Managing technology has always been a challenge for businesses; and with reliance on technology in business increasing all the time, it is no wonder that demands for professional IT support services are at an all-time high. We discussed this with several professional providers of IT support services London-based companies have been using for many years. According to them, since 2010, the awareness of outsourced IT has grown exponentially.
What Are IT Support Services?
Owing to how essential technology has become to the operations (and the success) of modern businesses, IT expertise has become hugely in-demand. Thus, many modern businesses work with a professional service provider, instead of investing large amounts of money building their own IT department. The main benefits of IT support services is the amount of expertise, and the resources, that the customer gets, and for a relatively low cost (when compared with doing it all in-house).
What Features Should IT Support Services Have?
The last few decades has seen the number of professional IT service providers grow considerably. There are many options for businesses, but it can something be hard to know which ones to go with. Based on current IT trends, below are six features that one should expect to see from an IT support service:
- 24/7 Monitoring
As has been stated a number of times already, technology is crucial to modern work. Most businesses are running complex IT infrastructures that support their operations and workflows. Thus, ensuring that these systems and solutions are running consistently and efficiently is paramount. According to one company we spoke with, that provides IT support for Accountants, a main part of their support service is monitoring their clients’ infrastructures, so that they can be alerted of issues immediately.
- Unlimited Helpdesk Support
All too often, IT support service helpdesks include call loggers. These are people whose job it is to receive calls from individuals seeking support, log the call, and add it to the queue. This can be immensely frustrating for individuals experiencing an IT issue. This is why a good IT support service should not use call loggers, and instead ensure that their helpdesk has enough staff and resources to be able to connect clients directly to IT engineers.
- Unlimited Callouts
Assuming the client needs it, a good IT support service should include unlimited callouts to their site. According to one company we spoke to, who provides IT support for Law Firms, this is why it is important to look at local service providers. The option to have field engineers come to one’s site adds immense value to the service – unfortunately, we have not yet reached a point with technology where physical problems are completely eliminated.
- Service Reporting
Professional services need to be well-fitted to the client. Any business that pays for IT support services will expect those services to be performing to a certain standard; and any provider of IT support services should be striving to maintain a minimum standard. This is why service reporting is an important feature to include in IT support – it allows the provider to see how well the service is meeting the needs of the client; and it ensures that the client has full transparency into the service they are paying for.
- Access to Project Work
Finally, it is important for service providers to include the option for additional project work. An IT support service’s primary purpose is simply to fix the client’s IT problems, and make sure that their existing infrastructure is running consistently. However, as technology is constantly changing, most businesses will want to grow and adapt their IT so that it serves them better. A good service provider should lend their expertise to the client to help them do this.