One name; hundreds of user stories. ISL Online. Every month or so we reach out to the ones we value most – our users. Each tells its own unique story. This month we are visiting an exciting city, the UK’s capital and one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world, London, where we tried to get some insight into how a large charity, AbilityNet, uses ISL Online. Here is the recap of what their technical director, Mr. Eliot Martin, has revealed about the ISL Online remote desktop access, support and web conferencing software.

Name: Eliot Martin
Occupation: Technical director
Organization: AbilityNet
Location: London, UK
Business: supporting over 490,000 adults and children with disabilities to use computers and the Internet
Solution employed: Enterprise Subscription (SaaS)

Why did you decide to introduce remote collaboration and assistance tools?
Our charity organization, AbilityNet, provides information, advice and support to people with a range of disabilities, including dyslexia and repetitive strain injuries. Based on 30 years of experience in this field we can roughly estimate that over 90% of jobs involve a computer and require some ability and knowledge of IT. That’s where we come in. Whenever an employee begins to experience some discomfort or a problem that’s affecting his or her computer, an assessment in the person’s home or work environment is usually the best solution. Nonetheless, assessments demand a lot of time and travel costs. That’s why we decided to introduce remote assessments and IT support through remote collaboration and assistance tools.

You had been using Citrix GoToAssist in the past. Why did you replace it with ISL Online?
You are right, AbilityNet had been using Citrix GoToAssist, but at a certain point that solution failed to meet our needs as it was not a multi-platform solution. ISL Online remote desktop software, on the other hand, turned out to be platform independent thus meeting one of our key criteria, beside a high security. After the assessment team had tested it and categorized it as the best solution, very simple to use, the decision was easy.

What are the benefits in using ISL Online collaboration suite?
We consider ISL Online a business critical system. With its remote desktop support tool we managed to bridge the physical distance between a disabled person and our team, while still providing the same quality of our service. With remote assessments we save considerable amount of money and time without compromising the productivity.

We also appreciate an outstanding technical support and value the fact that we can talk to the ISL Online Tech team whenever we call or make a contact, unlike the other service that was hidden behind a corporate wall and was sometimes slow to respond.

Tell us how AbilityNet uses ISL Online collaboration suite?
Our helpdesk employees first start a secure remote connection with a person, then switch on a video call and desktop sharing to give real-time demonstrations of how to use an application or a problematic function. We love the fact that the software works on all major operating systems, including Windows, Linux, Mac and mobile platforms (iOS, Windows mobile).

Do you use ISL Online on a daily basis?
AbilityNet annually supports over 4,000 disabled users at their own homes, offices or local community centres over the Internet by using ISL Online remote desktop support and access software. Without such a tool the same team would have been able to resolve only half of these cases per year.

About AbilityNet
AbilityNet is a leading UK charity organization helping disabled people use computers and the Internet by adapting and adjusting their technology. AbilityNet helps disabled people stay in work, maintain their independence and achieve things they thought would be impossible because of their disability. The organization enjoys support of IBM, The British Computer Society, Microsoft, BT, and supports over 490,000 adults and children annually, offering them individual assessments and support services.

Interested in sharing your story? Email me at nejafp@islonline.com.