I was recently told by my supervisor(and incidentally, the executive director of our organization) that she viewed the use of RD as "the lazy man's job" and that I should conduct support in person. It should also be noted that my supervisor claims to have a "degree in networking". Any thoughts or suggestions on this situation?
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I don't think using a remote connection automatically qualifies you as 'lazy'. There are plenty of circumstances when it makes sense.
However, I think the benefits of face-to-face assistance are worth getting out of your chair. Personal attention can give users that warm, fuzzy feeling that makes the department look good. It can improve your communications and interpersonal skills. You may notice potential problems that aren't apparent in a remote session: bad ergonomics, plants or liquid containers on the CPU, potential for KVMs, etc. You can buy a whole lot of good will with a couple of screen cleaning wipes.
So I'll be in FLA on Wednesday, TX on Thursday and NYC on Friday, I'm sure my boss will be thrilled. You can explain it to him. Not every one supports users in the same building, or the same town or even the same country.
Just make sure you have a copy of the email that said to do support in person when they come to talk about how your efficiency has plummeted.
For the record, I believe your supervisor is wrong. Not using remote desktop tools when available so that you spend a longer time on each issue would strike me as far more lazy than using the proper tool for the job.
We have field techs that take care of calls that can't be handled via remote. Printers, most hardware issues, etc... On the other hand, the person working via remote can handle 10 jobs in the amount of time it would take to drive to 2 or 3 three of those locations and fix the issues.
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Remote Desktop Support, The Lazy Man's Job?