Atomoo May Be First ‘Managed Services’ Firm to Focus on Integrators

Adding Full Support

There are advanced services as well, with the consumer's cost starting at maybe $175 per month.

For that, Atomoo provides full troubleshooting, remotely prowling around the customer's network to determine the exact cause of any glitches, fixing the problem when possible, or dispatching the home systems integrator if onsite support is required.

If all of this sounds expensive, take a look at some of the consumer-oriented PC support services such as PlumChoice, ComputerAssistant.com, HiWired and PC Pinpoint. Online support typically starts at around $59 "per incident."

In the case of PC Pinpoint, you can subscribe to a full year of service (remote diagnostics and support) for $150. But that's just one for one PC.

Add $99 per computer and don't even think about including a home automation system or IP-based music server into the mix.

Plus, with Atomoo, you get the Windows Home Server and online backup, and support from professionals who know the home systems business.

Can you Afford not to?

How many labor hours do you spend troubleshooting and fixing a customer's "system" when it has nothing to do with your work, and everything to do with the network?

Their Internet goes down. That's a service call.

Their media server locks up. Another service call.

IP cameras go dark. Service call.

Because you touched any part of the home network, it's always going to be "your fault."

Managed services for the home has got to be part of an integrator's product line, whether for the recurring revenue, enhanced performance of your customers' system, or simply an end to those late-night calls every time your customer's computer locks up. (I first brought this up in a CE Pro editorial several years ago, "Managed Services for the Home.")

Virtually every system you install in the next few years will have a networking component.

Do you really want to set up a back room with servers and network diagnostic software and IT specialists who can monitor your customers' networks round the clock?

Worse, do you want to get a service call when a networked refrigerator stops refrigerating?