Saturday, February 8, 2014

Making Good Use Of The IT Support Department In Your Company

Making Good Use Of The IT Support Department In Your Company

By Dave Cummings


In the early years of people using computers in the business environment the IT support was very limited. It usually comprised of a technician whose main task was to make sure that system backups were made. They would be located in a small room surrounded by broken computers and spare parts.

It was quite common in most companies for users to attempt to solve any problems themselves. This was usually quicker and easier than trying to get the attention of a team member to come and help them. Over time, this habit has changed. The introduction of networks, and server-based software, requires that the engineers supporting the system have to be specialists.

The complexity of these systems meant that the size of the team supporting them had to increase. As companies grew and the software systems they started to use needed to serve more functions, people with a variety of skills were required. However, as well as maintaining the new equipment, the legacy software still needed looking after.

The way that an IT support team operates has had to change to cope with the growth of multinational companies, all working in different time zones. The departments are normally open 24 hours a day throughout the week, especially if there is just one support team for the whole global network. This means that if a user wants to report a fault, it is typically done by raising a support ticket on the company intranet.

Raising a ticket, or a request for help, may seem a bit extreme to a user who is just having problems with an e-mail account. However, this information can then be targeted at an engineer who is experienced in such problems, and therefore, be able to rectify the situation quickly. They might also find an underlying fault in the system due to this single report.

On a few occasions, what seems like a basic e-mail failure report might be an early symptom of a much bigger problem. It could be that similar faults have been reported by people in different locations throughout the world, and this would only be noticed if there was somebody to collate all the tickets. With this knowledge, problems can be escalated, and more members of the team allocated to solve them.

The systems that need supporting these days can be extremely complex, and a large number of businesses use external companies, rather than keep the department in-house. These consultancies will then call on freelancers local to the company in question to help rectify the problem. The cost-effectiveness of using this method depends on many different factors, such as the budget and size of the business.

Over the years IT support has changed quite dramatically. Companies have come to realize that without these engineers, business can collapse very quickly. The manpower used in these departments have to be highly skilled and understand, and keep themselves updated, in many different technologies.




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