Is There a Better Zoho Assist Alternative?

Your day just started and your messaging app is already flooding with incoming tickets. It seems like everyone is having technical difficulties today, but somehow no one is very good at explaining exactly what’s happening.

A few years ago, you could’ve popped up from your desk to try and find each end user, or asked them to come down to IT so you could look at their device and truly understand what’s going on. 

In hybrid and remote worlds, that’s no longer an option. Thankfully, organizations have begun adopting web-based, remote access software you can use to quickly identify issues on employees’ devices and fix them from afar.

But not all of these tools are created equal, and picking the right one can mean the difference between top-tier service and general IT resentment.

Below, we introduce one of these tools, Zoho Assist, review the pros and cons of using it as your primary remote assistance solution, and offer a robust alternative: JumpCloud Remote Assist.

What Is Zoho Assist?

Zoho Assist is a remote support software vendor that enables IT or MSP teams to deliver secure support via the cloud. With Zoho Assist, companies can support employees located anywhere in the world on any device.

Organizations can decide to install Zoho Assist on all company-owned devices to provide unattended access or ask users to download and install the program at the start of a remote support session for attended access. With unattended access, technicians can access any device at any time — even if users aren’t online or using them.

Like other remote assistance tools, Zoho Assist allows users to transfer files, use remote desktop protocol to screen share, and schedule IT appointments in advance.

Zoho Assist Advantages

Zoho Assist has several distinct advantages over other remote support solutions. Here are just a few ways the platform stands out:

• Strong diagnostics capabilities, enabling IT teams or MSP vendors to see the specifications of every piece of hardware on a Windows computer and shut down applications from the task manager, if necessary.
• Built specifically for IT with a fairly straightforward technician and group setup, the ability to pull in other technicians for additional assistance, SSL and 256-bit AES encryption, and a whiteboard to help team members explain their thought processes to each other and end users.
• Native integrations with Microsoft Teams, Google Contacts, and Slack to facilitate instant communication between the technician and end user. The native chat feature in Zoho Assist can have a significant lag.
• Syncs with other Zoho products easily, which is good for organizations that are already using Zoho’s CRM, expense, or helpdesk platforms and are familiar with the Zoho interface.
• Mobile device access for Android and Apple mobile devices. Although Zoho Assist works on both operating systems, it works best on Android, and the performance isn’t ideal — it’s difficult to navigate a mobile phone using a mouse and keyboard.
• 15-day free trial for admins to test all of Zoho Assist’s enterprise features. After the trial period is up, the platform is free for personal use.

Zoho Assist Disadvantages

Zoho Assist can be beneficial for customers that already rely on Zoho tools. But at its core, Zoho Assist is just another tool IT has to learn and manage, adding complexity to an already crowded tech stack.

Besides having to manage yet another platform, Zoho Assist customers have also reported:

• Severe connection issues: Even with great Wi-Fi, users’ screens don’t always display properly, making it tough for IT and MSPs to troubleshoot and provide seamless support, particularly for anything involving graphics or media.
• Unpredictable updates: Sometimes updates don’t install properly the first time around, forcing IT to waste valuable time uninstalling and reinstalling it.
• Poor audio quality: When troubleshooting, it’s helpful for IT and MSP teams to hear the accessed machine, but Zoho Assist is missing remote audio.
• Built specifically for IT: Yes, this is in the advantages and disadvantages section. While more experienced technicians may be able to get up and running right away, the onboarding process for more junior staff is fairly unintuitive. Zoho Assist also lacks an extensive knowledge base, limiting new IT or MSP employees’ ability to self-service.
• Lagging support: It takes a while to get a hold of the Zoho Assist support team, tacking on extra hours to tickets that could’ve been resolved quicker with faster vendor communication.
• Unreliable online/offline status markers: If IT or an MSP needs an end user to authorize access to their device, this can severely disrupt their workflow.
• Doesn’t offer full remote control to certain devices: With Zoho Assist, admins can’t remotely control Mac devices on version 10.14 or above.

Is JumpCloud an Alternative to Zoho Assist?

While there are plenty of feature-rich desktop support vendors out there, none of them — not even Zoho Assist — are part of an existing open directory platform. 

Except for JumpCloud.

JumpCloud’s Remote Assist software is the only remote support vendor built with an open directory structure in mind that provides IT teams the flexibility to use the systems and protocols they prefer to manage in their environments.

Because Remote Assist is tightly integrated with device management, admins can regularly update devices from afar and monitor identity, access, and password management through a single cloud-based console.

For IT teams, unified cloud device management significantly decreases overhead, allowing them to serve more end users in less time. For MSPs, centralizing this activity into a multi-tenant portal (MTP) can dramatically increase reselling margins. 

Unlike other vendors, JumpCloud Remote Assist also works with all operating systems, empowering IT and MSP teams to help every employee, not just Windows users. And with other unique features like connecting or switching between two or more monitors, copying and pasting from the clipboard, and simple (yet secure) technician authentication and authorization, IT and MSP teams can improve their efficiency and productivity while increasing end user satisfaction. 

Curious to see how JumpCloud compares to your current remote support solution? Take it for a spin by signing up for JumpCloud Free today, and use Remote Assist for free for up to 10 users and 10 devices for as long as you need until you scale to more.