Service enables IT charity to aid twice as many people and reduce travel by 95% per year

Amersham, UK – January 27, 2009 – By using online collaboration services in the software-as-a-service model, UK charity AbilityNet has been able to double its support for people with disabilities while significantly reducing its operating expenses. In 2008, AbilityNet helped more than 500,000 disabled adults and children use computers and the Internet to improve their employment prospects, to more freely access online services and to advance their independence.

Using the Citrix® GoToAssist® remote support solution, AbilityNet is delivering virtual, one-to-one assessments to help disabled adults and children to better understand how to set up and use their computers and the Internet. AbilityNet assessors can remotely access participants’ PCs with the service to initiate a joint one-on-one session and help them to adapt and adjust their IT setup and software. Screen-sharing features enabling keyboard and mouse control between the user and assessor make it easy to demonstrate applications or show how to complete a task. This Web-based approach is enabling the assessors to cut back on face-to-face visits, reducing their mileage from as much as 20,000 miles per year to less than a hundred.

These benefits have enabled AbilityNet to double the number of remote assessments that it offered over the last 18 months compared to a prior period. As a result, they are now using GoToAssist to service contracts with the Motor Neurone Disease Association and the Wales Remote Assessment Project funded by the Big Lottery Fund. GoToAssist is also playing an integral role in enabling AbilityNet to provide training and support directly to nurseries and children’s centres as part of a second lottery funded project, “Play At IT” which aims to ensure inclusion for children with disabilities in nurseries across England.

David Banes, director of development, AbilityNet, commented: “Our assessments are most effective when people are evaluated in their home or work environment. With GoToAssist, our assessors can support users as if they were sitting next to them, eliminating travel time and expense and enabling us to double the number of assessments we can provide. The service has been well received by our users and consistently achieves very good feedback.”

Following their success with GoToAssist, AbilityNet has adopted Citrix® GoToMeeting® to train disabled people and their employers on how health problems or disabilities in the workplace can be overcome. The virtual online sessions, which are easy to use and cost effective, considering the flat monthly rate for unlimited meetings, are enabling AbilityNet to offer low-cost training for organisations across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

“In today’s challenging economic climate, it’s increasingly important for organisations to find ways to reduce costs without compromising productivity. By adopting online collaboration tools that are delivered in the software-as-a-service model, organisations like AbilityNet can instantly lower their operating expenses, increase their productivity and benefit from ongoing support and upgrades at no extra cost,” said Bernardo de Albergaria, vice president and general manager, Global Marketing and eCommerce for Citrix Online. “This is makes good business sense in any economic environment.”.

NOTES TO EDITORS
About AbilityNet

AbilityNet is a registered national charity (charity no. 1067673) with over 20 years experience helping people adapt and adjust their information and communications technology (ICT). For more information, visit www.abilitynet.org.uk.

About Citrix Online
Citrix Online provides secure, easy-to-use online solutions that enable people to work from anywhere with anyone. Whether using GoToMyPC® to access and work on a remote PC, GoToAssist® to support customers, GoToMeeting® to hold online meetings or GoToWebinar® for large online events, our customers are increasing productivity, decreasing travel costs and improving sales, training and service on a global basis. We have more than 35,000 small and medium-sized businesses using our products, and hundreds of thousands of individual professionals as customers. A division of Citrix Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: CTXS), Citrix Online is based in Santa Barbara, California, with satellite offices and data centres throughout the world. For more information, visit www.citrixonline.com or call 805-690-6400.

About Citrix
Citrix Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CTXS) is the global leader and the most trusted name in application delivery infrastructure. More than 215,000 organizations worldwide rely on Citrix to deliver any application to users anywhere with the best performance, highest security and lowest cost. Citrix customers include 100 percent of the Fortune 100 companies and 99 percent of the Fortune Global 500, as well as hundreds of thousands of small businesses and prosumers. Citrix has approximately 8,000 partners in more than 100 countries. Annual revenue in 2007 was $1.4 billion.

Tags: Remote Support, GoToAssist, Online Collaboration, AbilityNet