Targeting Wi-Fi providers in marinas and RV parks as well as traditional ISPs, Minuteman focuses on end user computer support.

by Jeff Goldman [August 10, 2003]

Dan Barnes founded Minuteman Support Services in 2004 after many years of managing a national helpdesk for a satellite provider. When the provider was bought out, Barnes decided to take the traditional corporate IT infrastructure and make it available on an individual basis to computer users across the country, both remotely and onsite.

Minuteman started, Barnes says, by targeting small businesses and individual home users that needed help with their computers—but ISPs were an obvious next step. "It became clear to me that we had an excellent service to piggyback current ISPs' Level 1/Level 2 support," he says.

Minuteman Support Services 18 Charlton Street Fitchburg, MA 014201 Voice: (866) 239-1250 sales@minutemansupport.com

That doesn't mean that the company isn't interested in serving all of an ISP's outsourced support needs—Barnes says he's in talks with a potential client right now about doing just that—but complementing an ISP's Level 1/Level 2 support, he says, is a less crowded area of the market. "ISPs typically draw the line when it comes to supporting the end users' computers," Barnes says. "They either hang up on them, telling them they can't help them, or they recommend they go to Circuit City or CompUSA."

Instead, Minuteman gives ISPs a way to be more proactive about helping their customers resolve computer problems. "Our service allows their customers to maintain control over the repair process," Barnes says. "We can resolve their problems over the Internet or in their own home. We look at it as an opportunity for ISPs to take their customer support to the next level."

Remote support services
Minuteman's customers get help either through remote support or through onsite help, which is outsourced to a nationwide onsite support partner. The essential technology behind remote support, Barnes says, should be familiar to most people in the ISP industry. "It's 100 percent client permission based, and it's extremely secure," he says. "It allows us to analyze far deeper before we decide to send a technician onsite."

The importance of these kinds of services, Barnes says, can't be overstressed. "Spyware is at an epidemic level, and it's limiting users' ability to take advantage of the full bandwidth of their high speed connection," he says. "It's only natural that they are turning to the ISPs looking for support."

In addition to removing spyware and other problems from customers' machines, Minuteman works to educate customers on future prevention. "We recommend free tools—Spybot, Ad-Aware, SpywareBlaster, AVG—and we provide directions on how to use them," Barnes says. "We spend the time with our customers to show them how to maintain their own Internet security after we clean their system."

The company's 24/7 call center is located in Framingham, Massachusetts, and a second call center is planned near Minuteman's headquarters in nearby Fitchburg. All of the support technicians now working for Minuteman, Barnes says, also worked for him at the national helpdesk he previously managed.

Pricing… and marinas
Most of Minuteman's ISP clients, Barnes says, simply refer their customers directly to the company—there's no co-branding involved. "Our focus is to provide an extremely light relationship," he says. "If we get a large enough customer, we will certainly invest in co-branding—but we haven't come across any ISPs who are really interested in it. They just want that support monkey off of their back."

Barnes is quick to stress that Minuteman is open to working with ISPs in a number of different ways. "We're in negotiation with a company that wants to outsource the whole kit and caboodle to us, and to talk about other ways of generating revenue as well," he says. "We're extremely flexible at this point: if companies want to engage in revenue sharing types of relationships, by all means, we're completely open to it."

In addition to the traditional ISP market, the company is also targeting Wi-Fi providers in marinas and RV parks. "The more remote the user, the more appealing our service is to them," Barnes says. "Boaters pull into the marina, they connect to the Wi-Fi network, and we can work on their systems remotely. It's same with RV parks: we're getting a tremendous amount of interest in those two arenas."

Wired ISPs, Barnes says, aren't generally as interested in providing outsourced computer support. "Maybe it's just a matter of tradition—they haven't outsourced before, so why start now—and I think that the Wi-Fi ISPs are seeing it as an opportunity to take the customer support to the next level, and start building customer loyalty in that regard right off the bat," he says.

— End

Related articles:
	[Dec. 27, 2002]	We Need Cheap Overnight Tech Support
	[Jan. 22, 2001]	When Your Help Desk is Distant
	[June 2, 2000]	Building an ISP Business Plan Part 4: Operating & Organizational Plans

Online resources:
	Outsourced Customer Support Directory
	Quick Reference Chart