Automation within service desks is nothing new. For decades, help desks and support organizations have relied upon technology to address common questions and problems with minimal human intervention. The latest generation of technology is taking this to another level with the introduction of tools like smart glasses, artificial intelligence, and chat bots with help desks. As the second wave of millennials make their way into the workforce, the pressure is on IT support professionals to meet new demands and leverage new technologies to provide support.
To understand how to provide adequate support in the future, it’s helpful to thoroughly understand what’s pushing us forward:
- Industry Transformation: Many professionals check email on the go, some work or need support after hours, and we all know people that work through their vacations. This is because connections are ubiquitous – they’re everywhere! Everyone’s always on and always connected.
- User Behavior: No longer are people just using one device; the users that are expecting support are connected via multiple devices and channels. This adds pressure to support teams to not only reach users in various locations, but on also on a wide array of devices.
- Shift-Left: With the second wave of millennials making their way into the workforce, support patterns have changed. Users are now more tech-savvy, they’ve always had technology at their fingertips and often opt to trying resolving issues on their own before contacting support. As this self-help model continues, the support team can be alleviated of workloads for solving less complex issues.
In additional to these concepts, we identified some of the top tech trends that are emerging today, which will contribute tomorrow’s support landscape
- Mobile Apps: As business use of iPads, iPhones and Android devices increases, more customers and employees are asking for help with their mobile devices, and their mobile apps. More companies are offering native applications in the iOS App Store and Google Play store, which offer better customer experiences. Not only is devices support needed, but also support for these customer applications.
- Internet of (Relevant) Things: With more connected devices, more work will be required from support teams. As companies evaluate these technologies, it’s critical that security not be overlooked.
- Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality: Both of these technologies are gaining traction. The days of just screen sharing and remote control will soon not be the leading support methods. In the near future, technologies such as smart glasses can bring support into the real world, allowing organizations to provide assistance to users or employees needing assistance with hardware and other non-computerized devices.
- Chatbots and Virtual Assistants: Solving a customer’s issue as efficiently as possible is a driving force in customer support for today and tomorrow. As users move toward a “self-help” model, this technology will play a huge role in the shift-left concept. Traditional tier 1 support issues will soon be resolved through knowledge bases or virtual assistants, with minimal (if any) human interaction. Not only will this change the way the support desk operates, but will require support agents to be more knowledge and able to solve more complex issues.
With all this new technology comes an increased threat landscape. New technologies can create vulnerabilities, and vulnerabilities attract hackers. This will require technical support desks to shift their focus to be more security-conscious. They will need to obtain and keep up to date with the most important IT certifications, know about the vulnerabilities and risks, and educate users on best practices.
So, are you ready for tomorrow’s tech support? What steps is your organization taking to embrace the future? Check out the different ways BeyondTrust's secure access solutions help security and IT support professionals improve business performance. You can also watch this webinar recording for more insight into the evolving tech support landscape.
Jonas Outlaw, Senior Product Manager
As Senior Product Manager, Jonas works with a variety of stakeholders in the product development lifecycle to help drive product direction and enhancements. Jonas brings more than a decade of experience to BeyondTrust in various aspects of applications development, systems engineering and product management. Prior to joining BeyondTrust, Jonas was a systems engineer at a large life insurance company. He received his MBA with a concentration in Management Information Systems from Mississippi College.
