Welcome back to the Smartlogic blog! Over the last few articles, we have been looking at jargon terms from the I.T. industry and breaking down what they really mean. We’ve covered ‘Managed I.T. services’ and ‘I.T. systems assessments’ thus far.
Continuing on with the theme above, this time we look at what ‘I.T. support’ is and why employing it or hiring a contractor might make sense for your business.
What is I.T. Support?
Every office has one team member who “knows I.T.” and yes, is helpful in situations but distracts that person from doing their work if they are not an official part of the I.T. team! Where computers have become an absolutely irreplaceable part of working life, that means downtime is an absolute no-no. Having someone like the above team member is handy yes but most businesses will require more support than can be provided by a lone I.T. hobbyist. Consider the increase in remote working arrangements over the last few years and a business’ need for reliable I.T. assistance becomes even greater.
That’s where I.T. support comes in. It’s the basic form of providing help with technology related issues, these can stem from computers, networks, modems and more. Essentially, you would look to I.T. support to ‘fix’ whatever tech related problems are happening and remedy them for future.
What does I.T. support help with?
On that note, there’s a large grey area when it comes to what exactly makes up I.T. support. At a glance, it may seem like the responsibilities begin and end with setting up systems and troubleshooting when issues arise but that’s just the tip of the iceberg!
General technical help can also include updates to the respective systems and networks, this also extends to regular maintenance. In fact, proactive maintenance of I.T. systems are an absolute must to ensure downtime is kept to a minimum.
Following the updates, installing and configuring new software and hardware is also included under the I.T. support umbrella. That then extends to user permissions, access levels and patches. For when downtime does happen, I.T. support can then jump in to save the day with data recovery and backups!
If you run a business, asking yourself about the level of support you require is another key question. Needs vary with some companies requiring more remote support rather than onsite while the converse is true for others.
The best thing to do is to take a look at your current agreement with your I.T. support provider to see how much of that sought-after support time you are actually using. This is a good indicator as to whether you need to look at trying a new provider or altering your support time!
Talk to us about an I.T. support package that suits your business. Simply fill in the form below:
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