The phone rings for what seems like half an hour. Eventually, an extremely bored sounding man picks up. “Hello, IT department”, says the voice on the other end of the line. He doesn’t sound too pleased to be speaking to you. This is no labor of love. Determined, you persist: “My operating system has completely crashed! I’m worried that my customer’s data has been compromised!”. “Ok. How about you just switch the computer off, and switch it on again?”. Great. Lots of help. Wonderful. You hear the click of the phone as the ‘specialist’ from IT hangs up on you.
For those of us old enough to have been working for a while, this is the defining mental image we have of IT support. Unapproachable, impersonal and quite often unhelpful to boot. IT support, however, is completely essential. Businesses rely upon database management, networked systems and social media communication to stay profitable and keep customers happy. Thankfully, IT support has evolved a bit. Here are 4 ways that IT support has reinvented itself in line with the rest of the business world.
24/7 Remote IT Support
Many of us are very aware that the traditional office hour structure no longer applies to business. Many businesses are active 24 hours a day and so require IT support that is available whatever the time. Groups that offer remote managed IT services such as Kortek Solutions are able to offer 24/7 support.
Changing Support Technologies
Unsurprisingly, IT services have moved on with technological advances. One of the key advances in technology has been in the field of live chat. IT support is now often available as an instant pop up chat from your work terminal. This has saved a huge amount of time, with workers able to send screenshots to trained support technicians and get their problem fixed as they work. In general, incident management is conducted remotely, which is a great advance facilitated by changing technology. IT incident management protocols can be accessed from a central cloud database by technicians in order to offer tailored support packages.
Integrated Digital Support Strategies
Digital support strategies are now often integrated directly into the strategic planning of an organization. Of course, this has been viewed with some skepticism in the past. However, when executed in tandem, the integration of IT strategy and business strategy enables IT operation to be treated organizationally as a crucial part of the company- which it most certainly is.
Broadening Skillsets
According to a recent Forbes report , “IT departments are now the linchpin of agile organizations”, which means they are now taking a far more central role. IT consultants and support operators are expected to have a broad range of skills beyond computer smarts. IT departments aid in the smooth running and commercial viability of the modern company, and frequently drive change actively as opposed to just fixing the tech. IT technicians and operatives are now sought for their marketing and business knowledge as well as their technical know-how.
