What are the key reasons driving the adoption of remote access technology amongst enterprises?

As per IDC, the worldwide market for remote support tools will grow from USD 171 million in 2008 to USD 473 million in 2013, representing a five year CAGR of 22.6 percent. It is observed that this market is niche and growing. Several trends are driving this growth:  the economy is forcing businesses to do more with less; there is a shortage of skilled IT workers at branch locations; and telecommuters, remote workers and mobile workers are increasing as a percentage of the workforce.

With the concept of ‘enterprise mobility’ gaining a lot of momentum across the globe, the enterprises are facing security challenges and support challenges with respect to mobile devices being used by employees to access corporate data. How can remote access / remote support solutions resolve some of these issues?

Remote Access Technology and Enterprise Mobility

When it comes to managing enterprise mobility, it has been noticed that devices like tablets and smartphones are becoming “access” devices and enterprises are still figuring out how to best ensure data is neither lost nor accessed by unauthorized individuals. Enforcing password policies and employing capabilities that allow IT helpdesk to remotely lock a lost or stolen device are musts. Furthermore, keeping data behind a firewall on the network (where it can be backed up regularly) helps ensure its integrity.  Software like LogMeIn’s remote access solution, Ignition, enables users maintain high level of mobility that they have become accustomed to, and get access to the data on the corporate network via their tablet or smartphone, without actually downloading or storing that data on the device itself. Such a solution provides remote access to home or work computers over the web from the user’s iPhone/iPad, Android, Windows PC, etc.

Remote Support Technology and Enterprise Mobility

Enterprises are rapidly understanding that their employees are going mobile whether it’s sanctioned by IT or not.  Business users are going to use/introduce the products they want (e.g., iPhone or Nexus One vs. BlackBerry, Tablets, etc.). The support staff suddenly has to contend with multiple OSes, dozens of device manufacturers, and a seemingly endless array of new device types. Their need for support in managing this complexity and cost has never been greater.

The practices of standardizing IT equipment and environments in order to simplify IT support have become antiquated as businesses change; workers demand mobility, flexibility and choice; and Internet-based devices and platforms proliferate. This evolution demands that IT teams and the enterprise keep pace with the business and likewise adapt their processes, tools, and approach to support an increasingly dispersed and technologically diverse workforce. BPOs, MSPs, and Telcos are some of the verticals that have witnessed a lot of traction towards this technology.

LogMeIn’s Rescue was the first solution to offer remote support of Windows Mobile, Blackberry, Symbian and iPhone devices, and we recently extended this to support iPad tablets.  And yes, Android support is already in the works. Four, of the world’s top eight mobile operators use Rescue in their helpdesks.

What is the potential that LogMeIn is seeing in the Indian market? Who are some of your key customers in India?

Our business strategy is pretty simple, we provide SaaS-based remote access, support and collaboration solutions to quickly, simply and securely connect millions of Internet-enabled devices— computers, smartphones, iPad tablets, digital displays, etc., across the globe. Currently LogMeIn's solutions empower over 10.4 million active users to connect more than 100 million devices.

India is a very strategic market to us; we have had a terrific start in India with large managed services providers and technical support organizations deploying our solution at a large scale. Accenture, Quatrro are few bigger customers for us in India out of more than 20 enterprises who are using our solutions. And in the last one and a half year we have grown our customer base to include some of the larger Managed Service Providers. We want to build up on this initial momentum and are ramping in India by adding more sales and support staff.

Given this market scenario, we see incredible potential in the Indian market – with fleets of customer support desks that can benefit from offering their end-users on-demand remote support.  Our strategy has been to secure a few key customers to prove out the benefits this type of solution can have for Indian companies, and then bring the solution out to a broader audience.  That said, anyone can take a free trial of LogMeIn solutions at anytime by simply registering on our website.

The key markets/ verticals that we plan to target in India are managed service providers, outsourced IT services organizations and mobile service providers. Any organization providing technical support to internal and external customer can benefit from our solution(s).