IT Support Resources

What is IT Support?

Also known as tech support, IT support is a variety of services that assist in the production of technology such as mobile phones, mechanical goods, electronic goods, televisions and computers. IT support doesn’t intend to provide support services or any other kind of training such as customisation to the end user, but helps the customer to solve problems which are specific to the product.

What are the means of reaching the end users or consumers to provide IT support?

Companies look for specific ways in which they can offer support with the products or services that they sell out. Some charge a fee or some provide the support for free. The supports that these companies offer are mostly over the phone, via a website or via email. There may be a global number where users can give them a call. The internet is a method that can provide free technical support. User groups and bloggers usually share their experiences on a product, although some fees can be charged on the premium technical support services.

What are the IT support channels?

Depending on the situation, various channels can be used to give out IT support. Questions may be forwarded via email, fax, chat or online. The support staff can then log in to the user’s computer using remote network assistance. In the complex cases, the IT support staffs are sent to the user’s location to deal with the problem in person. IT support is always divided and subdivided into tiers or levels. This way, it can serve a customer base or business much more effectively. Primarily, it is dependent on the business’ needs to select the number of levels that form a technical support group. Effective IT support is dependent on how users and customers gain the satisfaction from the services they receive. The use of tiers or levels within IT support organisations allows their team to provide the best possible support in the most efficient manners. The more that an IT technician understands the customer’s response time commitments and responsibility, the higher the success rate that the IT support staff reaps. The levels of escalation and the time it takes to escalate an issue is also an important factor.

What is Tier 1 IT Support?

Tier-1 IT support is also called the initial level of support that is responsible for all customer interactions and solving the customer’s issues. Front end, level 1, support line 1, first-line support etc. are the commonly used names and headings for basic level technical support functions. What the tier 1 support staff do are to gather all the basic information of the customer’s data. The staffs then try to attack the problem by the analysis of the symptoms and try to find the root cause of the problem. The problem statement should be very clear in the IT support staff’s mind. The staff should try to achieve what the customer is trying for, so that the problem can be solved. The symptoms should be carefully noted down before analysis. If the underlying problems are identified, the possible solutions can then be thought over.

Usually, the IT support in this tier has the knowledge management tool which they use to handle very simple, straightforward issues. The tool gives them various troubleshooting methods, analysing physical layer issues, password/user name resets, reinstalling and uninstalling software for different users, analysing hardware/software compatibility and navigation assistance in the application menus. The support personnel at this level may have all the basic knowledge of the product but may not have the required skills to solve complex issues. Studies have proven that this support layer usually handles some 75% to 80% of user problems without finding it necessary for the issue to be escalated to a higher level.

What is Tier 2 IT Support?

At this level of IT support, the support personnel have a more in-depth knowledge of the product and the domain than level 1 support. Level 2 support, support line 2, administrative level support all denotes the same. These personnel use much more advanced technical troubleshooting and analysis methods to fix issues. The escalated issues are confirmed, validated and resolved. Sometimes the problem is a known one and it gets fixed as soon as it is escalated and at other times the issues need the use of more investigation procedures. The tier 2 supports may use different investigation methods like replacing hardware, doing a remote connection to the user desktop for troubleshooting purposes, software repair or testing etc.

It is important to know how long the tier 1 personnel have been working on the issue. To achieve this, the work order is reviewed first before beginning any investigations. This helps prioritise the issues and ensure proper management of time. If a problem is too complex to resolve, it then is escalated to tier 3 levels of IT support personnel.

What is Tier 3 IT Support?

This tier of IT support is generally the highest level of support and this group handles the most difficult and advanced problems. Other names of this group are level 3 supports, support line 3, back-end support, expert level etc. They not only provide assistance to the tier 1 and tier 2 in solving problems, but also do various kinds of research and development work to solve many new or unknown issues. Tiers 3 also need to review the work order, from the work performed by tier 2. In some cases an issue may be too complex and requires a product replacement. Extreme problems like these are then sent to the developers first and the user is asked to give their contact details. After analysis, if it is found out that there is a solution to the problem then the tier 3 staffs are responsible for framing the course of action. A test environment is created and the best solution is found out. Users are then contacted and the solution is then delivered to them. The troubleshooting information is then made available for all future investigation purposes.