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IT Support & Maintenance Services
Buyer's Guide |
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1. Introduction to IT Support Services
According to Gartner1, one in 10 IT departments will be disbanded by 2011. The reason for this is outsourcing and the changing nature of IT. By Gartner's prediction, IT departments will shrink or disappear as they will be outsourced to external providers moved to other parts of the world through outsourcing deals. Also, IT departments will increasingly deal with areas outside of what is considered IT in 2006, such as business and strategic planning. IT will become one of the top three make-or-break factors for businesses, but IT departments will still see their actual technology staff reduced by 40 percent.
However, you may be thinking: Why would my company be outsourcing IT when you already have IT staff? Outsourcing your day-to-day IT management gives you access to an entire new team - a whole IT Department, for less than the cost of one technician. You get professional support 24/7, not just in work hours, and not just subject to a staff member's health or holiday time. With outsourcing, you are no longer limited by the skill set of your staff, because you have access to the full range of expertise available in a complete team.
On the other hand, smaller companies may ask themselves: Why would my company be outsourcing IT, if I don't even have IT staff? One of the biggest mistakes small businesses make is not leveraging their IT investments. If you want to make sure that the staff you can have on board are concentrating 100% on those activities that will drive your business, or directly improve your bottom line, then outsourcing is a tremendously economical way to make sure you never have to worry when things go wrong, and downtime occurs.
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1. Introduction
2. What are IT Support Services?
3. Types of IT support
4. Types of IT Maintenance Support Solutions
5. Advantages and disadvantages of IT Support Types
6. Advantages and disadvantages of IT Maintenance Types
7. Advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing IT Support and Maintenance
8. When should we outsource IT support services?
9. Selecting an IT Support services provider
10. Questions to put to potential IT Service Providers
11. IT Support Contracts
12. Pricing of IT Support Services
13. Case studies: IT Support and Maintenance
14. Frequently Asked Questions about IT Support Services and IT Support Contracts
1Gartner is the world's leading provider of research and analysis about the global information technology industry. The prediction about one in 10 departments being disbanded by 2011 was discussed at annual Symposium / IT xpo in Orlando.
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2. What are IT Support Services?
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IT Support Services cover a range of services providing assistance with computer hardware, software, network or other. IT support services attempt to help the user solve specific problems with a product or a service, whereas IT maintenance services help your company prevent problems with your hardware, software, network and security. Outsourced IT support can be flexible, which means that your company might never have to worry about supporting full time salaries or about finding the IT staff you need when you experience growth.
Unlike your internal staff, outsourced IT staff can be available 24/7, where vendor's technicians will respond to you and your employees? requests within a pre-defined response rate, which can be as qucik as a few minutes. This means that your company would not have to wait for one particular person to become available before the problem can be solved. Lots of vendors today can provide remote monitoring services, so that through a remote connection to your network, they can be working on a solution instantly. In that way, they can resolve problems quickly, and they can even reduce the number of problems your company experiences through their preventive monitoring and maintenance activities. | |
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3. Types of IT support
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IT Support can be delivered through various media, including e-mail, live chat, telephones, applications and technicians, although the most common one is that of the telephone.
However, some things that are not supported in lower levels of support can be supported with higher service levels: for instance, only direct questions can be addressed through e-mail or fax; basic software problems can be addressed over the telephone; while hardware or network problems often need to be dealt with in person.
Based on company's requirements there are different types of support:
1. Online Self-Help Support - FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions), Knowledge Base, product/service specific mailing lists, product/service support centres, newsgroups, chats, help database
2. Subscription-Based Support - Subscriptions include the monthly delivery of certain support
3. Assisted Incident Support E-mail support, Phone support, Advisory services
4. Contract-Based Support Direct access to technical experts any time, account management, support assistance, problem resolution support, information services
Vendors often specialise in one or more of the following category types of support
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Computer Hardware Support. Services that can be included: Diagnosing and resolving hardware and software problems, installing and configuring all hardware and software components, providing user support, providing technology direction... |
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Computer Network Support - Services that can be included: Administering local and wide area networks, Monitoring and optimising network resources (network traffic, storage use, deployment of peripherals, etc.)... |
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Application Support - Services supporting critical applications, from mainframes, Unix and client server or web based technologies |
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IT Security Support - Services that can be included: Establishing and administering security procedures, establishing and maintaining disaster recovery, backup, and anti-virus procedures... |
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Telephony Support - Telephony implementation (installation, setup, repair), hardware and software maintenance, network support, remote monitoring, phone replacement? |
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IT Audit - Including IT Security Audits - Analysis, testing, assessing, optimising? |
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IT Department Outsourcing (Partial or Complete) - You can choose the amount of support you require so that your staff are productive and satisfied, and your critical infrastructure performs. Services under IT department outsourcing may cover: network management, hardware and software support, disaster recovery, preventative maintenance solutions, outsourcing of senior IT management functions such as LAN Manager, IT Director, Chief Technology Officer etc; Developing and administering technology budgets and others... |
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