Project Kabuto by RepairTech

[katz]

When Kabuto detects an issue it will pop-up a small dialog in the bottom right of the screen that says something along the lines of "We noticed you had an issue with XYZ. Please contact your technician for assistance." It would have your logo, branding, name, address, phone, email, etc. on it so that they know you installed it and that it's not malware.

While I like the idea of something like this to drive business to me, I still think my customers would not be able to differentiate between this and malware. I did a recent browser redirect cleaning on a laptop; the redirects included the customer's name and the name of their ISP, stating that it was a "questionnaire" from their ISP about their service, etc.

It was a very convincing webpage redirect, it looked genuine - complete with the ISP branding.

This program sounds like a good idea in theory, I'm just not sure how the client can be assured that it is the real deal, esp. in the day of very authentic looking java/adobe pop-ups and so forth.

 

[Krynn72]

While I like the idea of something like this to drive business to me, I still think my customers would not be able to differentiate between this and malware. I did a recent browser redirect cleaning on a laptop; the redirects included the customer's name and the name of their ISP, stating that it was a "questionnaire" from their ISP about their service, etc.

It was a very convincing webpage redirect, it looked genuine - complete with the ISP branding.

This program sounds like a good idea in theory, I'm just not sure how the client can be assured that it is the real deal, esp. in the day of very authentic looking java/adobe pop-ups and so forth.

I think the fact that you'll likely be telling them about it, face to face, will go a long way to alleviate that issue.

 

[altrenda]

I think the fact that you'll likely be telling them about it, face to face, will go a long way to alleviate that issue.

Because clients are so good at listening and remembering things you tell them.

This looks like it would be good for business, like HP Instant Ink, but for the customer, more of an annoyance than anything else.

 

[PCX]

Because clients are so good at listening and remembering things you tell them.

This looks like it would be good for business, like HP Instant Ink, but for the customer, more of an annoyance than anything else.

It shouldn't be annoying if it is only going to pop up IF and WHEN there is an issue. The only way it would become annoying after that is if they keep ignoring it and it keeps popping up with the same error. I guess at that point, I would suggest a check box that says remind me later and a checkbox that says to never show this warning again. It would still show warnings, just not that particular one.

I think that with mentioning this to the customer and WITH your logo on the pop up, that it should trigger something in the customers mind and hopefully get them to call you. Even if they didn't listen, but they see our logo, it should have the same effect. If nothing else, we will get the notification and we can call them. I guess we will really never know until we try it. I hope there will be a 30 day trial of some sort.

 

[andveg38]

I really like this idea, Ian. I've been using Soluto and have had multiple install issues. I want a better solution and this looks like what I need.

 

[cypress]

Is this being considered for monthly pricing, annual or one time fee?

 

[repairtechinc]

"Is this being considered for monthly pricing, annual or one time fee?"

The pricing isn't finalized yet, but my hypothesis is that it will be an annual fee. It should be incredibly affordable to the point where every shop thinks it's a no-brainer. While I have you here, I might as well ask: Let's say there was a plan that allowed you to install this on an unlimited number of computers, with all the features included except for proactive monitoring (so you'd have to wait for the customer to contact you). What do you think a fair annual price is for that?

Ian

 

[repairtechinc]

"I think that with mentioning this to the customer and WITH your logo on the pop up, that it should trigger something in the customers mind and hopefully get them to call you. Even if they didn't listen, but they see our logo, it should have the same effect. If nothing else, we will get the notification and we can call them. I guess we will really never know until we try it. I hope there will be a 30 day trial of some sort."

Here's a screenshot. Your logo would be there, not ours.

I'm pretty sure that if your mailing address and logo are on the popup, people would know it's installed by you. What do you think?

Ian

 

[PCX]

"Is this being considered for monthly pricing, annual or one time fee?"

The pricing isn't finalized yet, but my hypothesis is that it will be an annual fee. It should be incredibly affordable to the point where every shop thinks it's a no-brainer. While I have you here, I might as well ask: Let's say there was a plan that allowed you to install this on an unlimited number of computers, with all the features included except for proactive monitoring (so you'd have to wait for the customer to contact you). What do you think a fair annual price is for that?

Ian

I think there should be a monthly and annual pricing as well as a 30 day trial. As for specific pricing, I'll have to give that some thought.

 

[cypress]

I think there should be a monthly and annual pricing as well as a 30 day trial. As for specific pricing, I'll have to give that some thought.

Ian, I want to agree with this. I'd like to try it out for 30 days but then have the option to pay monthly or annually. Personally I always like to pay the price in advance rather than do the month to month. When it comes to the price, that is a tough one. I do like the feature or pro active monitoring.

 

[SprinterTech-WI]

I just recently picked up a 3 tech license to your repairtech software as we're needing to do more and more automation, so far so good... liking what you all are doing over there! on this project one thing I would like to add is an option to have either multiple addresses or a "click for closest location" option, I have 3 stores for now and as we grow I don't want customers not coming back because they think their local store has closed.

Also - is their a way to offer a custom scheduled popup? for instance if I want to schedule a popup every 6 months that thanks them for their business and recommends they schedule a software tuneup -- or that alerts them their av software is about to expire and alerts them to call us.

 

[cypress]

Also - is their a way to offer a custom scheduled popup? for instance if I want to schedule a popup every 6 months that thanks them for their business and recommends they schedule a software tuneup -- or that alerts them their av software is about to expire and alerts them to call us.

