adamwebb's blog: "IT Support"

Growing trend of remote IT support seems to be here to stay, during a time of intense cost cutting the remote IT department has the edge, with complex software applications smart IT support companies are able to support higher numbers of clients then ever before. Slowly but surely CEO's are seeing the light and support desk outsourcing is on the rise even at enterprise level.

So have we seen the end of the geek room in the office?

IT support needs cost managing just like the sales team and a well qualified outsource program can mean the answer, a huge pool of skills is available to the business at a fraction of the cost of full time employment.

IT support managers and directors are concerned about their network data security than any other business issues. Among 934 IT support professionals who responded the web poll, only 20% consider human error as a major worry on most businesses followed by data storage with only 12 percent.

There are still some firms who never consider outsourcing their services for fear of making more irreparable damages. There are several reasons why IT outsourcing is shunned by some. For starters, there are outsourcing companies who only provide services worth the price they are being paid for. And they often cut corners to make more revenue which means, good customer service is the least of their worries.

There are lots of horror stories about outsourcing that are apparently true. Some companies are just not prepared to take the risk even if it means struggling financially to keep up with today's weak economy. They'd rather rely with their own IT Support than save money but have unhappy customers.

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The sole focus of every business in today’s economic situation is perceived as survival. The need to “at least be able to continue” in the face of the downturn is a common theme across many business conversations. As more and more companies face tight times, the need to minimise costs becomes a higher priority. Historically, internal employees would fulfil specific roles with external consultants brought in when expertise in particular areas was required.

A good example is that of IT Support was historically delivered through internal dedicated personnel or a willing volunteer, with some external consultancy brought on board to provide selective guidance to deliver the service needed. In more recent times, such staff members have been seen somewhat as a luxury and more and more companies are asking their kindly volunteers to concentrate on their core tasks in order to be more productive for the greater business.

The need to outsource then becomes a priority and recession focuses every purchaser of services to sharpen their criteria and also raise their expectation of the service that is to be delivered. Economic decline can also be a time of great potential, a time for increased creativity and investment into reviewing and refreshing the way in which a business functions in order to become a more effective and productive environment which can only encourage growth and improvements in performance.

The very nature of IT Support and the manner in which the service has historically been delivered has been the motivation for Littlefish over the past six months to rise to the challenge of changing the standard for IT Support delivery. The release of the Littlefish Singlepoint portal in September 2009 will see the way in which a client experiences IT Support change dramatically; the new, unified system approach will revolutionise the way in which IT users, Management and Directors experience IT Support in the future.

By providing one portal into the Littlefish systems, a client manager will be able to view all current support issues for their company, view real-time monitoring reports about their network, access all their current and historic invoicing, statement and pay for orders online if they wish. With access to reporting tools, LIttlefish Support or Support Plus clients will be able to get the best from their systems and plan for potential improvements with greater information and confidence than ever before.

What has for a long time been seen as a “black art” or a “necessary evil” is now something that Littlefish are striving to make much more accessible to all and something that can be seen as a tool to empower workforces today to be the workforces of tomorrow.

Mark L. Jones writes about IT Services, he has been an IT Support expert for nearly 7 years. If you would like to receive a free weekly newsletter on IT support services, request information or a quotation.