iYogi and Telephonica Jointly Ventured to Roll out SME Assistance

Ever since Uday Challu and Vishal Dhar joined hands and founded iYogi in Gurgaon, the remote tech support company was quick to become a prominent name in the industry. iYogi has delivered economical remote technical assistance to businesses as well as individual customers who can seek tech support at the convenience of their home or office. With years of rapidly growing popularity in tech support industry, soon iYogi started drawing attention of leading investor, Sequoia Capital, which has funded tech behemoths such as Apple, AdMob, Cisco, Airbnb, EA, NetApp, Google, NetApp, Nvidia, Paypal, YouTube and WhatsApp. After successful delivery of technical assistance to around 2.5 million subscribers across the world for over six years, it went on to become one of the fastest growing technology startups in India and to expand its wing in Spain.

iYogi expands in Spain with Telephonica

After years of operating and flourishing in major markets, iYogi teams up with Telephonica to spread out in Spain. The alliance between Telephonica telecommunication company and iYogi launched a company which was focused in catering technical support services to individuals to small and medium enterprises. Guru offers extensive range of technical support services to major Spanish mobile phone operator Movistar and other operators. Jorge Gutierrez, the new business manager of Telefónica, has expressed what made them tie up with iYogi to startup Guru. He revealed details on the alliance with iYogi to ITespresso-Marcet ny stating that

"At Telefónica we had been planning to launch a service like this for quite some time in order to cover the digital life. The technology has already become a lifestyle is not a fad. Last year Telefónica made a market survey to see which companies do this. And choose iYogi decided to give remote assistance in Guru".

Wide range of services offered by Guru

Guru delivers broad range of services for all different types of devices including Windows-based computers, Mac, smartphone, tablet and other mobile devices, printers, routers, digital cameras, media players and other peripherals. As Elena Gorostiza, the Vice President Marketing iYogi Europe explained to ITespresso that “The idea is to open the field everything and become a "hub of support. As there is a need for a new product or platform that is also widespread cover".

With Guru, “you try to resolve questions of third party applications (over 500 apps and programs) as WhatsApp, Office, Skype, and so on, even very specific queries or problems.” With this, iYogi also released a Youtube channel for Guru to offer simple how-to videos. The service offered by Guru is economically priced for 5 or 6 Euros per month for individuals, freelancers and small businesses who can use service for unlimited technical queries. Additionally, users can opt for online assistance for specific cases for 30 Euros a month or request for Home Care for 99 Euros. Customers of other carriers than Movistar can opt for an annual plan for 79 Euros per year.

At present, around 150 agents are working with Guru in San Fernando de Henares-based tech support unit of iYogi who are delivering technical support assistance for 8 to 22 hours every day of the week, including Sundays and holidays. 

Dell brings you Latitude 12 and Latitude 14 - the tough, sturdy, strong laptops

The Rugged Extreme notebooks in the market will compete with Panasonic neck to neck. iYogi reviews the new notebooks launched by Dell and convey its features into the attention. Here we go.

The new versions of notebooks introduced by Dell – Latitude 12 and Latitude 14; provides Dell with not only tough looks but also with strong and sturdy inner built.

The name 'Rugged Extreme' jells very well with the built of the two new versions of laptops. The 'Rugged Extreme' laptops are fully designed with shock-resistant feature. These laptops can survive and resist spurt of dust and even water. The improvised IP65-rated devices enable the laptops with this water and dust proof facility. 

iYogi reviews team gives you a quick highlight on the features of Latitude 14 and Latitude 12; the 'Rugged Extreme' laptops which are launched in the market to compete with Toughbooks from Panasonic.

Latitude 14 and its features –

• Provides you with a 14–inch screen.
• Light weight of 3.54kg.
• The notebook gives you the latest-generation low voltage Haswell Intel Core processors with a storage capacity of 512GB.
• 16 GB of RAM support.
• The notebook allows you to work 12 hours a day without plug-in.  The 6/9 cell battery gives the notebook a long durability.
• The laptop is also provided with a resistive touch screen comprehensive connectivity. 
• The laptop supports every feature as HDMI, PCMCIA and VGA. 
• The notebook also supports an optional Gobi 4G modem.

Latitude 12 and its features –

The look of Latitude 12 resembles with Dell’s XPS 12 version.

• The screen size is 11.6-inch.
• The laptop can also be used as a tablet. 
• The laptop arrives with a multitouch screen. 
• A rear-mounted camera comes handy with the tablet mode.
• 4-cell battery comes along with this laptop. The 4 cell battery backup may seem to be quite insufficient but Dell claims the battery backup to be enough for all the whole day.

The new docking system improvises the laptops in its functioning. Latitude 14 and Latitude 12 will be available with the OS - Windows 7 Professional or Windows 8 Pro. These two laptops will replace the existing semi-rugged Latitude E6430 ATG. Later this year Dell will be launching another semi-rugged laptop - Latitude 14. Surprisingly, the aforementioned features in the new versions of laptops have got many attention grabbing features in comparison to the previous Latitude rugged versions. iYogi reviews team finds that the update is packed with all the necessary features and the Dell users have nothing to lose with the new Latitude devices.

iYogi Conquers Newer Regions; Shares its Financial Plans for the Next Year

In just the six years that it has been in the industry, iYogi has managed to carve a niche for itself by successfully resolving millions of tech-related queries of their customers across the 10 countries where they have their footprints in. With a view to go on to the next level, iYogi is looking forward to expanding their horizon and capture newer regions in the coming year. They are also aiming at increasing the revenue, which currently stands at $100 million, every two years for the next five years. This is in addition to their planning to increase the headcount from 4500 to 7000 proficient tech professionals.

As per the latest updates, iYogi will raise $55 million from equity funds (approx. 340 Crore INR), and to raise this amount, the company will sell its 10 percent stake. This will also reduce the stake that the key management executives had by up to 30 percent. The remaining portion of the funds will be taken care of by PE funds such as SAP Ventures, Canaan Partners, Sequoia Capital, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, and Samaa Capital. iYogi is also in talks with several American and European investors to raise an extra fund of $20 million before the end of March 2014.

Uday Challu, co-founder and CEO of iYogi has shared that, “Led by Madison India Capital and existing investors, PE firms have already committed $35 million to the company”. This statement clearly affirms the expansion plans of the company and that they have already taken the first steps towards realizing this goal.

This planning is in sync with the company’s idea of venturing into newer geographical regions such as Europe, Latin America, and also Asia. So far, the company has already entered into partnership with Telephonica, a leading telecommunication brand in Spain, thereby flagging off the iYogi operations in the country. In addition to this, iYogi is in talks with several telecom companies across Australia, West Asia, and India to start off similar services in their regions of operation.

Going by the history of the company’s performance, it is just a matter of sometime before one could say that iYogi has indeed entered the prestigious $1 billion-revenue club.