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What Is IT Support?

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What Is IT Support?

Read Time: 5 minutes Updated at: July 31, 2024

In today’s work environment, IT support encompasses a variety of different responsibilities and solutions. Businesses may need additional IT resources to support a remote workforce, or they may require assistance with cybersecurity and network performance to keep their assets safe and secure. 

As technology has progressed, IT support has evolved away from an in-office helpdesk or technician on the phone. IT management solutions like the Electric IT Hub have made it easier for non-technical leaders to take control of their IT environment. With the right solution, it’s now possible to resolve everyday IT issues, proactively prevent common problems, and automate many of the manual tasks that were previously only performed by IT support professionals. 

Whatever your business needs, an IT support and management solution can help ensure your company is covered.

What is IT Support? TL;DR 

  • IT support takes many forms. At its core, it refers to optimizing an IT environment and providing technical assistance throughout an organization.
  • IT support responsibilities include hardware procurement and configuration, mobile device management, employee onboarding and offboarding, cybersecurity measures, and much more. 
  • In larger organizations, IT technicians provide tiered levels of support. In SMBs, many IT support requirements can be handled by non-technical users in a centralized IT management solution. 

What is IT Support?

In its simplest form, IT support is about offering assistance to employees and the wider organization for technology-related issues. Its purpose is to provide users with answers to problems they may be experiencing. In a business environment, IT support can also encompass the setup, installation, and configuration of equipment, plus much more.

What Does IT Support Do?

Business IT support is more than fixing problems and answering questions. IT support services include optimizing network performance and securing against cyberattacks. With IT support and management solutions, an organization can realize the full potential of its network and follow best practices for securing its digital assets.

IT management solutions can simplify the setup, installation, configuration, and maintenance of network equipment, whether that is a computer in the office or at the kitchen table. They can proactively monitor equipment performance to avoid downtime from equipment failure. They are prepared to help with disaster recovery and backup plans. Business IT support can be whatever a business needs to ensure continuous operations.

Some of the most common IT support responsibilities can include:

  • Troubleshooting and resolving IT issues
  • Providing technical assistance to employees
  • Updating and maintaining company systems and networks
  • Installing and configuring software
  • Managing user access permissions and credentials
  • Rolling out patches and updates
  • Procuring and provisioning devices
  • Assisting with data backup and recovery

Check out our helpful infographic for more!

What is IT Support Infographic

What Do IT Support Technicians Do?

Supporting company networks can require multiple specialties. For example, technical support specialists may analyze, evaluate, and troubleshoot network problems. These technicians play a crucial role in maintaining the network and backing up digital assets.

Support personnel are responsible for providing technical help to non-IT computer users, sometimes by responding to phone, email, and chat-based requests for help. You may also require dedicated cybersecurity support specialists, who use their expertise to ensure your network, applications, and data are secure, and can even help with meeting compliance security standards.

While a team of IT support technicians may be necessary in enterprise-level organizations, small and medium-sized businesses are more likely to rely on cost-effective, self-managed alternatives.

Here are a few of the tasks an IT support technician may do.

  • Ask questions to diagnose a problem
  • Recommend problem-solving steps
  • Train users on how new technology works
  • Install and configure network components
  • Monitor and maintain computer systems and networks
  • Troubleshoot system and network problems
  • Support applications as required
  • Add users to a system and provide credentials
  • Mange open customer requests
  • Establish working relationships with end-users

The types of technical support depend on the organization. Some companies may want involvement in round-the-clock operations. Others may be looking for help-desk support during business hours. No matter the need, IT support personnel can adapt to serve your business requirements.

Technical support follows a tiered system, where the levels of support are tied to the expertise required to address the problem. The higher the level, the more expertise is needed.

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What is Level 1 Technical Support?

Level or tier 1 support is the person on the other end of a phone call, online chat, or an email. They are tasked with identifying the problem and providing the most common resolution methods. Tier 1 staff play an essential role in problem resolution. They are the people who define the problem and acquire as much information as possible to resolve it. If they are unable to resolve the issue, it is transferred to a Level 2 support specialist.

What is Level 2 Technical Support?

Level or tier 2 support requires someone with more technical knowledge. If a level 1 technician cannot resolve the issue, they transfer the issue to level 2 personnel. They, in turn, work to resolve the issue. In most cases, end-user problems can be fixed at a level 2. If an issue cannot be resolved at level 2, it is escalated to a higher tier.

Rarely does a problem go beyond a level 2. Issues beyond a level 2 are relegated to the creators of the application or hardware. These are glitches that require software updates or patches to fix. Hardware-level problems may require new components.

Why Reliable IT Support and Management is Essential

Supporting an in-house IT department is expensive, and there are far fewer qualified applicants than there are open positions. 73% of IT leaders say they struggle to recruit in this space, while turnover remains high. Such volatility in recruitment and retention makes IT management solutions  a more viable option for many organizations.

Cybersecurity threats also continue to grow. 47% of small businesses in the U.S. have fallen victim to a cyber attack, 67% of which have experienced more than one breach. Phishing, password hacking, and adware are among the most common forms of attack against small businesses, and the methods employed by attackers grow more sophisticated by the day. Without adequate expertise and support, organizations are left vulnerable.

Downtime from such attacks is costly. According to Gartner, the average cost of downtime is $5,600 per minute. For some technology-intensive operations, the cost can be much higher. With properly monitored systems and proactive security measures rolled out from a centralized platform, breaches can be prevented and equipment failures can be identified and fixed before they cause an issue.

Find the Right IT Support Solution For Your Business

Finding the right IT service and support solution can go a long way to protect your digital assets and boost your bottom line. Electric provides centralized IT management for small and medium-sized businesses, empowering you with everything you need to take full control of your IT environment, in-house. 

Gainaccess to device insights, device procurement, employee onboarding and offboarding, MDM software to keep your devices compliant and secure, and much more in our IT Hub. Book a demo to learn more about our IT Support solutions.

Jessica Farrelly

Jessica is a content writer with more than 8 years of experience covering SaaS and the tech industry. She has worked with both B2B and B2C publications across North America, Europe, and APAC and currently writes about IT Solutions or Electric.

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