If you are a digital native With older relatives, you may have had to take on the undesirable role of being the family's IT specialist. But for Ryan Green '21BUS, moments like that with his grandfather were a source of inspiration rather than a setback. “After several months of not seeing each other, I was visiting him in Florida,” Green recalls. “That's when he came out of his bedroom with a yellow legal pad filled with computer work he needed help with.”
It was near the height of the pandemic, when everyone, especially older adults, was being forced to use technology in new ways, from family Zoom calls to telehealth appointments. After teaching List to his grandfather and returning for his final semester at Columbia Business's School of Business, Mr. Green began thinking about creating a systematic way to make technology available to older adults. . In addition to providing troubleshooting services, he also wanted to show clients how to have fun with technology, such as “learning about streaming services or learning how to read websites.” wall street journal On your iPad. ” During that spring, Greene developed what later became Quincy, a tech support service for adults 55 and older, with the help of a Columbia class called Launch Your Startup.
The company is named after his grandfather's dog, suggesting the idea of a “loyal companion,” Green said. With just one phone call or visit to gogoquincy.com, customers are connected to a human who can guide them through solving their problem clearly and patiently, often by remotely accessing the screen. Masu. “We want them to take a deep breath, have a snack, and watch us head to work,” Green says.
Quincy offers two paid tiers of service: a pay-as-you-go plan for $4.99 per month, with a maximum support session cost of $11, and an all-inclusive plan for $19.99 per month. The company serves other seniors through employee benefit providers, health insurance plans, and continuing care retirement communities. Green said most of his customers are in their 70s or 80s, and Quincy technicians average a solution time of just 15 minutes.
This efficiency is made possible by the company's empathy training, which teaches technicians how to patiently and clearly guide customers to resolve issues. “When we describe something, we don't say 'x out.' We say, “Look in the top left corner.” You should see a small red button to the left of the green button. Click on it. 'And that's assuming the person knows what a click is,'' Green says. “Human involvement is what makes the magic possible.”
Quincy has helped seniors in 38 states with everything from hailing an Uber to getting back on a locked Facebook account, and Green said printer troubles are one of the most common problems. Ta. Fraud prevention is also a major focus as elder fraud becomes increasingly sophisticated. “AI has made it incredibly easy to do that. You can easily scrape the information that's readily available on Facebook and put it into a customized email, like a request for a gift card,” Green said. explains. Quincy automatically notifies users if they click on a malicious link or visit a fake girlfriend website designed to steal personal information. Seniors can also have Quincy technicians review suspicious texts, emails, and more. “We are in contact with users by phone, helping them determine whether the email is genuine and then finding the right organization to call to report a fraudulent email. ,” he says.
Through features like this, Green hopes to position Quincy as a service that can actively participate in providing peace of mind to seniors and their loved ones. “My goal is to help people age more comfortably by accessing entertainment and checking out insurance portals,” he says. “I want Quincy to be America's digital grandchild.”
This article appears in the Spring/Summer 2024 print edition. columbia magazine The title is “Technical support for baby boomers.”
