To survive in today's tough economic climate, many businesses, whether established, new or global, will be looking to drive efficiency and reduce costs in the months ahead. Coupled with budget cuts, staffing challenges and dwindling resources, operations will be impacted more than ever before. But, at the same time, keeping your customers satisfied is more critical than ever.

The emergence of virtual support

During the last recession, technology was in its infancy with the Internet being used as a place for email, chat and ecommerce. Now it offers business software on-demand for the same price or less then your monthly mobile bill, meaning that company size no longer determines the reach or rate of business growth.

With virtual, anytime, anywhere, internet-based applications businesses can prioritise which geographic markets to sell to that were previously unreachable and unprofitable in the past. Even small companies can now deliver services to customers and partners in distant places. Communication can increase and training and technical support can all be provided remotely over the web. All of these are real capabilities that can reduce or eliminate onsite travel, minimise downtime and optimise productivity for customers and overworked IT staff. Importantly, the web is all changing the way customer support is delivered.