Zoho Assist Enterprise: Uncomplicated cloud-hosted remote support

A great choice for SMBs that want uncomplicated cloud-hosted remote support, Zoho Assist has been updated with a range of features that make it appealing to larger companies as well. Zoho's flexible plans mean you only pay for the features you need and can upgrade, downgrade or cancel the contract on a whim.

The generous free plan supports one technician, unlimited sessions, remote control, chat and clipboard-sharing tools, plus five unattended desktops that permit secure access without the user being present. More demanding support departments can choose from Standard, Professional and Enterprise plans, with discounts for monthly or yearly contracts. Unattended access is a separate module with two pricing plans. All remote support plans, including the free one, come with five complimentary licences; if you want more, you'll need to purchase separate licences, with each price tier enabling 25 sessions.

The Enterprise plan on review unleashes a wealth of tools and yet costs only £19 per technician a month. It takes everything from the Standard and Professional plans and adds departmental grouping, session recording and auditing, voice and video chat, service queues and more.

The technician web portal is consistent across all plans, and a recent redesign makes it even easier to use. When creating on-demand support sessions, the portal loads a web page with a unique nine-digit code plus options to copy the web link and send an invitation via email or SMS. Users enter these details in their browser or click on the email link to download the Assist runtime app and permit the connection.

Zoho is well aware of the risks of unsolicited invitations and cautions the user to only accept legitimate requests. For extra reassurance, you can create custom email templates with company-specific information. When the user gives permission, the technician portal loads a web page with an active remote session while users receive a system tray app with options to stop sharing, chat, swap screens, annotate and end the session.

Technicians can open up to six sessions simultaneously with a sidebar on each one providing quick access to tools such as remote reboot, screen sharing, voice or video chat, file transfer and inviting other technicians to join in. Multiple client monitors are supported and the new live monitor feature shows them all on one screen.

For always-on access, the Assist unattended app is installed on client devices with versions provided for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and Raspberry Pi. It's preconfigured for your account and, once installed, systems appear in the technician portal for one-click access.

Mobile device support is superb. Zoho provides free Assist iOS and Android technician and customer apps with the latter providing screen-viewing, screenshot and file-transfer features. Field technicians will love the new live camera assistance; support staff can access the camera on iOS and Android mobiles from their web portal, though this requires the Zoho Lens app, which is an extra purchase.

Service queues in the Enterprise plan allow users to access a custom web portal or an embedded link in the company website and raise support requests. Post-session URL redirection can be used to gather client feedback by sending them to another web page, with one URL per department allowed.

Zoho Assist Enterprise packs in a remarkable number of remote support features and is a great choice for larger businesses. The slick technician portal is easy to use, platform support is tops and the flexible licensing plans make it equally appealing to SMBs.