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iYogi

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iYogi Technical Services Pvt. Ltd.
IndustryInformation Technology
Founded2007
Founder
Headquarters
Gurgaon, Haryana
,
delhi
Area served
North America, Europe, Australia, India, UAE
Key people
Uday Challu(CEO)
Vishal Dhar(President Marketing)
ServicesTechnical Support
Websiteiyogi.com

iYogi is a remote technical support firm based in Gurgaon, India with customers in the United States, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Australia, Canada, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and India. iYogi provides subscription based technical support for personal computers, connected devices and peripherals, and software applications. The company has a YouTube channel with videos explaining how to solve some technical issues.[1] In 2011 the company introduced support for devices running mobile operating systems such as Apple's IOS.

There have been many reports of misconduct and selling by intimidation.[2]

History

iYogi was co-founded by Uday Challu and Vishal Dhar in 2007, after meeting on a flight and becoming friends.[3] iYogi deploys more than 6,000 technology staff on its global delivery platform, Digital service cloud.[4][5] Sequoia Capital,[6] Draper Fisher Jurvetson,[7]Canaan Partners,[8] SAP Ventures,[9] and SVB India Capital Partners[10] are the venture capital firms that have invested in the company. In 2009, the firm acquired Utah-based Clean Machine Inc.[11] and appointed its founder, Larry Gordon, as President Global Channel Sales.[12] In 2010, iYogi raised US $30 million in Series D round of funding led by Sequoia Capital [13] with follow-on investment from existing investors. Earlier in the same year, the company had secured an investment of $15 million from Draper Fisher Jurvetson and others.[14] In September, 2011, iYogi added three independent directors, Sridar Iyengar, Subhash Lallah, and Chandra Gujadhur, to its board, raising its strength to seven.[15]
In July 2014, the Axon Partners and Madison India Capital infused $28 million into iYogi.[16]

Management

Location and partnerships

iYogi is headquartered in Gurgaon, India, and also has an office in New York, USA.[17]

In 2010, iYogi and Infinite Computer Solutions (India) Limited entered into a joint agreement enabling the former to operate a service delivery center in Bangalore.[18] Infinite Computer Systems has iYogi founder Uday Challu's Brother in Law and Sister in their management. In Feb 2010, IBM signed a data center agreement with iYogi and followed it up with another partnership aimed at supporting the tech support firm’s expansion plans across multiple countries.[19]

iYogi launched its operations in India on March 7, 2013 targeting the Small & Medium Businesses and the consumers.[20]

Performance

The service was reviewed by Michael Muchmore[21] for PC Mag in April 2014 and was awarded two stars out of five. The review praised the service's low cost, polite staff, and privacy warnings, but found it performed poorly, with limited tools and cleanup, remarking that iYogi was once the value leader, but other services were now preferable in light of its lackluster performance.[22]

Reports of misconduct

iYogi's sales tactics have been criticised. Users of the service have written many crtical reviews of experiences with the service on review sites such as www.consumeraffairs.com[23](257 reviews) and www.sitejabber.com[24](169 reviews). Infoworld in 2012 published articles under the byline of Robert X. Cringely, used by several Infoworld writers, about people who called computer support lines thinking they were getting free or under-warranty support from their suppliers, but were in fact talking to iYogi. Attempts were made to sell them subscriptions for $US170 per year, and people were told, untruthfully, that their computers had severe problems. Brian Krebs, formerly a writer for the Washington Post and later a blogger on security, called iYogi and concluded that the company was indeed trying to scare users into subscribing. After this information was first published, other people contacted the author to report similar experiences. Dave Mello, a vice-president of support and services for Kaspersky Lab, reported regular complaints from customers who had been under the impression that they were receiving authorized Kaspersky Lab support.[25] Cringely said about iYogi "How it goes about selling support, however, is not unlike how the Mob markets protection: through fear and intimidation."[2]

In March 2012, antivirus company Avast! severed its ties with iYogi. Under an agreement that lasted a little more than two years, iYogi had provided online support to Avast! users free-of-cost. Avast! accused iYogi of forcefully selling its online support plans to Avast! users; which the antivirus supplier characterised as unnecessary and expensive. Avast! accused iYogi of, at best, misconduct.[26] Some Apple users have labelled iYogi a "scam" because its marketing and sales imply a connection with Apple,[27] and for various dubious practices[28]

References

  1. ^ iYogi official YouTube channel
  2. ^ a b Cringely, Robert X. (22 March 2010). "Tech support or extortion? You be the judge - Remote support company iYogi was caught using scare tactics to sell its services to naive customers. Can it win back our trust?". Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  3. ^ Meeting on a flight
  4. ^ Crunchbase Profile
  5. ^ "IBM inks five year deal with iYogi". Indus Business Journal. May 4, 2010. Retrieved Nov 10, 2012.
  6. ^ Sequoia Capital
  7. ^ DFJ Portfolio
  8. ^ Canaan's investments in India
  9. ^ SAP Ventures' Portfolio
  10. ^ "IYOGI SECURES $9.5M IN SERIES B FUNDING LED BY SAP VENTURES". Silicon Valley Bank. July 24, 2008. Retrieved Nov 10, 2012.
  11. ^ "In 2007, with the introduction of Tyrone Lodrick iYogi gained more market value than any other in the market. iYogi acquires Clean Machine Inc". Business Standard. May 12, 2009. Retrieved Dec 9, 2012.
  12. ^ Acquisition of Clean Machine Inc.
  13. ^ Adrianne, Jeffries. "NY-Based iYogi Strikes a Bubble Pose, Raises $30 M., Teases IPO". The New York Observer (Dec 13, 2010). Jared Kushner. Retrieved Dec 9, 2012.
  14. ^ Robin, Wauters. "Remote Tech Support Company iYogi Gets A $15 Million Boost From DFJ, Others". TechCrunch (Jan 6, 2010). AOL. Retrieved Dec 9, 2012.
  15. ^ iYogi Brings On Board Three Independent Directors
  16. ^ "E-Com, pharma attract lion's share of PE funds". Business Standard. July 2, 2014. Retrieved August 1, 2014.
  17. ^ [1]
  18. ^ Infinite to set up iYogi support centre in Bangalore
  19. ^ IBM, iYogi ink deal for state-of-the-art data centre
  20. ^ Lison, Joseph. "iYogi turns to India after US success; company targeting at least 15% of the local market". The Economic Times (07 March 2013). The Times Group. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
  21. ^ PC Mag: Michael Muchmore
  22. ^ PC Mag: iYogi, 22 April 2014, accessed 24 April 2015
  23. ^ iYogi Consumer Reviews and Complaints- Tech Support Services
  24. ^ iYogi SiteJabber Consumer Reviews
  25. ^ Cringely, Robert X. (28 March 2010). "The downward (dog) spiral: iYogi exposed". Archived from the original on 20 November 2014. Retrieved 21 January 2015. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  26. ^ Nichols, Shaun. "Avast halts support service over claims of iYogi misconduct". The New York Observer (Mar 16, 2012). V3 UK. Retrieved July 1, 2013.
  27. ^ "iYogi, scam? Relationship with Apple?". Apple Support Communities forum. Retrieved March 31, 2014.
  28. ^ Apple Support Communities: Re: iYogi, scam? Relationship with Apple?
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