The ability to offer remote technical support to campus customers is a critical component of any help desk team. Having tech teams be able to see and control devices of their customers remotely is at the core of being able to troubleshoot and ultimately help rectify technical issues as they arise. Remote support empowers help desks, service desks, or local IT staff to support Windows and Macs to better serve their staff, faculty, or student customers. Below is a comparision of the three most widely used remote support tools available on campus.
Remote Support Tool Comparison
Which option is best for you? |
BeyondTrust Remote Support (formerly Bomgar) |
Zoom (using "Remote support" option that can be enabled in Zoom account settings) |
Google Meet |
| Best Uses | Advanced remote support tool - able to elevate permissions on Windows computers and gather detailed technical information from remote computer. | Screen sharing and ability to control remote computer along with audio/video call capability. | Simple screen sharing with audio/video call capability. |
Key Features |
|||
| Screen viewing and control | Yes | Yes | Screen viewing only |
| Ability to interact with User Account Control (UAC) prompts to enter administrator credentials on Windows computers | Yes | No | No |
| Gather detailed technical information from client computer (OS, CPU, memory, running programs/processes, etc.) | Yes | No | No |
| Reconnecting automatically if remote session drops or remote computer needs to be restarted | Yes | No | No |
| File transfer | Yes | No | No |
| Ability to transfer remote support session to another IT staff member | Yes | No | No |
| Cost | Paid by department requesting license(s): One-time fee of ~$2,300 + first year maintenance of ~$600 for a total of ~$3,000 upfront per license. Yearly maintenance thereafter is ~$600/license. | Zoom Licensed Accounts provided at no direct costs for faculty, staff, students - covered by IT Productivity Suite and Student Tech Fees. | Google Meet is provided as part of G Suite for Education license; no direct costs for faculty, staff, students - covered by IT Productivity Suite Fee. |
| Security | Hosted on campus | Hosted off campus, approved for use with computers accessing UC P3 data. | Hosted off campus, approved for use with computers accessing UC P3 data. |
| Get started | Contact IST Endpoint Operations and Services | Login to Zoom and follow these instructions to enable "Remote Support" setting before starting a Zoom meeting. | Use your CalNet credentials to log into Google Meet. |
