Why Is 24×7 IT Support Necessary For A Company?

Is your IT support team available only during office hours? Do technical issues go unattended overnight, resulting in incidents with widespread impact? Are you losing out on customers due to the absence of after-hours support?

If yes, it is time you consider getting 24×7 IT support for your business. Today, IT is deeply integrated with all aspects of business operations. And with the remote working culture, keeping to traditional office hours is a thing of the past.

IT issues and system unavailability can affect your employees’ productivity and hinder them from doing their job. It can also negatively impact customer experience.

In such cases, solutions like outsourcing the IT help desk could get the required technical support for your team and resolve customer queries and concerns. The article will further explore the necessity of 24×7 IT support and outsourcing solutions.

Do you need help determining if your business needs 24/7 IT support? Here are some benefits of all-around support that can help you decide.

• Technical Support is Available 24/7
• Reduced Downtime
• Improved Productivity and Efficiency
• Improved Customer Experience
• Proactive Network Monitoring
• Multiple Modes of Communication
• Differentiate Yourself in the Marketplace

Today, it is common for businesses to have employees and customers spread across the globe. Employees could work in different time zones; customers could explore your products or services.

As a global brand, your systems need to be up and running at all times, and a service team should be available to handle tickets in case of any IT issues.

Having a 24×7 support team ensures that incidents and requests are handled according to their assigned priority. For example, a priority 1 incident cannot wait until the support team reports to the office. It needs to be handled immediately, and an all-around support team will be able to do that, regardless of the time zone.

IT infrastructure is one of the core pillars of businesses. If the IT system repeatedly goes down, it can severely impact the productivity and efficiency of your employees.

For example, if there is an issue with the supply chain software or a server is down, employees may not be able to fulfill orders, trucks may be waiting at warehouses, and shipments could be delayed.

With 24×7 support, the team will monitor applications, networks, and tickets all around. As agents will handle issues at the earliest, it will help reduce the severity of the impact, and so will the downtime.

If you want to place an order for inventory, track products, plan deliverables, or plan employee shifts, there are applications and tools in place for these tasks.

When these tools run into issues or are unavailable, it affects your employees’ ability to complete their job. When they repeatedly have to deal with technical problems, it can affect their productivity, and their deliverables may not present accurate results.

But a 24×7 IT support team can ensure your IT infrastructure is running at all times. In addition, if there are unanticipated incidents or urgent requests, they can be handled by the after-hours help desk team.

So, when your team has access to tools that run uninterrupted and quick support when they face issues, it helps improve their overall productivity and efficiency.

Let us assume you are a customer who has purchased a product from a company. The product does not start or work as expected, or you have questions. So, you call customer service and get an automated message saying the service team will get in touch with you during office hours, or if it is the weekend, they will contact you on a business day.

This may be the norm in the industry, but from a customer’s perspective, this can be a frustrating experience. For customers, an after-sales experience is equally important as the product.

According to a Salesforce Research report, 78% of customers will interact with a business again, even after they make a mistake if they provide excellent customer service.

So, when you have a 24×7 IT support system in place, you create a positive customer experience by providing prompt help.

All organizations need to defend their systems from cybersecurity attacks. As cybercriminals get more sophisticated, it is imperative that companies proactively monitor networks for threats and vulnerabilities.

An IT support team not only handles tickets but also provides security services like networking monitoring.

You could have automated processes that may raise alerts in case of discrepancies. Then, the help desk agent could respond to the alert or quickly contact the responsible team.

Without an after-hours help desk, an issue that could have been resolved easily may become a bigger issue impacting several systems and users.

A support team that is available day or night can help keep your businesses functioning and secure.

Customers today need omnichannel support. For example, emails, calls, and chats were traditionally accepted modes of service. But if you want to keep up with changing times, you need to expand to modes like video calls, live chat, knowledge base, and self-service portals.

An outsourced help desk team can provide 24×7 support and also support different communication channels. You can also set up SLAs for a consistent level of service across the board.

Giving customers the flexibility to choose their preferred communication mode can go a long way in improving customer service.

As a brand that is available for employees and customers alike, whether it is day or night, the weekday or the weekend, it can be a significant differentiating factor in the marketplace.

Your support team is the face of your business. The type of service you provide determines your brand image, reputation, and customer loyalty.

According to the same Salesforce Research report mentioned above, 89% of customers are more likely to return to a business if they have a positive service experience.

A 24×7 IT support team can also be a good strategy to retain customers and build a loyal customer base.

Today, IT is ingrained into all aspects of running a business. However, without an experienced 24×7 IT support team by your side, you could run into issues like system unavailability, reduced productivity, possible security breaches, and large-scale IT issues.

A 24×7 support team is necessary as it helps proactively monitor the IT infrastructure for issues, handles employee and customer tickets, keeps applications and tools running, and improves user experience.

You can work with an MSP and explore outsourced help desk services for all-around availability.