Remote only in name and location, digital services development company Remote New Media needed a better way of performing quick IT fixes for clients. The remote desktop sharing and control features in Yuuguu have proven to be the ideal solution, helping it to support its customers even better without leaving their eco sympathetic home - and principles - behind.

Part of web design and development company Remote New Media’s very particular identity is its environmental values. Located in deepest Shropshire, the business lives in a converted barn with a wood-burning stove for heat and a nearby natural spring for hydration. Still, all that can’t detract from its need to look after clients as well as - if not better than - its city-based peers.

But, while being on location to attend to its clients’ every need is how the business would like to work, keeping travel to a minimum could be considered a matter of principle. It’s also not practical; hours spent in transit to adjust something that could be fixed in minutes is a waste of time and (valuable) energy. It would also detract from RNM’s core work for its customers - designing online strategies, websites and digital applications.

Co-founder and technical director Paul McGillivray explains: “As part of our ongoing support of clients after we’ve delivered them a website, we often host email accounts for them. Sometimes clients move PCs or change their details, and have trouble getting their email to work. 95% of the time, I know that if I was sitting at their computer, I’d be able to spot the problem in seconds, but being a rural company, with clients all over the country, it’s not feasible to drive for a couple of hours for such a quick fix.”

As a result, the company set out to discover a system that would enable it to remotely view - and control - a customer’s desktop PC. RNM staff could then easily identify a problem without leaving their desks and perform straightforward tasks there and then. For both client and supplier, such a system would support - rather than detract from - their work together.

“I realised that we were spending a lot of time in support calls trying to work out exactly what our clients were seeing and doing; a lot of our time was spent saying things like ‘can you see a box at the bottom of the screen? No? OK, what do you see? Oh, you haven’t clicked “next” yet? OK, please do that now… now what do you see?’,” McGillivray remembers.

“When we finally got an idea of what was happening for the customer, we could usually fix their problem within a minute. But, that was after 20 minutes of rummaging around blind.”

Having hunted around, he discovered Yuuguu, one of the core features of which is a remote screen sharing and control system. While on the surface an advanced instant messaging tool, Yuuguu - among other things - allows people to view and take control of each other’s desktop screens, producing a range of benefits such as remote IT support, presentation viewing, and live note-making and editing.

For RNM the core benefit has been the ability for instant IT support. A Yuuguu customer for five months it has found the resulting change to its working practices to be a major improvement.

McGillivray explains: “Now, I just connect [to customers] with Yuuguu, and make the fix from the comfort of my own PC. We’re able to deal with technical support calls that aren’t core to our business - i.e. email and network issues - very quickly, which leaves us free to get on with our proper work.”

For example, one of RNM’s clients is Wolf At Your Door Records (http://www.wolfatyourdoor.com), a record label for which it built a website with e-commerce for CDs, merchandise, and MP3 downloads.

Ordinarily, staff at RNM need to log in to help the company set up and manage its email accounts, and also takes regular queries about the e-commerce system. All this is now handled through Yuuguu.

Adam Pahal of Wolf At Your Records says: “Yuuguu is an extremely useful piece of software; we can receive instant technical support without needing to call assistance to our office, resulting in quick and efficient solutions.”

RNM was set up by McGillivray and wife Jeannie in 1990. Now employing five permanent staff and a range of freelance experts, it develops digital services for clients as wide ranging as car maker VW and the national Year of Food and Farming initiative.

In April this year - after an 18-month renovation - the business moved in to its eco-sympathetic home near Bishop’s Castle, Shropshire - about 20 miles south west of Shrewsbury. Stone and roof slates were reclaimed, ’super-insulation’ installed, low-energy lighting used throughout, natural paints sourced from one of its clients for the decor and the aforementioned wood-burning stove warms the water from the spring a few hundred metres up the hill for heat. Meanwhile, what electricity RNM does use comes from a renewable supplier and recycling and local, organic shopping are all part and parcel of the company’s behaviour.

Why the green spin? “We see plainly the impact we have on the environment and our commitment to reducing that impact is core to every aspect of our business,” says Jeannie McGillivray.

But, they are aware of how that side of the company - while often attractive to potential customers - should not detract from its servicing of clients. Yuuguu has proven a valuable way of balancing the two goals.

Most crucial has been its simplicity. Part of RNM’s needs for the service were that its clients’ technical issues were not added to with a complex process to install new remote screen sharing software. Reliability was also key. Here, feels Paul McGillivray, is where Yuuguu has an important edge: “Even my most IT illiterate clients have no problems downloading and installing the application very quickly, and the connection process hasn’t let me down yet.”

RNM’s experience shows how Yuuguu’s range of features and usability offer benefits that can have an immediate impact on the operations of a business.

“Yuuguu is very quick and simple for my staff and my clients to use; they always smile when I tell them the name, and somehow this leaves them feeling open to the experience - which is always a pleasure,” he says. “It’s saved me countless journeys across the country to visit clients.”