Technical support for users is a problem that every business that uses computers will encounter, and unless you plan for scalability, your tech support strategy can leave you behind as the organisation grows.

Whether your network consists of two or three desktop systems at the office wired together in a peer-to-peer configuration, a couple hundred clients connecting to a handful of servers over Ethernet with a wireless DMZ for visiting laptops, or a multi-site, multi-vendor conglomeration of Windows domains, UNIX segments and departmental mainframes, one thing besides death and taxes is inevitable: at some point your end users will need technical support.

For both small and large businesses, computer problems result in downtime and that means lost productivity and resultant lost revenues. And regardless of the quality of your hardware and software, Murphy's law will always catch up with you eventually: there will be problems. When those problems can't be solved by end-users, you need a plan for technical support.

Outgrowing vendor support
When the business is small, you may rely on the hardware and/or software vendors' tech support lines to solve your computer problems. When a user has a problem, he calls the support line for help. This may seem like the logical answer, but it has several disadvantages:

• Users may spend a lot of unproductive time on hold.
• Users may have trouble explaining the problem adequately to a stranger over the phone.
• Many vendors are outsourcing tech support to other countries, with resulting language differences that make it even more difficult for users to communicate the problem and/or understand the advice offered.
• Some vendors may charge for telephone support services or limit the number of calls your organisation can make at no cost.
• The vendor support staff members are not familiar with your network's infrastructure or proprietary applications you may have deployed.

Additionally, having each user handle his/her own computer problems can create unnecessary redundancy in the process: several users may have the same problem, but each repeats the entire process (sometimes incurring support fees from the vendor) to reach the same solution instead of benefiting from the experience of the first user to have the problem.

As your organisation grows, it becomes more cost-effective to create an in-house support infrastructure.

In-house tech support
In the beginning, your in-house "tech support department" may consist of one tech savvy employee who handles the problems on a part-time basis along with other duties. As you move from a workgroup situation to a more complex network configuration, you'll probably add one or more full-time IT administrators and they may handle tech support along with administrative tasks.

This is a step up from the "every user on his own with vendor support for backup" method you started with. In this case, once a problem has been identified and solved once, there's no need to start all over from scratch if it happens to another user. The IT person will already have the answer since he's dealt with it before.

Unfortunately, as the IT department expands, you may lose this advantage. When you have several different IT people handling users' problems, they may not coordinate these efforts with one another. A user who calls with a new problem this week may not get help from the same person who helped her with a different problem two weeks ago and thus won't recognise if the two problems are related or the second problem stems from the solution to the first.

However, this won't happen if you created a scalable, well-thought-out in-house tech support solution from the beginning.

Professionalising tech support
A good in-house tech support program will dedicate one or more people to manning the "help desk," and more importantly, will use technology to track problems and document solutions, keeping all tech support personnel "in the loop" on all of the problems as the tech support staff grows.

Luckily, there are software solutions designed for this purpose. These systems allow for continuity when you have different help desk people working with a user at different times, and make it much easier to spot trends and address them early. Help requests are logged and assigned to a support rep, then tracked through the resolution and follow-up stages. You can read more about various HelpDesk software solutions at http://www.help-desk-world.com/.

Good support systems will also include self-help databases, so that users can search for solutions that they can implement themselves prior to submitting a service request.

A good in-house tech support system will be designed to handle reports of problems through different formats, such as phone, e-mail, and web interface. One of the biggest challenges for tech support is the difficulty of diagnosing software and hardware problems based on users' descriptions. However, it may be difficult or impossible for support personnel to visit the desk of every user who has a problem. New operating system functionality, however, means the support person can "be there" without leaving the helpdesk. You can incorporate Windows XP's remote assistance feature into your in-house support program so that the support person can view exactly what's happening on the user's computer desktop instead of relying on vague descriptions. Even better, the support person can take control of the user's computer remotely and walk the user through the steps as the support person fixes the problem.

Outsourcing tech support
At the enterprise level, help desk services may consume a large proportion of IT resources and personnel costs can rise as it becomes necessary to recruit and train operators and managers and, in some cases, maintain round-the-clock coverage. Some companies turn to outsourcing their support services. This can reduce operational costs and may improve user satisfaction if handled properly. There are many companies that can provide help desk services on a local, national or international basis. Here is a list of such services.

Making it scalable
There is no "one size fits all" technical support solution, but if you plan ahead, you can design a strategy that will help you handle the tech support problem on any scale and make the necessary transitions with as little disruption to your business process as possible.

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