Executive Summary
- Running a business in the 21st Century naturally comes with a lot of focus on digital, meaning IT support is an absolute necessity – but a safety net for your company relies on knowledge and experience.
- Whether you have a small in-house IT support team, or even just a single person to manage it all, there’s always room for more advice on how to keep the IT team running smoothly.
- With over 20 years of experience in the IT support industry, the Get Support team is perfectly placed to offer in-depth guidance on how to run a successful IT support department – so here are 8 of our best pieces of advice.
Introduction
From paper merchants to car makers, every business is entirely unique. But there’s one thing that all modern businesses above a certain size have in common: they need IT support.
With a digital-first world which is focused primarily online, and with thousands of employees now working from home, it’s essential that your IT systems remain stable and secure. And to do that, you need a superstar IT team.
Whether you’ve got one IT team member or one hundred, here are 8 insider insights from Get Support to help you empower your in-house IT support team to be the best they can be.
Tip #1: Always stay ahead of the curve on cyberthreats
Part of being a successful IT team is being reactive to cybersecurity threats — but it’s also about being proactive, too.
With malware like zero-day attacks becoming more and more common these days, it’s essential to encourage your IT support team to stay right up to date with active cyberthreats that could impact your business.
Tip #2: Know when your hardware will need replacing before it conks out
How many times has an employee or user come to you or your IT support team with a broken (or simply old and slow) computer that you suddenly need to find the money to replace?
To avoid these unexpected costs, a successful IT support team should develop an IT hardware roadmap with key milestones detailing when computers or laptops should be reviewed for replacement. (By the by, this is exactly what you’ll get with our IT Director service).
Tip #3: Keep an updated “flight check” list for onboarding new employees
Onboarding new users can be one of the most time-consuming tasks for any IT support team, especially when new employees are joining remotely.
To smooth the process for new starters, especially in teams with multiple IT team members, you should keep an updated list of the specific steps to be taken in order to get users up and running.
Tip #4: Recognise when your team needs an external IT support safety net
If there’s one thing everyone in business can agree on, it’s that IT is unpredictable. One week you may have zero issues, all smooth sailing from Monday to Friday. The next, you might have to install two new servers, onboard a couple of new starters, and deal with hardware replacement — anything could happen.
That’s why it’s a good idea to have an external IT support team like Get Support waiting in the wings to help. Our IT services can act like safety nets for internal teams: supporting, but not replacing, their IT tasks — especially when things get tough.
Tip #5: As a business owner, invest in your IT support team
It’s unquestionable that assigning budgets is one of the most difficult aspects of running a business. No matter what you do, there’ll always be at least one area which could probably do with a bit more capital – but, especially in our digital world – that shouldn’t be your IT department.
Whether you hire in more employees to bulk out the team, or use an external resource like Get Support to deliver ad hoc backup as explained above, it’s always wise to invest in your digital infrastructure.
Tip #6: Explain complex topics in plain English
If you’re already familiar with our ethos at Get Support, you’ll know that the concept of plain English is something we champion every day.
From the Plain English Guides we produce to the straightforward way we deliver our IT support services, we always recommend explaining IT-focused topics in as simple a way as possible. Why? Because the more you can help your users understand the technology, the safer they’ll be when working in the digital space – and the less they’ll keep asking the same questions.
Tip #7: Develop clear policies to keep the whole company cyber-secure
Any IT support department worth their salt will be familiar with the importance of battle-tested security policies.
These can cover everything from how users handle email attachments to how often they should change their passwords. Every company’s risk tolerance will be different, but they should still ensure they at least have security policies in place – and that they’re properly communicated to the entire business either via regular email updates or an internal newsletter.
Tip #8: Educate your users to save time in the future
As the old saying goes, “Change a man’s password, and he’ll be quiet for a month. Teach him how to change his own password, and he’ll be quiet forever…” It’s something along those lines, anyway, but the logic is sound.
By educating internal users in key IT-based workflows, you can lower the chances of a ticket being opened on that topic in future. It might not be foolproof, but it could just stave off the occasional future headache for your IT support team.
Need a little (or a lot) of additional IT support? We can help
One of the things we’re most proud of at Get Support is just how scalable our service is.
It doesn’t matter if you need a full remote team of IT technicians, or simply the equivalent of one person one day a week to pitch in, our IT support agreements can help.
We’ll work with your business to design an IT support package which is perfectly tailored to your needs – all at a price that suits your budget. As we touched on earlier, this isn’t about replacing any members of staff, but rather filling in the gaps or helping you grow without losing IT support efficiency.
To talk more about how our services could help boost your business, call our expert team today on 01865 59 4000, or fill in the form below.
