IT or technical support is crucial to the smooth running of any business, and in the current business climate, has taken on additional importance – ensuring that employees and clients can be better connected, and work effectively and remotely.
The pandemic has shown us all that IT systems may cause disruption at any time. Nobody nursing a sore head on the morning of January 1st would have anticipated events that would unfold less than three months after. How prepared was your business, and were you prepared at all?
Most businesses that are able to continue working have been affected by the current ‘stay at home’ measures. Remote working is the new normal. The spotlight is shining brightly on how an organisation enables access to corporate networks, and the variety of services provided via cloud computing.
A great deal of day to day hardware issues are able to be put on the backburners, but only till the lock down is lifted. Software issues can be managed and serviced remotely as per usual. IT support issues are just as frequent but wear new clothing for now. What types of IT support is available to businesses, and what should they expect?
Remote IT Support
Remote support can be available at all times for the internal use of a business. It can also be utilised as third-party technical support for a client. There is a wide spectrum of flexible, multi-faceted options that can be refined to give a business a bespoke solution. Support can be given 24/7, meaning that remedial work can be carried out during and post Monday to Friday office hours.
Cloud Support
Remote cloud services use a variety of sophisticated solutions to safeguard a company against cyber-crime and cyber threats. Part of the process will be to collect data on threat data from numerous sources, data synthesis, threat analysis and applied intelligence. Cloud support helps companies to stay secure, and access data remotely. As long as there is an internet connection, an employee can keep up with their workload. There are even services Microsoft have provided such as OneDrive that enables offline working.
Incident or Ticketing Support
Remote IT Support responds to ‘incidents’ raised about particular issues, and technical issues will be managed up till the point where they are resolved. You may work with a dedicated IT Manager or team, and sometimes bring in third party suppliers.
Managed IT Support
Remote managed IT support will help with server support, help desk services, user account trouble-shooting, and data access and security to name a few.
There are many key benefits of remote IT support. Fast response time as SLAs require a response to acknowledge any issues and communicate timelines for resolution. Forward planning will enable a business to work around an issue till it is resolved.
There are reduced costs as little to no on-site visits needed and can (for the most part) be resolved using screen-share tools such as LogMein or Team Viewer – giving access to an IT technician. Issues can be dealt with there and then.
Tech support companies like Astec can resolve IT issues faster than most internal departments, as they are measured on this basis due to agreed SLAs. It means that your business can run smoothly without impediment. Productivity will not be negatively impacted, as employees can manage their workload, while IT support works in the background.
There are a wide variety of IT services offered by Astec, and it would be a good to review your current IT services, to see if you need to fill in any gaps/how can your business be better supported. Please do get in touch if you need any impartial advice, or want to review your current set up, to produce robust solutions, and a long-term strategic road map.