Growing Trends in IT Support
Once upon a time, when IT support was an isolated service in a landlocked, far-flung location, it could be supported through the help of a network. The Internet has changed everything, so far as IT support is concerned.
On the Internet, companies are no longer dependent on one another to maintain the IT infrastructure.
Each company is able to be self-sufficient, and provide IT support for its own needs, without depending on others.
There is also no longer common, unified means of transmitting information about any kind of IT activity. There is no company or department responsible for the maintenance of the internal network, or for IT support.
The need for IT support has drastically reduced, but it is still very important for the smooth running of a business. It ensures that no matter what happens in the company, a professional IT staff is always available to resolve problems and give advice about how to proceed.
The result is a sort of labor-sharing situation, where companies share the risk of providing IT support, while at the same time sharing in the benefits of running the IT environment. In this way, it can be seen as a sort of business insurance, to provide additional income if the IT group experiences a loss.
This trend toward a business with a lean IT support model is not going to last forever. The growth of Internet connectivity is set to continue, and at some point, people will need to contact their IT departments for support needs.
However, it is highly likely that in the next decade, this is going to be the extent of the growth of IT support.
Instead, there will be an expansion in the variety of services provided by different IT service providers.
It is not clear what these service areas are yet, but they include IT security, data backup, bandwidth management, managed networks, private cloud computing, software deployment, virtualization, mobile device management, and hosted web services.
More companies will become comfortable with the idea of outsourcing their IT support, rather than having to maintain their own IT infrastructure. However, as long as there is a requirement for professional IT support from both a customer and a provider, the current IT support business model will remain.
As more businesses to expand their horizons, including the need for IT support, there is every likelihood that the need for IT support will grow as well. There are millions of people out there who have Internet access, and all of these people will need to access the Internet.
Eventually, the demand for IT support will grow exponentially, and more companies will create systems that will provide IT support. It is likely that this trend will continue into the future, and that IT support will continue to grow.
- IT support is an essential component of business management.
- It is the one thing that keeps the lights on in an organization.
- More businesses are moving to self-contained network environments, and without IT support, the disruption would be immense.
