GoToAssist

GoToAssist

Where companies connect.
Industry	Technology
Genre	Remote support, mobile support, and help desk
Founded	1997
Headquarters	Raleigh, NC
Key people	Jesse Lipson (VP & GM, Data Sharing)
Website	gotoassist.com

GoToAssist is a cloud-based toolset for IT support teams and customer support organizations. Since 2012, GoToAssist has been composed of 3 integrated modules – remote support, IT monitoring and service desk management. GoToAssist was originally released in 2000 as the first Internet-based remote support tool. It is part of the “GoTo” family of products created by the SaaS division of Citrix Systems.

GoToAssist was originally developed by Expertcity, which was founded in Santa Barbara, California in 1997. GoToAssist Remote Support enables users to access and control remote computers and other Internet-connected devices in order to provide technical support. The solution allows a desktop view of a host computer to be manipulated from a client computer. The two machines are connected through a TCP/IP network. One of Expertcity’s innovations was to employ the Internet for connectivity, protecting transmissions with high-security encryption and multiple passwords. By combining a web-based software service with software installed on the host computer, transmissions could be passed through highly restrictive firewalls.

June 2000 saw the initial debut of DesktopStreaming (now GoToAssist Corporate). GoToAssist was targeted to external-facing customer contact centers and internal-facing IT departments and help desks. Expertcity soon released another product in its GoTo line in early 2001: GoToMyPC, which allows a user to remotely access his or her own desktop.

In December 2003, Citrix Systems of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, acquired the GoToAssist service and its developer, Expertcity, for $225 million, half cash and half stock.

GoToAssist has gone through a series of editions. Most notably, GoToAssist Express was released in 2009. In contrast with the older version of GoToAssist (which was renamed GoToAssist Corporate), GoToAssist Express (now known simply as GoToAssist) was designed for individuals and small teams of IT professionals and software consultants and marketed to small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). While not possessing all the administrative and queuing features of the full GoToAssist Corporate product, the straight GoToAssist version included an additional functionality: technicians could access and control remote computers and servers even when no end-user is present at the machine.