Symantec Guru Could Give SMBs Guerilla Tech Support Tool

For small businesses without dedicated IT departments, a consumer-level offering from Symantec could offer a way to provide remote tech support without breaking the bank.It made a splash at DEMO 09 this week in Palm Springs so Symantec must be on to something with Project Guru. The target market for Symantec's remote tech support release is "tech-savvy" home users. Here's a scenario: Digitally dexterous Gen Y professional remotes in to mom and pop's computer and fixes that darn whatchamacallit that keeps popping up in the middle of the do-hickey.

Anyone with a relative who uses the terms e-mail and Web site interchangeably may rejoice over this, but there's also some potential here for small business who need a simple cost effective way to provide remote tech support. Small businesses without IT staff, typically have a default tech guru who -- for better or worse -- provides ad hoc support to everyone else in the company. Project Guru could make that easier for offsite employees from home office workers to branch offices to franchise outlets to outside sales teams. But let's be clear, this is not a replacement for IT support, but could be a useful "guerilla" tool in some situations.

Right now, Project Guru is in pilot with "select" partners with a public beta planned later this year. The secure, scalable Web environment allows secure remote desktop connections. It's built on Symantec's SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) Online Remote Access. Users sign up for online accounts with Symantec -- the Guru acting as the tech support lead functions as admin -- in effect creating a Symantec support social network. Once everyone's signed up, the Guru can remote into machines to fix issues and make use of several Symantec diagnostic tools to help identify network and software issues.

Speaking about the rollout Symantec architect Brian Hernacki said, "While there are many services available to consumers for technical support, many tech savvy individuals still find themselves as the de facto support resource for friends and family. Our goal with Project Guru is to provide tech savvy users with a convenient, secure online tool from a trusted source to help their friends and family efficiently and effectively."

Though targeted squarely at the consumer market -- this is not designed as a business tool -- Project Guru presents the potential for yet another instance of consumer-level offerings moving into the business IT sphere.

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