When we talk about the IT sector of a company, the image of professionals who work with computers and systems quickly comes to mind.
But do you know what an IT professional does and how this sector works?
In this article, we will talk about the main characteristics of this area of activity and present you a little more about the benefits of having these professionals in the company, check it out below!
What is IT support?
The IT support area offers technology services to a company.
In other words, all the technological support that a company needs, whether on a day-to-day basis for simple issues (such as maintaining machines, updating software, dealing with problems, among other things) or even for more complex software and hardware issues, is provided by IT professionals.
For this reason, a fully functioning IT sector is very important to maintain the integrity of the company and the proper functioning of all sectors.
This is because, considering that nowadays all tasks are increasingly computerized, having access to the internet, being able to access the software necessary for daily activities and strategic planning are essential.
Therefore, even small companies need to have a team of IT support.
However, unlike what happens in large corporations, this team does not necessarily need to work within the company: nowadays, there are outsourced professionals who can do this service on demand or remotely as freelancers.
What does an IT professional do?
As previously mentioned, the IT professional works in the technological assistance area of a company.
Therefore, in other words, he works in different sectors, for example, helping with the use of software, correcting problems that may occur on computers, offering support for the company's day-to-day activities, developing new strategies to promote the company's productivity in a specific area of activity, among other things.
Therefore, an IT professional is an extremely important figure, whether it is a multinational company or one made up of just a few employees.
Within a company, how does this sector work?
A company's IT sector operates based on two very important concepts: service desk and help desk.
Therefore, despite often being used as synonyms in literature and even by professionals in the field, service and help are not the same and have different functions.
And it is based on these concepts that all the services the company offers are created and organized.
In short, service desk is the service that really requires qualified professionals.
The implementation of strategies IT services, things related to software maintenance, hardware and more specific machinery, in addition to several other things that require more in-depth knowledge on the part of the IT professional to be resolved.
As far as the help desk is concerned, it is the most frequently requested service and is a little “simpler” to resolve.
For this reason, the help desk service can be performed by professionals who are not so well trained and who often do not have specific training for this purpose.
In this way, it can be said that a help desk is that everyday problem that the technician can easily solve.
In addition to the distinction between help desk and service desk, a company's IT department can also be differentiated between tasks that can be resolved remotely and tasks that require the presence of a professional in the area. For example, most help desk services can be outsourced for remote resolution; when it comes to the service desk, it is more desirable for professionals to work within the company.
What's better: IT workers working remotely or in person?
Thanks to the internet and the ever-increasing advancement of technology, nowadays it is possible to work remotely, that is, from your own home.
In this context, with regard to IT professionals, there are advantages and disadvantages to this type of support and, below, we have separated some of them:
- Advantages of having in-person support:
- There are things that can only be resolved in person, especially those in the service desk area;
- The professional will be in contact with the problem directly at the source;
- Greater chance for the professional to identify what the problem is;
- Greater speed in resolving the problem;
- Disadvantages of having in-person support:
- Decreased productivity, as resolving some problems in person may take longer;
- The cost may be more expensive, as it will be necessary to hire someone to do this work at the company (online is usually cheaper);
- Advantages of having remote support:
- It is much faster for the IT technician to provide support remotely, whether by phone or in person;
- It is cheaper for the company to keep an IT professional remotely than in person;
- The company's productivity increases;
- It allows even small companies to have this type of professional on their staff;
- Disadvantages of having remote support:
- Unfortunately, despite the great advances in technology, there are still some limitations to offering support remotely;
- Connectivity can be an issue;
- Sometimes, there is a communication problem between the IT professional and the company, since, since the professional is not seeing in person what went wrong, someone needs to describe it to him;
- It may take longer to resolve remotely;
- It is not a good idea for large companies with a lot of demand;
Why hire an IT employee?
As seen previously, an IT employee has several functions and their presence in a company can bring numerous advantages.
Therefore, if you are interested in increasing the productivity of your employees, discovering new strategies to position your brand in the face of technology, among many other things, then an IT professional can help you.
