SkyRocket Technical Support provides not only traditional outsourced technical support, but also on-demand support beyond the modem as a value added service.

by Jeff Goldman [November 9, 2005]

SkyRocket Technical Support, Inc., based in Stevensville, Md., officially launched on November 1, 2005 with the aim of providing both straightforward outsourced support and enhanced on-demand technical support for ISPs. The latter is intended as a value added service that ISPs can offer to their customers for an additional fee per call.

SkyRocket Technical Support 165 Log Canoe Circle Suite A Stevensville, MD 21666 Voice: (410) 643-8965 info@skyrocketsupport.com

Suzanne Elzey, SkyRocket's president and founder, says she came up with the idea for the company while working as Director of Customer Support for the cable provider Millennium Digital Media. "During my time in that position, I witnessed call volume rising almost 200 percent in three years," Elzey says. "One of the main reasons was quite simply due to subscribers needing support beyond the modem."

Like most ISPs, however, Millennium's support techs didn't support anything beyond the modem, so they were forced to tell subscribers that they couldn't help them. "The first person a subscriber's going to call is their ISP," Elzey says. "They want installation guidance, let's say, on how to install and configure a router—which, of course, is something they don't do."

A revenue stream
At the same time as Elzey was seeing these kinds of calls increase in volume, she says, ISPs were beginning to see value added services as a key aspect of their offering. "With Millennium, we launched VoIP, we launched virus protection, we launched webmail add-ons—everything we could think of—and none of them really provided any kind of lucrative revenue stream," she says.

Instead of bringing added revenue to the ISP, Elzey says, these services only seemed to increase support costs. "That led to the whole strategy behind SkyRocket: what a concept it would be to offer these ISPs an additional revenue stream that would give the subscribers a support service that they needed and wanted, and at the same time would have a direct impact on the ISP's bottom line," she says.

For the six months leading up to the launch of the service, Elzey says, she's been focused on carefully selecting employees who can do much more than just answer phones. "I want to build a reputation as being experts in technology, not just in the Internet, and not really just in data—in any kind of home media, whether it be a gaming console like a PlayStation, or a TiVo," she says.

Reporting and analysis
To give ISPs full assurance that they're receiving the level of service they expect, an online application allows them to view every call from their subscribers in real time. "They can also run a report and say, 'How many of our subscribers have called in since the beginning of the month?'" she says. "They can even do a report on what types of calls, what specific issues, they're seeing from their subscribers."

In addition to straightforward reporting on things like the number and types of calls, the company can also provide marketing analysis by surveying both current and prospective customers. "We can find out why customers are choosing to disconnect, and find out what's important to them—and all of that can be integrated into reports in a database that's accessible to the ISP," Elzey says.

Traditional outsourced technical support is offered at a set price of 50 cents per subscriber per month, though Elzey says her focus is on providing the on-demand "beyond the modem" support as a value added service. For that service, the fee for the ISP is $24.99 per call, with a suggested retail price for the end user of $29.99—providing an expected profit for the ISP of $5.00 per call.

Exceeding expectations
Internet access isn't as much of a pure commodity as it used to be, Elzey says. "Today's subscriber is demanding great service," she says. "People will go without their television or without HBO, but if they can't access the Internet or their e-mail, that's something they won't tolerate. They want it fixed, and they want it fixed now. So we work with the ISPs to exceed the subscriber's expectations."

The result, Elzey says, is a win/win situation for all parties involved. "The end user gets what they need and is therefore happy with their ISP, the ISP wins because five dollars per call to really do nothing but give access to this branded service is a very lucrative revenue stream—and then of course it's beneficial for us because it opens up doors to service ISPs and cable companies all over the country," she 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