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In March 2006, through a chance encounter with remote assistance technology while dealing with a tractor GPS system, T G Allison realised that by using an Internet connection to remotely access a farmer’s milking system, issues could instantly be resolved without travelling the length and breadth of West Wales and adding to environmental problems.
T G Allison chose Citrix® GoToAssist® to power its remote support service and Citrix® GoToMyPC® to allow the company to remotely access a farmer’s PC even when the farmer is not at his computer. “Quite often farmers are in the yard or milking parlour when they realise there is a problem with the system, so are unable to go online immediately to join a remote support session. But by using GoToMyPC and with the farmer’s permission, we can simply connect to his PC and then use GoToAssist to instantly fix the problem,” Allison explained.
The Citrix Online products are supplied as a Software as a Service (SaaS) solution, which means that they are instantly available via an Internet connection. As a result, no on-site testing for GoToMyPC or GoToAssist was involved and no software or hardware installations were necessary. This meant that the remote assistant solution was deployed effectively and in accordance with the desired timeline.
Travel less – become greener
T G Allison is determined to lead the way by reducing its carbon footprint. Since May 2007, the company has offered the remote support service to all its customers with great success. As a result, T G Allison’s staff covers an average of 40 miles per week, instead of the 200 miles that they used to travel. “By travelling less we are having a positive impact on the environment, overall reducing our carbon emissions by 80 percent,” Allison explained.
“People are becoming more ‘green’ aware and are determined to do their bit to reduce global warming. Farmers are particularly aware of damage to the environment and as a result, we are finding that they are interested in working with a company that is trying to reduce its carbon footprint.”
Rapid response to customers
The speed at which customer issues are resolved has also been dramatically increased. Previously, farmers had to wait for an engineer to drive to their farm, which could often take several hours. But with the Citrix Online solutions, T G Allison can instantly connect to a farmer’s milking software, and identify and rectify any issues within a matter of minutes.
“Our customers love the fact that we can connect to their system instantly and avoid any downtime. This is critical for dairy farmers who rely on the software system to manage the feed for each cow. If the system goes down, the cattle may not be fed optimally, which can affect herd performance and profitability,” added Allison.
“Most farmers are baffled by terms like ‘remote access’ but once they understand that it means that they can get help straight away should things go wrong, they are keen to sign up. We have never been so busy and currently have enough business to keep us going until Spring 2008.” GoToAssist has also increased the company’s productivity. Employees are now able to handle more customers as a result of spending more time in the office and less time on the road.
Unexpected benefit
Although T G Allison bought the Citrix Online suite of products to remotely support the milking software, the company recently discovered they can also support a herd management system that many farmers use to monitor and account for cows that are not part of the milking herd. This system is managed from a personal digital assistant (PDA), which the farmer carries with him at all times. The system recently failed for one farmer, who called on Allison to fix it.
“The farmer was in a terrible state. His system had completely frozen and he was unable to get an accurate overview of his entire herd. Particularly worrisome was the fact that he could not access health records on each cow,” explained Allison. “I suggested to him that I could try initiating a GoToAssist session to his PDA to see if I could get to the bottom of the problem. It worked beautifully! I quickly fixed the problem and the farmer was able to ensure that each cow was being handled appropriately.”
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