Are you technically inclined?  Are you interested in helping the technologically inept in society?   Are you one of the technologically inept I was just referring to?  Then no matter which category you classify yourself, SupportSpace.com might be for you.

So as it happens, I was reading through some back issues of a popular PC magazine I used to subscribe to; that was before I became too cheap to renew my subscription.  Well, that and I could get it free since there’s a library not fifty feet from my office, but I digress.  Anyway, in the July 2008 edition I came across an interesting piece on SupportSpace.com.  I’ll admit the concept of freelance pc support intrigued me enough that I decided to take a closer look and blog my findings.  Bear in mind that I have not used the service, nor am I a so called expert (more on that soon) so the following are my opinions and observations garnered from information provided on SupportSpace.com.

As I said, this is all freelance, the “experts” are not SupportSpace.com employees.  Actually, SupportSpace.com describes them as “independent contractors” which in plain English means they’re regular individuals who have a passion for technology and a desire to help others.  The desire to make money probably ranks up there as well.  In the profiles I viewed, many tout some kind of IT background, but some simply appear to possess an above average tech proficiency.  Bottom line is it appears anyone can request to be an expert, but there is a certification process before one is allowed to begin assisting SupportSpace.com customers.  After all, experts can come and go but it’s SupportSpace.com’s reputation on the line.

The certification process includes some general information gathering such as e-mail address confirmation and the expert’s qualifications but it does get a little invasive as one of the steps includes a “background and criminal check.”  Once you’re past these steps you’re subjected to an online examination by SupportSpace.com to test your “knowledge and customer service skills.”  If your tech halo hasn’t lost any of its luster by this point, the next phase is a phone interview and a “live simulated session to verify the Expert’s phone manner, service skills, and suitability for our platform.”  If you pass that, congratulations, you’ve joined the Virtual Expert Network.  No, I have no idea what that is, but I’ll bet you get a nifty membership card and some bragging rights.

So you’re a certified expert, all you need now are some people looking for that elusive “any” key.

In a nutshell, SupportSpace.com acts as an intermediary between knowledge holders (experts) and knowledge seekers, otherwise known as common folk since you’re better than them now.  Anyone having a technical problem in areas as diverse as mobile phones, printers, viruses, and software installation, a complete list is available on the website, can log-in to SupportSpace.com and shop from the list of “experts” who happen to be online and available.  Yes, the user picks the technician they want.  At the time of this writing, 11 experts were online, with seven of those busy in active support sessions.

Marketing is obviously important on the part of the expert since it’s your job to sell yourself and your services.  It’s SupportSpace.com’s job to bring the masses to the website, but an expert must still sell himself/herself as it’s the user’s right to choose an expert.  Many of the expert profiles described their experience, and listed the categories of problems they felt qualified to assist a user with.

This is also a good place to stop and discuss the pricing structure.  As an “independent contractor” experts seem to have the ability to charge as much or as little as they want.  A new expert may not be able to command as much as someone with hundreds or thousands of support cases under their belt.  Experts may charge a fee for each minute they spend on a case or they can charge a flat rate for specific tasks performed for the user.  Other options exist but I’m trying to keep it simple here.  Fees can be negotiable as well it seems as the expert submits a job offer to the user which includes a breakdown of all work to be performed and all costs involved prior to performing any work on the user’s computer.  The user could conceivably negotiate a better rate prior to the expert submitting and the user’s acceptance of the job offer.

As the payment processor between the two parties, SupportSpace.com naturally takes a cut of whatever the expert makes.  According to the fine print, it’s 25% if a single expert is involved in a case.  It becomes a little more complicated if referrals come into play should an expert have to pass off a customer to another expert if a problem is more complex than initially thought or falls outside their area of expertise.  All of the details of SupportSpace.com’s fee structure are detailed in their terms of service, so I won’t cover them here.

So let’s say the user has chosen you as their expert and a price has been agreed upon.  How do you assist the user?  Well, SupportSpace.com provides the remote support platform that experts can use.  In other articles I’ve read it appears experts are free to go outside of that platform as well.  Chat is the primary means of communication between the expert and the user.  SupportSpace.com provides VOIP functionality for experts as well.  As a note, the call must be requested by the user and as a matter of privacy this blogger doubts that the phone number is displayed to the expert.  The SupportSpace.com software probably takes care of it all.  At least that’s how I hope it works.  SupportSpace.com’s software also provides for screen sharing, and remote control by the expert, again all at the user’s request.  File transfer between the expert and user is available but is subject to the user’s permission.

Once the problem is fixed and the support session has ended, user’s are asked to rate their experience and the expert they worked with.  Hopefully they do as I’m sure experts live and die by their ratings.  If things didn’t go as planned for the user, SupportSpace.com offers a full money back guarantee.  Many experts tout their own “fixed or free” guarantee that echoes the policy of SupportSpace.com.

Another interesting item I’d like to add is that SupportSpace.com also offers their services to partner businesses.  Lavasoft for example, the maker of the popular Ad-Aware software application, points users to a SupportSpace.com expert from the support section of their website.  As I said before, it’s SupportSpace.com’s job to bring the masses to the website for the experts.  Partner relationships do just that by bringing traffic to the SupportSpace.com website and in turn drive business for the experts.  I can also see the value of this service for home or small business as well, those without the means to have dedicated technical support at their beckon call.

Judging by the number of closed cases some of the experts display, the service seems to be popular.  The numbers weren’t growing exponentially during the 12 hour period I was watching the website, but in that time, assuming I’m interpreting the numbers correctly, one expert closed three cases.  If this was your full time job I imagine you could do well enough, though I wondered how or when the tax authorities get involved.  Even if you’re just looking to make a little coin on the side, there are worse things you could do than this.

So would I personally consider becoming an expert myself?  It’s always a possibility, but I really doubt it.  Virus or malware laden computers are difficult enough to deal with in person let alone trying to do it half a world away.  Besides, I’m a reformat kind of guy.  If it takes longer than 30 minutes to fix, they’re getting a wiped and rebuilt.  In the long run it saves me time, keeps my blood pressure under control, and saves my customer money since I’ve got the process down to under an hour depending on Windows Updates.  Setting up e-mail or a wireless network, installing a driver, ok those would probably be easy money, but given the state of so many computers I see, those are probably a smaller minority of the support cases opened by users of SupportSpace.com.  In summary, if you’re looking for some extra cash, don’t know what to do with your Friday nights, and have the patience of a saint, SupportSpace.com might be for you.

Disclaimer:  Penn State employs hundreds of tech-support personnel, whom are experts in their own right, and therefore makes no use of the services provided by SupportSpace.com.  Therefore the views expressed above are my own.

This entry was written by Shawn AlbrightcloseAuthor: Shawn Albright Name: Shawn Albright
Email: sla161@psu.edu
Site: http://www.ma.psu.edu/its
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