RSMUS.comIT support and its role in modern companies is often a topic that tends to leave an organization’s decision maker in a tight spot. There are several options/scenarios to consider. On one hand, the in-person experience and deskside support is invaluable, on the other, users might not always be in the office or working normal hours in the local time zone. Therefore, different users have varying expectations and IT support needs.
There are several questions that surface after the initial thoughts around type of support, quality, and capacity – but on and off-site can be provided regardless of the answers to these questions. The approach to determining if physical on-site support is the right answer should focus on an organization’s culture and expectations of IT. If IT is going to provide a valuable service to the organization, expectations need to be met. The below questions are useful for providing insight into the question of whether on-site support is right for your company:
- Can users self-remedy issues by receiving instructions or guidance over the telephone?
- What is the overall perception of technology at your company?
- Are there VIPs that require dedicated attention when it comes to technology?
- How often are users in the office and how often are they working outside business hours?
After determining whether support is needed on-site or off-site, the areas below become key indicators of your support needs.
- What type of IT support needs does your organization require?
- General IT support, specific application support, etc.?
- How much support is right for your organization?
- Based on the number of users, business operations, environment complexity, and maturity of users, IT support capacity needs will vary from organization to organization
- When does your organization need to be supported?
- Does your organization work long hours and weekends, or stick to a strict business hours schedule? This will help outline the model and distribution of support.
Reviewing the above questions can get you started on determining support needs for your organization. RSM offers assessments to help determine the answers to these questions, strategic planning to help your IT keep up with your organization, and on/off site support so IT can keep up with your users.
