Evolution of Tech Support Whitepaper

Is Your IT Workforce Ready for Change? Digital Transformation and the Evolution of Tech Support Roles If there is one maxim that holds true in the business world today, it’s this: every company is a tech company. Years ago, technology was viewed as an outsourced necessity. Organizations would seek IT support only as needed. The modern age has transformed this issue to such a degree that there is scarcely a business that does not confront technology on some level. Today, companies consider technology to be an integral part of conducting business and have incorporated IT teams as an internal presence.

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As technology continues to transform our world, companies are embracing multiple forms of technology, such as cashless payments and QR codes, to perform transactions, track production and monitor operations. Even small localized businesses, such as those found at farmer’s markets and craft fairs, are utilizing forms of ecommerce technology, allowing customers to pay by credit card with mobile-phone enabled scanners. Emerging technology continues to forge a new path for modern organizations. These advancements are changing how we do business—disrupting operations, systems and expectations. One area of technology, in particular, that is feeling the strain is tech support. Tier-one support roles have always functioned as the first stop in the troubleshooting journey, a filtering mechanism for technology issues, but as innovations make way for self-service portals and user-generated password resets, many businesses are re-evaluating the responsibilities of tech support. THE EVOLUTION OF TECH SUPPORT At the base of every team is tech support. Historically, these groups have functioned as intermediaries between tech departments and end users, the foundational level of interaction for user issues. In the past, these teams were fully proficient in Windows operating systems and spent a majority of their time roaming the building checking desktop connections. Tech support was expected to be physically present and often spent time meandering around the building in order to solve problems.

These roles traditionally operated as a hierarchy where tech issues could be escalated according to severity, risk level and the need for expert intervention:

Tier 1:

Tier 4:

Tier 2:

Tier 3:

Manages first communication with end users

Not all organizations utilize a tier four level of tech support, but this usually refers to an outsourced third party where a vendor or consultant is needed to provide a solution.

An escalation from tier one when problems cannot be solved. Tier two individuals often possess specialized knowledge of certain systems or applications.

An expert level of escalation where sophisticated subject knowledge is needed to solve a problem.

and assists with basic

troubleshooting such as password resets and connectivity issues.

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At a time when systems were homogenous and technology was not yet capable of machine learning and automation, this arrangement was successful. Tech issues would often result in a discussion of basic PC troubleshooting or resolving problems with Windows. Today, however, the spread of remote workers and device diversity is causing a reinvention of how tech support is defined with end users located anywhere in the world. Support teams are facing systems and devices of such a varied nature that tech support often becomes a function of ticket assignment, instead of problem solving. The spread of disruptive technologies and the availability of a plethora of devices has organizations of all shapes and sizes surveying the digital landscape around them. With AI emerging to handle basic tasks, where does that leave tier one? Technology makes many things possible that were once unheard of. Now a commonplace occurrence, automation was once viewed as the stuff of science fiction. However, modern businesses use automation every day to manage mundane tasks and perform low-level functions. From a tech support perspective, automation is now being used to address many basic tasks. According to CompTIA, 26% of companies are aggressively pursuing automation as a general business strategy and another 30% are automating specific processes within their workflow. AUTOMATION ASSUMES BASIC TECH-SUPPORT TASKS

Chris Hodson, Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) with UK-based Tanium, spoke of this new reality saying,

“A decade ago, it was still basically the industry standard for IT staff to go fromworkstation to workstation, installing software from a CD as necessary. And that’s only one of the myriad tasks that has shifted from hands-on IT to automation. These days, so much that once required a manual touch can be accomplished with the push of a button.”

The evolution of tech support from on-premise problem solvers to distanced troubleshooters has many companies investigating alternatives to the traditional tech support team. The days of occupying personal space with a user have largely past. Automation can now bear the burden of many of those basic functionalities, alleviating some of the demands on tier one.

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EVER-EXPANDING DEVICE DIVERSITY Another challenge facing tech support is the proliferation of devices. Organizations consistently seek out innovations to help maximize profits. These optimizations often take form in the adoption of improved devices. Over the last ten years, there has been a surge in device options.

