Client Announcements

The first birthday of the “Digital Plumber”

6 September, 2007
Immediate release
THE FIRST BIRTHDAY OF THE “DIGITAL PLUMBER”

12 MONTHS (AND 5 MILLION CALLS) AFTER THE LAUNCH OF THE UK’S FIRST NATIONAL DIGITAL SUPPORT SERVICE, THE TECHGUYS REPORTS ON THE CHANGING FACE OF DIGITAL BRITAIN

The TechGuys, the UK’s first and only truly national digital support service, celebrates its first birthday this week. The service today employs 500 field engineers, 1,500 call centre technicians, 40 product evaluation specialists and 450 in-store engineers, with plans to add new recruits to the national team in the coming year. One hundred and sixty in-store TechGuys service centres have been opened during the year. The TechGuys deal with a customer request for assistance on average every six seconds.
In twelve months, the TechGuys have made 200,000 home visits, dealt with 5 million calls from customers and handled 50,000 requests for support through in-store, call centre and stand-alone TechGuys service centres.
“There’s no doubt that the need for our service is growing incredibly strongly,” said David Bugg, commercial director at the Tech Guys. “The last year has delivered huge changes in consumer technology and we all need experts to assist. In twelve months, we’ve seen several new processor launches, and explosion in the use of wireless technology, the launch of Windows Vista, the boom in social networking sites, the arrival of a host of new games consoles and much more. The year ahead will see the beginning of the digital switchover in the UK, which is one of the biggest technology events since the invention of the TV in the first place.”
Looking back at the first year of operation, the TechGuys have witnessed the following trends:

1. The wireless home
An explosion in the use of wireless technology in the home as e-Britain became a reality. Approaching two thirds of UK homes are now connected to the Internet and many are choosing wireless connections to enable them to access the web from any room in the house and to connect several devices, including next generation games consoles, laptops and PCs. Many of the homes that have installed wireless networks have taken inadequate steps to protect themselves against data theft and “bandwidth bandits”, the TechGuys report. A straw poll of wireless networks reveals that as few as three in ten have been secured with encryption technology and that half of the secured networks have selected the lowest level of protection which can be easily hacked. The TechGuys has turned its fleet of vehicles into wireless detector vans to test the security of home networks and provide advice and guidance on how to secure networks.

2. The changing face of domestic responsibilities

DIY, the great suburban pastime, has been superseded by TIY (tech it yourself) this year on the list of domestic tasks for men, according to YouGov research for the TechGuys. Rapid growth in the sale of digital devices, mens’ innate tendency to by-pass the instruction manual and the British tendency to put off asking for directions until the last possible moment have contributed to a rise in the requirement for technical support.

3. The digital switchover

Volumes of enquiries to the TechGuys about issues related to digital switchover suggested that Britain is waking up to both the potential of switchover and the urgent need to ensure that all domestic equipment is able to receive the new digital signals. The TechGuys have responded to many thousands of requests from customers for support in setting up their equipment, checking and if necessary installing new aerials and advising on how to get the best picture quality from their new TV. The TechGuys is also working with the official bodies responsible for managing the switchover process on the implementation of digital switchover in Whitehaven this Autumn. TechGuys will provide guidance, help and technical support to the local community, including vulnerable groups.

4. The growth in digital data storage

Hundreds of millions of gigabytes of data are now being stored in UK homes. Entire family photo collections, billions of pages of correspondence, millions of songs, decades of video and much more now reside on the hard drives of home PCs. And yet, too few of us are taking the time to back-up this precious archive. Approaching one in ten calls to the TechGuys relates to a PC or laptop crash and more than one in twenty calls is in relation to a data recovery request. As Britain moves out of what was probably the most photographed summer in history, the TechGuys predict that data storage and data recovery requests from customers will increase. These, combined with connected home technologies and digital television services will become four of the major service areas on which the TechGuys will advise and support customers in the year ahead.

― Ends ―

More information:

Rob Forbes, PC World, 07872 671829
rob.forbes@dsgiplc.com

Hamish Thompson, Twelve Thirty Eight Ltd, 07702 684290
hamish.thompson@1238kmh.com

Notes to Editors
The TechGuys was launched in September 2006 and is the first and only truly national, fully certified technical support service. The company operates a ‘no fix no fee’ policy for when gadgets go wrong, but also aims to help people get the most from their technology by explaining and demonstrating full

functionality. The service is open to everyone, regardless of where the technology was purchased. The TechGuys offer support on a wide range of technology, from the latest televisions to laptops. The TechGuys estimates that over 80% of computer queries can be solved over the phone. There is also an online service at www. TheTechGuys.com and the capacity to visit 15,000 homes every week. The business is fully owned by DSG international, parent company of PC World, Currys and Dixons.

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