IT Support

What is IT Support?

IT support is provided by experts to assist less qualified people in solving specific problems with their IT system or to provide consulting services necessary to expand their IT capacities. IT support specialists also play a role in maintaining the systems and infrastructure to ensure it is up-to-date and secure. Larger organisations typically have their own in-house IT staff, whereas small businesses will typically outsource their IT support an IT consultant, as their systems are typically smaller and less complicated.

What do IT consultants do?

There are many tasks which are performed by IT consultants for other businesses, starting from high-level planning and problem solving and getting right down to the minutiae of connecting the system and resolving bugs. The roles an IT consultant might take on include:

• Formulating a plan and product list to deliver the computing functions needed by an organisation
• Recommending a network topology and the necessary network infrastructure to meet organisational needs
• Sourcing parts to build the computers, servers and network
• Building the computers and servers to meet client specifications
• Installing operating systems and application software
• Setting up and configuring the network
• Configuring modems and other infrastructure to enable internet access
• Setting up and configuring email addresses for employees
• Putting automatic backups and fail safes in place to protect data
• Recommending and installing antivirus and other security software
• Keeping hardware and software up to date
• Solving IT problems
• Providing outsourced or cloud services