Hodson said, “Rewind 10 years to IT support teams I used to deal with. Support was homogenous… You walk into any contemporary organization, and you have this kind of smorgasbord of devices.” Today, we switch almost seamlessly from tablet to smartphone to laptop. As mobile devices were first exploding on the scene, there was a belief that a BYOD policy might alleviate tech support needs. However, CompTIA research shows that companies are actually shifting more towards providing corporate devices in order to dictate device management. This means that tech support across all these devices has to be considered. In fact, 51% of companies say that a major concern with mobility is ensuring that the employees are using their devices properly.

The expansion of devices bears a great influence on tech support as an ever-expanding set of skills and a growing knowledge base is needed to mitigate risks and solve technical issues. Now that we are no longer living in a tech world dominated by the Windows stack, many experts speculate that tier one support roles will revert to device management or customer service.

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REMOTE WORKING REVAMPS TECH SUPPORT One trend that continues to maintain its foothold is remote working, a persistent factor for the evolving role of tech support. According to a recent study by the International Workplace Group, 70% of employees work remote at least once a week and 50% work remote half the week. While remote work is not a new concept, it appears to be increasing in prevalence. Flexible working options are offered by some of the world’s most successful and prominent brands, such as Microsoft, Mastercard and Uber. What does this mean for tech support?

In the past, support roles have functioned within the physical space of the business. But with so many workers connecting from remote locations, the physical presence of support is becoming less important from an operational perspective. Dave Hagedorn with the United States Army Space and Missile Defense Command, sees support teams consistently vocalizing concern for their job security as a result of the disintegration of the traditional tech support role, commenting, “As we move from local domain to an enterprise model, tech support is very worried… We have to realize that we are likely going to lose our face-to-face, help desk support.” This move toward digitization has changed the traditional tier system of tech support because we no longer require a physical presence to the same degree. Businesses are finding alternative solutions to tech support where users are connected with call centers or self-service portals to complete a large part of their own troubleshooting. While this automation may save time with basic tasks like password reset, there is still a gap to be bridged when technology fails to accommodate for a user’s lack of understanding or inability to solve their own problem. Tech support personnel is still incredibly useful for these mediation purposes.

Despite the grim outlook for human involvement in tier one roles, many experts do not believe that tech support is going anywhere. Hagedorn still sees value in keeping a personal element in tech support:

“The most important thing from a tech support position, is a user perspective. I think we’re losing the personal element. We still need that personal touch to be the voice of the user…In the diminishing realm of the help desk, I think there’s value still for tech support, but companies are going to have to very wisely balance that.”

With careful consideration, organizations can utilize the skills of tech support in other, more useful areas, shifting towards more complex capabilities.

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DISRUPTIVE TECHNOLOGIES ALTER THE ROLE OF TECH SUPPORT In addition to automation, emerging tech plays a much larger role than simply managing basic tasks. One of the most discussed elements impacting tier-one support is the introduction of technologies such as machine learning, the cloud, AI and IoT.

The adoption of new technologies has led to a much more heterogenous technological world. Hodson commented, “with the consumerism of IT, we’re in a totally different place for people who have to support the systems. The amount of organizations who no longer know the core or foundational components of their systems is staggering.” Tech support now find themselves faced with managing user issues that don’t align with the previous standardization of ten years ago.

Many of these conversations speculate how advancements may potentially replace the human element to reduce costs. Some argue that productivity will surge as the possibility for human error is reduced, while others posit that people are a necessary element to bridge technology and users. In fact, a 2018 report compiled by the World Economic Forum predicts that 75 million jobs will be lost to technology. Grave predictions such as these instill fear in entry-level tech workers. But while this may seem like a somber situation is approaching, the same report also predicts that these same advancements will create 133 million jobs. These stats suggest that the amount of jobs created by emerging tech will far surpass those lost. With this kind of >Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12

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