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It's back to basics for Dell, as the leading PC maker pushes low-tech alternatives for tech support: e-mail and telephone.

The company plans to ditch its Resolution Assistant, a technical support option that connects customers immediately to support technicians via the Internet. The connection was designed to provide remote trouble-shooting and PC fixes--a high-tech alternative to phone support.

Dell has installed Resolution Assistant on most of its business and consumer desktop and notebook computers over the past two years. Starting July 31, Dell will discontinue the feature in new PCs, leaving only the direct connection by telephone or delayed-response e-mail. Current customers who try to run Resolution Assistant after that date will be directed to Dell's e-mail-based tech support, says Bryant Hilton, Dell spokesperson.

Motive Communications, a third-party tech-support provider, has been providing the Resolution Assistant support for Dell's customers.

"Resolution Assistant wasn't providing the customer experience we wanted," Hilton says. While customers used the feature, too often they also picked up the phone and called tech support, confused by the support feature. "Bottom line is, it didn't reduce call volumes," he says.

Tech Support Ain't Cheap

Computer companies hate calls to technical support as much as customers hate getting stuck on hold when they call. A call to tech support may be free to customers, but it costs a vendor between $35 to $50, according to Gartner Dataquest. If a customer spends an hour on the phone with a senior support technician, the cost can shoot as high as $400. Automated support systems can save companies considerable amounts of money by reducing call volumes, says Tony Adams, a Gartner Dataquest senior analyst.

Gateway and Hewlett-Packard also use Motive Communications for third-party tech support. IBM and MicronPC use competitor Support.com.

Motive and Support.com work similarly. Each establishes an Internet connection to your PC, then gathers information about your system, including configuration, files, applications, and options, and automatically performs system diagnostics and changes. You may be directed online where to download a self-installing fix or chat live with a support technician to help troubleshoot and solve your problem.

If service representatives can get your system configuration via remote diagnostics when you call, PC makers save support costs by reducing talk-time. But remote assistance doesn't eliminate cost altogether when a real-time interaction is initiated.

One analyst suspects Resolution Assistant is a victim of cost-cutting by Dell. In May, Dell announced it will save money by eliminating 3000 to 4000 jobs during the next two quarters, notes David Daniels, an analyst with Jupiter Media Metrix.

Dell risks alienating customers by prodding them increasingly to e-mail-based tech support, Daniels says. That could tarnish Dell's reputation as a leader in customer satisfaction.

"Customer behavior hasn't changed," Daniels says. "They still want human interaction."

Experimenting With Options

Despite Dell's decision to drop its online option, remote diagnostics and Net-based tech support trends are here to stay, says Gartner Dataquest analyst Adams. Its popularity is growing among vendors, including Compaq, Gateway, and HP. Also, a number of independent tech support sites are in business.

Perhaps Motive's technology and Dell's support mechanisms simply didn't mesh, Adams suggests. "It may have simply been a shoe that didn't fit," he says.

Over the years, Dell has invested heavily in piecing together an impressive array of support offerings. Its online resources include an e-mail auto-responder, a BBS, driver downloads, BIOS upgrades, bug fixes, online documentation, an online knowledge base, and Ask Dudley, an online troubleshooting system.

Dell says that shelving Resolution Assistant in no way diminishes the company's commitment to other Dell online support options.

"Our top priority is providing the best customer service experience as possible," Hilton says. "We know what works and what doesn't. And Resolution Assistant isn't working."

Dell will continue to work with Motive to identify other opportunities that better fit its customers' needs, Hilton says.

Motive says it is nonplussed by Dell's move.

"We have seen great results with our customers," says David Gibbs, Motive spokesperson. He says some of its 80 customers have experienced 30 to 50 percent drops in calls to tech support.

At any rate, PC makers continue to experiment with the right mix of tech support options for their customers. Gateway is reporting success with its recently introduced CoPilot remote diagnostics and real-time online support. It uses a combination of Motive and ExpertCity technology. ExpertCity allows PC technicians to have remote control of your entire PC, as does Symantec's PCAnywhere.

"We have seen customer satisfaction jump considerably," says Lisa Emard, a Gateway spokesperson.

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