4 challenges defining IT support success

Today, companies are finding that their entire business models depend on connectivity. To stay competitive, they need to ensure smooth, 24/7 access and support to various machines, devices, and systems — from anywhere.

In response, many companies are moving towards new ways of providing support. Here, we’re going to explore the global trends causing them this rethinking in service support setup. We'll also learn about the four main challenges facing IT operations. 
 
But why does a company’s ability to support people, systems, and devices matter? To answer this question, let’s first look at three global trends putting service support at the top of companies’ agendas worldwide.

Global trends causing companies to rethink their service support  

1. Expert shortage and the rise of the digital natives 

Currently, the baby boomer generation is retiring, leaving a shrinking workforce. This means that many industries face a dire skill shortage in key expert areas. As expert staff leave, they cannot replace them 1:1. This is highly disruptive.  
 
At the same time, the new workers come with an entirely different skill set. As digital natives, they are used to seamless human-interface design and experiences. Unfortunately, this is not what meets them in many companies where outdated systems are still standard.  
 
In light of this shift, companies should reorganize their support efforts. They need to make more efficient use of the remaining expert staff and make sure there is enough time for their knowledge to be passed on.

2. Growing adoption of remote work

Even before the pandemic, many companies had realized the huge benefits of digitization and remote work. The pandemic accelerated this development, meaning today’s workforce sees remote work as a natural part of modern life.  
 
While bringing huge benefits, this shift also puts companies under pressure. They must provide remote access and support to the systems and devices that their employees need.  

3. Ever-growing, heterogenous device ecosystems

With remote work, there’s also an ever-increasing number of devices to manage and support. Alongside desktops, laptops, and workstations, we are now using mobile phones, wearables, and industrial devices — and much more besides!

Let’s consider a company with several hundred POC (point of care) terminals worldwide. A vast service team with local access to these devices is not workable. Instead, the IT operations team must figure out how to keep these devices updated and provide timely support when they malfunction. This can be a huge challenge. 

These three global trends have caused companies — and IT teams in particular — to rethink their service support.

In this document, our research outlines the four key challenges facing remote support:

Challenge #1: Securing the infrastructure

Security has always been one of the most critical and complex topics of IT operations. In recent years, the increasing number and diversity of devices and stakeholders have meant more security threats.  
 
Companies need to protect their infrastructure, for the devices they know, as well as those they don’t. At the same time, they need to be able to update various systems while swiftly handling security vulnerabilities.  
 
To address this critical challenge, IT operations need to be able to: 

• Deliver the best-in-class security with measures like 2FA and single sign-on (SSO) 
  
• Automatically enforce security policies on a global scale
  
• Centrally provide and deactivate user accounts
  
• Leverage firewall restrictions to prevent unwanted inbound and/or outbound connections

Challenge #2: Understanding support effectiveness

Remote and hybrid work makes the increasing complexity and number of corporate applications even more challenging. In this context, IT organizations and support teams struggle to deliver support services.  
 
Companies also often underestimate the value of support centers for their customers. What they need is fast resolution regardless of system and location, alongside reporting to measure performance. 
 
To address this critical challenge, IT operations need to be able to:  

• Access more standard integrations between their remote support and access solutions and platforms like CRM, ITSM, or UEM
• Go beyond traditional IT support towards non-human-facing device support (for example, deploying remote agents into Linux-based machine controllers to access and support embedded devices)

Challenge #3: Operating at scale

Companies must operate at scale to stay competitive, resilient, and profitable. From a service support perspective, this means being able to cater globally to all support use cases.  
 
Most importantly, production or customer service, support processes like IT operations, and management processes that track, measure, and ensure business continuity.  
 
To address this critical challenge, IT operations need to be able to: 

• Grant users instant, secured, managed, and location-independent access rights to systems or devices  
• Ensure security by mass-deploying system and device updates for their dispersed system and device fleet
• Access, troubleshoot, fix systems and devices, and cut downtime independent of whether a human is on-site

Summary

In light of the above challenges, it comes as no surprise that companies are rethinking their support setup in today’s global economy. They need to deliver at scale and manage complexity. They also need to secure their infrastructure and understand the value of support.  
 
In the years to come, the companies that really grapple with and address these challenges will be able to offer competitive and reliable support. This will make them well-placed to compete and thrive in today’s disruptive tech world.  
 
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