What is technical support?

Technical support refers to the oversight and maintenance of computer hardware and software systems, particularly the resolution of technical issues that may arise regarding customer accounts or company software infrastructure. Additionally, computer software integrations, common diagnostics and additional forms of computational support will typically fall under the role of technical support.

What is the role of technical support?

• A technical support role is generally responsible for assisting customer technical needs and supporting company software infrastructure.

Technical support is a crucial component of any IT department and is primarily responsible for assisting customers who are facing technical challenges while also helping maintain the company’s software infrastructure. Many organizations separate their technical support staff into client-facing or internal groups while others may keep the department whole. Regardless, technical support professionals must be capable of monitoring systems, troubleshooting (often without being hands-on), diagnosing, resolving and escalating issues when needed, and interacting with customers.

In many organizations, technical support is often broken into tiers based on the support needed and the capabilities of technical support specialists

• Tier 1: Provides basic help desk resolution and service desk delivery, supporting and finding solutions for basic customer issues and service desk requests.
• Tier 2: Provides in-depth technical support from experienced and knowledgeable technicians, allowing for the assessment of issues and discovery of solutions for problems that cannot be handled by specialists in Tier 1.
• Tier 3: Provides expert product and service support with access to the highest technical resources available for problem resolution.

What is included in technical support?

• Technical support includes any method that is utilized by technical support teams to deliver solutions to customers and internal staff, maintain internal software infrastructure, and flag potential bugs for software development teams to investigate. 

Methods in which technical support teams deliver support may include over the phone, by email, through the use of a live chat function, through the use of chatbots to autonomously solve common issues, through pre-recorded online tutorials and how-to guides, and through the use of a message board. By incorporating a variety of technical support measures, technical support teams properly allocate resources to focus efforts on issues that require immediate attention while still assisting customers facing challenges.