Types of IT Support

The speed of change in the technological world and the influence of these changes on our businesses and ways of working are felt globally. Businesses of all sizes and types rely heavily on information technology systems and, in order to best protect precious data and assets, enlisting a professional company to provide business IT support makes a great deal of sense.

As with so many other industries and services, there are many different varieties of IT support available. Increasingly a crucial component of every business’ activities, many companies exist and are emerging as IT support specialists.

There are very few businesses that would not be incredibly disadvantaged if their systems were corrupted and/or important information lost. Let’s be honest, there are few things that are more stressful and frustrating.

For this reason and many others, business IT support is highly sought after. Not only is it important to maintain IT infrastructure, it is also critical to monitor its performance. Few people generally have these skills and so the need for a specialist IT support company to protect your business’ systems is all the more apparent.

But, what are the different types of IT support that can be provided?

Break and Fix Support:

Break and fix is perhaps the type of IT support that we are most familiar with. As the name implies, this service is typically provided when a piece of equipment or a system fails. A comparatively simple relationship exists between the customer and specialist and each time the services of the professional are accessed, the customer pays accordingly.

Under this arrangement, there is no contract between the customer and the provider of IT support. In light of this, some customers find themselves disappointed when their work is marked as a lower priority than other jobs to which the support provider may have to attend. This can be frustrating as when it comes to IT, we all consider our problems ‘urgent’.

Block Hours:

Another type of technical IT support is block hours. Within this arrangement, a contract is usually negotiated with special prices quite often negotiated and a designated number of hours agreed. As per the agreed contract, the customer is then billed for services on a monthly or yearly basis.

The main disadvantage of business IT support provided in this way is that the customer is still required to pay for IT support whether or not it is required during the contract period. However, this disadvantage is outweighed by the security and peace of mind that comes from knowing that any IT problems that may arise will be promptly responded to.

Managed Services:

Managed services are possibly the most often used method of IT support provision. Under this arrangement, an IT support service provider sets and provides their list of services with associated costs. Then, a contract is defined and signed with the customer who, in signing a contract, ensures that their business is provided with a constant source of IT support – including monitoring of their infrastructure and maintenance of equipment.

Managed services enable a company to receive IT support in a prompt and efficient fashion.

IT support is critical to the success of small, medium and large businesses. In this day and age, no company can afford to jeopardise the security of their information and IT assets and IT support can provide an effective safety net.

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