Do Startups Need a Dedicated Tech Support Team?

Since startup businesses will always start small or medium in size, one essential on its to-do list is a dedicated tech support team.

Some of the young entrepreneurs may simply counter this by saying that a dedicated tech support team is expensive and besides they just plan to put all their hard earned money in the bank while launching their startup. But the fact is, plain hard work is not the only element to a successful and growing business. A dedicated tech support team maximizes the probability of success.

No business today can avoid using technology

And today’s technology deals with computers, the Internet, gadgets, etc. No business today can run itself without technology, even if you’re only selling bananas. In the early days, all you needed to hire aside from employees was an excellent lawyer and business and tax consultants. Today, you need to include a good IT guy that eventually becomes a small IT team and this includes the guys for tech support. It’s not enough to just buy computers and use them.

Analyzing the tools you need

Your tech support or IT team can analyze and guide you to the proper online or offline applications that your business needs to be more efficient. No business lives anymore on just Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. And you don’t even need to spend so much because your tech support team can show you the free (Yes, free!) that’s out there and ready to use.

The team can support you on social

You and the other employees may be too busy with the business details to worry about marketing stuff and social media support. Your tech support team can do that for you. Social media is free anyway so once you open accounts on it, you’ll need people to address those daily inquiries, perhaps on Facebook or Twitter.

Who’s gonna build up the business knowledgebase?

Even if you, the proprietor, are an IT guy, you couldn’t do it alone. And that knowledgebase will really come in handy when they’re available to support your customers in real-time. Your tech support team can organize, create a library of topics surrounding your business, introductory materials, tutorials, manuals, and online FAQ’s, just to mention a few.

… And if something breaks down…?

This is central crux of all the reasoning for having a dedicated tech support team. Should one of your computers, gadgets, or even your Internet breaks down, you’ll have a team available to immediately fix things rather than lugging everything to a repair shop.

Of course, if cost is really an issue and you don’t have enough of an overhead, you can always outsource your dedicated tech support team. For an annual subscription fee, this outsourced dedicated tech support team can do everything mentioned above, and more. So with this, you now have to two options to choose from, or perhaps combine the two if need be.

What are the Usual Roles and Responsibilities of a Tech Support Specialist?

If you take a look at the job description of any professional IT specialist, you will see this, or something similar to this:

“Problem solver and problem solving scalability, able to present technical information, processing improvement, software maintenance, software testing, network design and implementation, good customer relationship, software performance tuning, network performance tuning, database performance tuning, hardware analysis and repair.”

This about sums up what the roles and responsibilities of a tech support professional are. Basically, the tech support specialist is there to fix your computer when it breaks down.

General Roles and Responsibilities

TI support specialists provide technical support, advice, and assistance to customers and businesses with technical, hardware, and software system problems, be it a customer with a single PC at home or a business with several PC’s and laptops. Specialists generally deal directly with customers and must effectively communicate answers in a way that the customers can understand. The most common problem technical support specialists have to face are connection problems, inabilities to access data, slow performance, inefficient programs, and to replace deficient hardware. Some specialists may work on site to modify, install, clean, and repair computer software and hardware.

Customer Service

Part of the customer service of technical support specialists is to answer inquiries from computer users. They may run diagnostic programs to determine the causes of and help resolve problems. Additional job duties may include writing training manuals, training users, and overseeing computer information systems. Resolving issues with Local Area Networks (LAN), Wide Area Networks (WAN), and other systems is frequently done together with the computer users or business.

Technical support specialists respond to inquiries by telephone, e-mail, live chat, or other means. Typically, they are required to listen to the customer’s problem, diagnose the nature of the issue and walk the caller through the steps required to solve it. They may assist with installing software, maintaining computer systems, and repairing computer hardware. When all else fails, they are then required to go on site and fix the problem, especially if the problem is hardware in nature. In some cases, the customer may bring their PC to the tech support specialist.

Educational Background

While respect is never demanded by professional tech support specialists, they do deserve their fair share of respect, not just because of the demand of the job, but also because of their educational background. The majority of professional IT specialists hold a bachelor’s degree in computer science, information technology, or computer engineering. Some specialize in computer information systems. A small portion are graduates of 1-year or 2-year computer systems courses.

This is understandable considering that employers need to hire only the best people as professional tech support specialists. Many tech support companies have their own training regimen for newly-hired employees so as to find out what skills the newbies really have while adjusting to the environment of a new company.

The next time you call for a professional tech support specialist, keep in mind that the person helping you to fix your computer problems on the other end isn’t just called “professional” for nothing.


By: Supportrix - Providing full spectrum technical support

What to Look for in a Technical Support Company

All small and medium sized companies should consider having a technical support partner. Having a go-to technical support company is always good for your business. Unfortunately, hiring a technical support team is often pushed in the backseat. People always want to focus on the front-end of the business and often times neglect the technical side. What they do not know is that if one of the computers crash or if the network system doesn't work, it will create more damage to the business than they could think of. The truth of the matter is, a computer or network downtime can lead to increased overhead costs due to lost in productivity, customer satisfaction issues, and even lost revenues.

Small and medium sized businesses should keep in mind that a reliable, effective, efficient, and well-running computer or network system will lead to increased productivity, reduced overhead costs, and improved profitability.

The challenge now is how to select the right technical support partner for your business. Finding the right technical support will not only save you precious time and money in the long run, but will also spell the difference between merely surviving an emergency and powering through. Here are some things to keep in mind when choosing the tech support company that is right for you.

Dedicated Workforce

The technical support company you should choose should have a good number of highly-skilled experts. They should be well trained and should be certified computer tech support specialists so they can resolve whatever computer or networking issues you might encounter promptly and efficiently. Remember, these people will have the important task of providing technical support to your existing programs and systems, but are also responsible in developing and implementing programs that will increase your company's productivity and efficiency. Apart from that, they should also pay close attention to data security and backup.

Certifications and Credentials

Look for a technical support partner with certifications that matter. The technical experts should be certified in Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS) and Microsoft Certified IT Professional (MCITP). For networking, look for CompTIA, Network+, or A+ accreditation. An Apple Certified Support Professional (ACSP) is an added plus if you have Mac computers around.

Top Class Infrastructure

The technical support company you should choose should have all the latest technological advancements and equipments to better support all your technical needs. Make sure their telecommunication equipments, servers, software, Internet infrastructure, etc are top notch to provide fast and efficient support.

Credibility

Your technical support partner should be highly-credible. As a matter of fact, their reputation is all they can offer as evidence of their viability. A highly-credible tech support company will have a long list of clients that you can use as reference. Pay attention to their customer reviews to gauge their performance.

Availability

The technical support partner you should choose should be able to accommodate your technical needs at any time. If you can find a 24/7 service provider whom you can reach via call, chat, or email, the better to avoid any downtime.