Choosing Between On- Demand IT Support and Cloud Services
IT support refers to various services which entities offer to users of information technology or computer hardware products. It is one of the major forms of IT support, which has become very popular among people. In simple terms, IT support provides assistance to customers regarding certain issues with a particular product or service, instead of providing technical support in general, specialized training, modification or provision of the product itself, or other maintenance services. There are many types of managed IT support services that an organization can avail of. Some of these include software engineering support, database support, network security management, desktop systems support, software utility support, application and system maintenance support, and troubleshooting support.
IT support can be provided by personnel of a company or organization.
Companies can hire professionals from outside, or they can contact third-party organizations to provide support on their behalf. The professionals hired to provide IT support work under the supervision of senior level management.
One of the many advantages of hiring an external provider to provide IT technical support is that they do not impose licensing obligations on the customer. The cost for this type of service is generally higher than what a company would have to pay to its own internal IT technicians. However, the cost that a third-party provider incurs is only a fraction of what a company would have to pay in hiring its own internal IT staff, especially those who are specialized in computer hardware. This option can be particularly useful for companies with limited IT resources.
Another advantage of outsourcing IT support services is that it enables IT support service providers to be more flexible in their services. Technicians employed by external service providers may be mobile, while managers inside the organization are not. They can have a meeting with the client as per their requirements, whereas it would not be possible for a manager to drop by his office to discuss the same issues at his desk. This aspect also enables IT support service providers to meet the deadline and meet targets for service delivery. It also helps them improve the overall efficiency of their operations.
IT support services are also provided by different types of vendors.
A hardware vendor typically provides hardware installation and maintenance services. On the other hand, there are cloud service providers, which provide their cloud servers as well as different types of web hosting applications. There are also different types of networks, including grid, metro, premise network, enterprise service, and virtual network. Each of these vendors has different types of hardware and operating systems that they provide, and each of them has different support services as well.
On-demand IT support is one of the most popular options. Companies with particular products can avail of this service to resolve technical problems when such products are released. For example, when a new version of a particular product is released by a particular manufacturer, its support ticket numbers may suddenly increase, especially if the IT support service provider is tied up with that particular manufacturer. In this instance, the organization needs to provide the service provider with its contact details so that it can provide assistance to the user in relation to the increased number of tickets.
- On-demand IT support services provided by cloud services providers are also very convenient.
- These service providers have software applications that are located on the Internet, so the organization does not need to set up a data backup system.
- The user simply needs to log onto the Internet and can access the cloud services from any place at any time.
This makes on-demand IT support services ideal for organizations that experience droughts in IT investments, or those who have limited IT resources.
With a fully automated IT support system, tech support groups no longer have to wait for a technician to visit the office to resolve a problem. When the problem cannot be resolved immediately, the business can choose to utilize the data center automation to transfer data to a different location, or perform other preventive maintenance activities. Cloud data centers are also ideal for businesses that are undergoing rapid growth and are expanding their data centers. These businesses can easily implement a tier one data center solution, as well as a tier two data center solution, depending on their technological needs.