Great idea! Especially the last part, it will help in really getting alot of sales with anti-virus software.

 

[Davena]

I just recently picked up a 3 tech license to your repairtech software as we're needing to do more and more automation, so far so good... liking what you all are doing over there! on this project one thing I would like to add is an option to have either multiple addresses or a "click for closest location" option, I have 3 stores for now and as we grow I don't want customers not coming back because they think their local store has closed.

Also - is their a way to offer a custom scheduled popup? for instance if I want to schedule a popup every 6 months that thanks them for their business and recommends they schedule a software tuneup -- or that alerts them their av software is about to expire and alerts them to call us.

I REALLY like this idea!

 

[repairtechinc]

"I just recently picked up a 3 tech license to your repairtech software as we're needing to do more and more automation, so far so good... liking what you all are doing over there!"

Thanks I appreciate it. You can expect a really cool release within a week!

"on this project one thing I would like to add is an option to have either multiple addresses or a "click for closest location" option, I have 3 stores for now and as we grow I don't want customers not coming back because they think their local store has closed. "

Great idea. I'll add this to the dev queue. It probably won't be built in to the first version, but there will be an update system so we can add it in after-the-fact.

"Also - is their a way to offer a custom scheduled popup? for instance if I want to schedule a popup every 6 months that thanks them for their business and recommends they schedule a software tuneup -- or that alerts them their av software is about to expire and alerts them to call us."

Yes, there will be a time-based trigger that allows you to say something on a time interval you set.

Let me know if you have any other questions or thoughts, you guys are full of good ideas.

Ian

 

[repairtechinc]

Ian, I want to agree with this. I'd like to try it out for 30 days but then have the option to pay monthly or annually. Personally I always like to pay the price in advance rather than do the month to month. When it comes to the price, that is a tough one. I do like the feature or pro active monitoring.

I believe we're going to go with a freemium model for Kabuto. You'll be able to use it for free to start, but with less features. As you require more features and want to install it on more computers, you can bump up your plan. I'm not sure on pricing, but as far as the tiers here's what we're thinking:

Free Tier
Install on up to 10 computers
2 Triggers
No monitoring

Startup Plan - $XX / Year
Install on up to 100 computers
3 Triggers
Monitoring Pricing: $1/mo/computer (3 computers included)

Pro Plan - $YYY / Year
Install on up to 1000 computers
All triggers
Monitoring Pricing: $1/mo/computer (10 computers included)

Enterprise Plan $ZZZ / Year
Install on unlimited computers
All triggers
Monitoring Pricing: $1/mo/computer (30 computers included)

A trigger = A problem that Kabuto would detect on the computer (for example: Failing Hard Drive) that causes it to pop up with your info.

Would love to know what you guys think are fair prices for those pricing plans, maybe you could fill in the blank? We're still playing with it, but our general premise is we want a no-brainer price that every repair shop would be happy to see.

Ian

 

[altrenda]

It looks like this is geared towards the residential market, since it doesn't really fit business use.

My question is about your data collection policy. Since the repair shop is your customer and not the end user, how do you plan to handle the permission issue for their data being sent to you and used by you? Even if it is anonymous, which you don't state in your privacy statement, will you provide some type of form the customer can sign to protect the repair company from problems, real or imagined, from security breaches or other problems?

It may sound paranoid, but I never put it passed a customer to try to place blame wherever they can.

 

[repairtechinc]

Good on you for being concerned about your users.

We're adding a link to the application so the consumer can click "What is this?" and it will pop up a detailed description of what Kabuto does, and how it got on their system. It will also contain an itemized list of all data collected by Kabuto, and what it's used for (for debugging and product improvement purposes, and for your ability to service their computer). Nothing in there will be risque, it's all pretty boring information, so even if there was a breach it's not like anyone would gain anything significant from it. Here's a sample of the data to give you an idea:

• Hardware specs
• OS specs (version, 32/64 bit, etc)
• Hard Drive Health
• Computer Name
• Your shop's info
• History of failed triggers

Pretty mundane, right? It's not like we're cataloging their files or anything.

Ian

 

[repairtechinc]

It looks like this is geared towards the residential market, since it doesn't really fit business use.

Even if it is anonymous, which you don't state in your privacy statement

Thank you for pointing this out, I've made a change to our privacy policy: "In the event that we release a report to the public, all data will be anonymized."

 

[cypress]

Hey everybody, I am giving this thread a much needed bump. Last week I attended the webinar with the specific intent on learning more about Kabuto and how the progress is going. I really liked it a lot. I spoke with @repairtechinc and was given his permission to post these screen shots. He also reminded to remind everyone to sign up on www.projectkabuto.com to receive discounts when it is finally launched which should be pretty soon.

Check them out here:

 

[repairtechinc]

Thanks for attending, glad you liked it. The webinar that you attended (I think this is the right one, we gave 2 like this) is actually available as a recording here: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/recording/641561004141652225 . The Kabuto walk-through is about halfway through. You'll notice that the UI has been worked on a lot since the recording was made, as the devices page is very different.

Please note that everything you're seeing is still a work-in-progress, and is definitely not done. All the copy is going to change, and there are tons of things that still aren't done.

Let me know if you have any questions,

Ian