How to organise successful IT support

It is said that the best IT that takes care of traffic is the one that is invisible. Does that sound weird? It's actually a description of the fact that you don't actually encounter such IT traffic at all, you don't have to call them when something is not working and they don't inform you that there is an outage. Somewhere in the background, completely automatically, all the systems you need to do your job are running and are always available to you.

So how to make "normal" IT "invisible"?

You will need finely chopped onions and a good quality ... Or actually, you will need:

1. Something that today's complex world full of servers, wires and applications can take care of for us. Something that doesn't fall asleep and stumble - let's call it MONITORING,
2. just like NASA, proper support must have a control center, a Houston. This central unit is called SERVICE DESK,
3. cars are almost driving themselves and robots are a great thing, but with good support we still can't do without humans. SPECIALIST, who are always available and have the right knowledge, are the ones who determine the success and quality of the support,
4. amateurish enthusiasm or trying to grab things by force may not always be to the benefit of the cause, and so quality support cannot be "cooked" without order and rules that give us properly defined PROCESSES,
5. success is ultimately decided by numbers and so it is clear that we will need a proper online and offline REPORTING.

Tip 1: Monitoring

You know IT monitoring, can tell that the system is not functional. As well as the monitoring that you can tell that some hardware or databases are not working. But there are also tools that will advance you warns of the approach of the limit stAva services to give you time to react and fix things before the system "crashes" and users experience an outage. A solution that can monitor the duration and quality of not only "hard" technical parameters, but also entire business processes, such as the length of time a customer is served at the checkout, will also definitely add value.

Tip 2: Service Desk

The Service Desk is the hotel's front desk and command centre at the same time. It's where all the important information required for the operation of IT support. In front of all these monitors sits a dispatcher who can react to changes in status and detected problems, as well as activate other necessary specialists at the right time and coordinate work to solve more complex tasks. Of course, such a person cannot do without a number of support tools such as ticketing system.

Tip 3: Specialists

Time never passes faster than when a system outage impacts your customers. At that point, there is no room for testing, searching and finding the cause. You need to have seasoned fighters who know exactly "where and how", understand their craft, can coordinate with others and do not succumb to the panic caused by external pressures.

Tip 4: Processes

With proper IT support management, you can't do without fine-tuned and correctly set processes. To set them up and apply them 100% on a daily basis, you need to have sufficient management experience as well as a senior team of specialists who understand the meaning and value of the defined processes. The support needs to address how to record requirements, allocate work, monitor SLA compliance, ensuring that the customer is kept informed of the progress of the problem as well as a defined method of escalation. "Reinventing" workflows is "expensive" and at the time of outage resolution can mean dramatically increasing resolution time and therefore negatively impacting SLA and perception of service quality as a whole.

Tip 5: Reporting

As the person responsible for smooth support and availability of business-critical applicationsYou clearly need an online view of the status of all systems and the entire infrastructure. On the other hand, regular, monthly reports and statistics are used for continuous evaluation and improvement of your own support service, showing the fulfilment of SLAs or the possible sources and causes of emerging problems.

Just like in the culinary industry, creating a well-functioning and flawless IT support In addition to these ingredients, you will also need a lot of experience and, of course, a little talent.

Bon appetit and restful sleep!

To learn more about what good support can look like, see 24×7 supportto see what support we provide. We are happy to be your support, so do not hesitate to contact us.

Karel Pecl CEO in the company Blue Dynamic.