When IT support services were first introduced to the business world they were usually only manned by one or two technicians. Their main responsibility was to ensure that systems were backed up, and computers were kept working. These departments were quite often based in a small room where the technicians could be found surrounded by diskettes, tapes, and broken computers.
In a lot of companies at that time, users would often attempt to fix any problems themselves, rather than call for help. This has all changed now. Networked systems, and sophisticated software, have meant that the support engineers have to be highly skilled, and understand many different systems.
As the complexity of the IT systems grew, the manpower required in the team needed to increase. There was a requirement for people with various skill sets in order for the department to cope with the variety of technologies used within a single company. However, there was still the legacy equipment to look after, along with its inherent compatibility problems.
As companies continue to grow, and multinational businesses evolve, these departments are required 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It is very rare that you can pick up the telephone and talk to your local support engineer, who is sitting in a tiny room in another part of the building. It is now more common to send an e-mail requesting assistance, or raise a ticket on the support page of the company intranet.
It might seem a little bit extreme to have to raise a ticket when you just believe the fault is on your own computer. However, the type of fault that you report will determine who will be tasked to solve the problem. It might be that they can use the information you have given them to prevent other similar incidents. This is where prevention is better than the cure, and a lot of system downtime can be avoided.
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.
Due to the complexity of the information technology systems that need supporting these days, a lot of companies choose to outsource the task to external consultancies. These companies call on specialists to work on particular problems on a freelance basis. There are benefits to working this way; however, the ability to make use of services like these depend on the size of the company and the budget available.
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.
In a lot of companies at that time, users would often attempt to fix any problems themselves, rather than call for help. This has all changed now. Networked systems, and sophisticated software, have meant that the support engineers have to be highly skilled, and understand many different systems.
As the complexity of the IT systems grew, the manpower required in the team needed to increase. There was a requirement for people with various skill sets in order for the department to cope with the variety of technologies used within a single company. However, there was still the legacy equipment to look after, along with its inherent compatibility problems.
As companies continue to grow, and multinational businesses evolve, these departments are required 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It is very rare that you can pick up the telephone and talk to your local support engineer, who is sitting in a tiny room in another part of the building. It is now more common to send an e-mail requesting assistance, or raise a ticket on the support page of the company intranet.
It might seem a little bit extreme to have to raise a ticket when you just believe the fault is on your own computer. However, the type of fault that you report will determine who will be tasked to solve the problem. It might be that they can use the information you have given them to prevent other similar incidents. This is where prevention is better than the cure, and a lot of system downtime can be avoided.
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.
Due to the complexity of the information technology systems that need supporting these days, a lot of companies choose to outsource the task to external consultancies. These companies call on specialists to work on particular problems on a freelance basis. There are benefits to working this way; however, the ability to make use of services like these depend on the size of the company and the budget available.
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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