What is IT support?

Just as IT has become ubiquitous among businesses, the roles and responsibilities of IT support personnel are likewise extensive. On its most basic level, IT support is a broad term that encompasses any form of assistance with technology-related services and products. That means that IT support is equally responsible for installing new security software as helping forgetful employees recover lost passwords.

At the same time, effective IT support solutions provide employees with the resources to quickly resolve issues and get the work back on track. Employees can get IT support at any time, from anywhere, and count on a fast, reliable resolution. This means improved employee productivity, as well as increased job satisfaction and engagement.

With this in mind, the following are some of the more common tasks associated with IT support:

• Logging and processing support calls
• Installing and configuring computer hardware, software, systems, networks, printers and scanners
• Planning and undertaking scheduled maintenance upgrades
• Setting up accounts for staff, ensuring that they know how to log in
• Solving password problems
• Talking to employees and computer users to determine the nature of any problems they encounter
• Responding to breakdowns
• Investigating, diagnosing and solving computer software and hardware faults
• Repairing equipment and replacing parts

Advanced ServiceNow IT support takes things further, allowing IT agents to resolve repetitive IT tasks and requests using virtual-agent chatbots, employ predictive intelligence to automatically categorise and send cases to relevant teams, and incorporate service level management to improve visibility into commitments and set accurate business expectations. Finally, a comprehensive dashboard can provide service agents with a complete view of the entirety of IT support, backed by AI-informed recommendations and essential context. These advantages allow IT agents to resolve more cases, quickly and accurately.

Employees likewise benefit from improved IT support from ServiceNow. Omnichannel self-service options provide employees with reliable resources to find solutions, ask questions, and get accurate, consistent information at any time. Mobile options allow employees to get support through the Now Mobile application, available on any device. Collaboration tools integrate with Amazon Connect, Slack, Facebook Workplace, and Microsoft Teams. And, because support doesn’t only occur online, ServiceNow Walk-Up Experience streamlines face-to-face support requests, with online check-in, real-time queue estimates, and automated notifications.

There was a time when many organisations kept their IT support personnel hidden away in basements, only bringing them into play when computer systems or important office appliances needed to be fixed. Those days have passed; modern IT support is an essential and fully integrated aspect of the organisational structure of nearly any successful business.

Although many companies still prefer to keep separate IT support departments, others have begun fully disseminating IT throughout other teams and departments. The reasoning behind this move may seem obvious—every team and department has their own technology tools, systems, databases etc., and as such should have their own IT experts on hand to counter any unexpected failures or other issues that might arise.

But this shift isn’t only driven by the need for on-hand experts. It is steadily becoming more and more apparent that success depends heavily on how focused and committed an organisation is to digital transformation. As such, the traditional IT support relationship, where IT exists only to reinforce other departments, is giving way to a new order, where IT itself drives commercial and enterprise growth.

ServiceNow is at the forefront of this transformation.