumed. With remote hands, employees can access faster support, contributing to an enhanced work culture and happier employees. Remote hands can also help perform regular maintenance on equipment contributing to less downtime and increased security. Here are some of the pros or benefits that remote hands can offer.

• Offer employees more support: As we’ve reviewed, providing employees the resources they need to do their job, and do it well, is important. Leaving employees to try to resolve IT issues on their own can be discouraging. Oftentimes, companies with satellite locations rely on staff travel to complete IT tasks, incurring high travel costs, support team disruption, and issue backup while waiting for tasks to reach critical mass to justify travel.
• Convenience: Remote hands offer unmatched convenience. In just a few simple steps, you can connect with a professional technician to obtain the support you need. With minimal downtime, and the opportunity to learn, the interaction can be valuable for individuals.
• Faster response times: Depending on your level of service, remote hands can be proactively managing equipment. If so, they may be able to intervene and provide support before there is an issue. For companies relying on staff travel for IT support, remote hands can act faster at a lower cost without requiring a list of issues before justifying staff travel. For comprehensive IT support, look into on-site IT services.
• Cost-effective: Remote hands can serve as an extension of an internal IT team serving as a more cost-effective solution compared to hiring permanent employees.
• Avoid downtime: Remote hands can help keep things up and running to avoid costly downtime. This can be another component to factor into the cost savings opportunity.
• Access to advanced expertise: Remote hands offers access to a network of technicians that have expertise specific to the task at hand.

What are the cons of remote hands services?

If you’re relying on remote hands as a primary means for IT support, some of the cons can start to surface. In addition, if you lack internal IT support there’s a possibility that you may lose some oversight over some IT infrastructure. Remote hands is intended to be a supplemental measure of IT support, but can be inappropriate if you’re not aware of these issues before selecting a provider.

• Potential delays: Response times can vary by provider, yet another reason to choose a well-established provider. In the event there are delays, you may have few options for support in the interim.
• Provider dependence: Remote hands require a level of dependency on the provider. Ensuring you’ve selected a partner with a track record of success and an established network with detailed agreements can be the foundation of a successful relationship.

What are smart hands services?

Smart hands services are on-site IT support services that work to manage and resolve more complex IT issues. From installing equipment to securing equipment, smart hands provide an advanced level of support. While smart hands are often used to resolve issues greater than a frozen desktop, onsite IT support can still be purposed to help with smaller issues too. Routine visits from IT support partners can help establish a relationship and unique understanding of operations, thus allowing them to maximize the value they can offer.

What are the pros of smart hands services?

Smart hands can offer all of the same benefits as remote hands, and then some. Let’s review the additional benefits that smart hands services can offer.

• Higher skill level: Techmate skill tests all technicians and only deploys those scoring in the top 5% of testing and that also pass an interpersonal interview. All technicians carry between 5-15 years of experience with a legacy of completing projects of the same issue type.
• Strengthened relationship: Higher-skilled technicians that visit onsite locations should carry not just the technical expertise but the white-glove professionalism of a pedigreed partner. Techmate technicians can interact with employees, experience challenges firsthand, and better understand the day-to-day work. From the experience of being in the office to conversations with employees, IT support services partners and companies can form a strengthened relationship.
• Valuable recommendations: With an increased understanding of challenges and company operations gained from onsite interactions, IT support partners can offer more valuable recommendations. Examples can include ways to improve cybersecurity, synchronize systems, update networks, and so forth.

What are the cons of smart hands services?

Smart hands services can offer the same list of cons as remote hands. Selecting the right partner by reviewing their credentials and testimonials helps ensure you have a partner you can trust with every issue without the need for hand-holding or babysitting. It’s important to stay connected with the provider and technicians to ensure you’re working together as a team. Techmate offers an advanced dashboard that can be evaluated by internal staff to understand IT trends. The dashboard can be utilized to identify opportunities for improvement together.

How to choose the right remote hands or smart hands service provider?

The remote hands or smart hands provider you partner with will become involved with operations. As a partner you will have dependencies with, you’ll want to choose a provider you can trust. Similar to hiring, finding the right fit is important. As you explore options consider years of experience, accessibility, geographical coverage, vetting process for technicians, and other details. Techmate is a nationwide IT support solutions provider with a fully vetted network of IT professionals. We evaluate every request individually to assign the right technician to the job, with the ability for the end customer to also interview the technicians prior to deployment for longer-term engagements. Taking the benefits a step further we also offer benefits such as an advanced reporting dashboard so you can stay in control. As an invested partner in your success, we’re here to meet your needs – just tell us what you need and we’ll make it happen.