The phrase “tech support” has many connotations attached to it.
Regardless, these are the six tenets that are critical for successful tech support.
1. Security Services Should Be Managed
Every business stakeholder faces a variety of challenges.
Sometimes, it might be nice to offload some of those and allow another company to dedicate itself to your company’s tech support.
That’s where managed security services offer a benefit, especially to small- and medium-sized businesses.
By outsourcing the monitoring and management of security devices and systems, a great tech support company can detect network intrusions and scan for vulnerabilities and viruses.
Think about whether your IT partner offers managed services such as these.
2. Networks Should Be Proactively Monitored and Maintained
Whether the topic makes the headlines or not, security should be a top concern for business stakeholders year-round.
Tech support should include monitoring and maintaining networks as cybercrime continues to rise.
This monitoring should ensure that each customer is up to date with compliance. Two industries where this is critical are healthcare and banking. Partner with a tech support team that understands your business’s requirements.
3. Plan For Data Backup and Disaster Recovery
As we generate more data every Internet minute, businesses must think about how to back up that data and how to recover it in case of emergency.
Some key items to review in a disaster recovery plan should be:
Standout tech support plans for these types of scenarios.
4. Round-The-Clock Emergency Service Lines Are Crucial
Good tech support comes down to stellar customer service.
For example, a 2018 SuperOffice report said that 62 percent of companies do not respond to customer service emails.
In other words, most companies are not engaging with customers when they are in need of help. Many customers will likely flee to competitors who respond.
The average response time to handle a customer service request is 12 hours and 10 minutes
Customers aren’t waiting this long.
In a similar statistic, SproutSocial found that brands take an average of 10 hours to respond to a user. The average user, however, has moved on after four hours.
Therefore, even if it’s merely engaging with chatbots at 3 a.m., customers want service no matter the time of day.
5. Tech Support Should Be In The Cloud
The cloud has taken over.
Enterprises are using multiple clouds, and public cloud is being seen as a top priority by 38 percent of businesses, a nine-percent increase from the previous year, according to RightScale.
What’s more, Louis Columbus reports 83 percent of enterprise workloads will be in the cloud within the next year and a half in his analysis of a 2017 cloud survey.
Businesses are floating up toward the cloud, and tech support should offer these services, as well.
6. Tech Support Should Offer Advice, Consulting, and Planning
Tech support is more than fixing something when it is broken.
Tech support should offer your business advice on how to keep your processes running quickly and efficiently. They should offer help when they think it’s appropriate. They should help your company plan for the future.
Developing these high-level insights for your business is what wraps all of these critical tenets together.