Needed: People to fill the in-demand support specialist role

Despite advances in automation and AI, the demand for support specialists is increasing. According to Impact AI: 2024 Workforce Skills Forecast by ServiceNow and Pearson, 79,000 additional help desk support specialists will be needed within the next five years.

The support specialist role includes help desk support, customer support, and computer user support. As the first point of contact for customers with user inquiries and technical issues, these specialists instruct customers about functionality, help troubleshoot unexpected technology behaviors, and guide customers to resolution.

Now is a great time to get into tech to take advantage of this in-demand role. It can make for a good transition from bookkeeping/accounting, auditing, and secretarial and administrative work.

How AI is changing the support specialist role

Tasks associated with the support specialist role include entering commands and maintaining records. These repetitive tasks can easily be automated to free support specialists to tap into their human expertise, such as creativity and critical thinking.

Our skills research reveals that robotic process automation (RPA) and AI-powered technologies, such as chatbots, smart asset performance management, and predictive analytics, can save help desk support agents 10.5 hours per week. Of that, RPA alone can save 5.5 hours.

This time gained can be reallocated to upskilling and career development, gaining new product knowledge, and making progress on valuable stretch projects.

How to become or grow as a support specialist

To help anyone RiseUp with ServiceNow and become or grow as a support specialist on the ServiceNow platform, we’ve developed a Support Specialist Career Journey. It’s a collection of instructor-led and on-demand courses and activities organized by experience level. The career journey encourages all levels to connect with the ServiceNow community.

Associate support specialists will learn the essentials of incident management, problem management, change management, and knowledge management while getting familiar with ServiceNow platform functionality.

More experienced practitioner support specialists will be introduced to ServiceNow IT Service Management, Customer Service Management, and JavaScript. In addition, practitioners will earn a Certified System Administrator credential.

The professional support specialist coursework builds on the skills in the associate and practitioner levels and introduces application development, scripting, ServiceNow troubleshooting, and Virtual Agent.

As AI and automation continue to evolve, ServiceNow is committed to helping people gain the skills they need to adapt to a rewarding career in tech.

Find out more about how ServiceNow helps equip the workforce of the future.