Tips for Integrating IT Support With Your Business Operations

Corporate IT teams are often marginalized within their companies, relegated to remote offices and summoned only when problems arise, their sole purpose to troubleshoot. But by finding ways to integrate IT support with business operations, you can bring information technology out of the dark and into the fold.

The results? Better information sharing, fewer interdepartmental battles and a happier customer base.

Why IT Support Integration Is Essential for Business Growth

In today’s digital economy, businesses that integrate their IT teams and support functions with core business processes are poised to outpace the competition with speedier resolution times and increased customer satisfaction. This integration ensures that the technology experts who maintain and protect a company’s IT infrastructure work hand-in-hand with those who drive the business forward. The goal is to unify everything from help desk services and network management to company-wide cybersecurity measures, creating a seamless and responsive environment that supports both employees and customers.

Without robust integration, business processes can be affected by:

• Longer support ticket times
• Poor customer experience due to lagging responses
• Potential untreated system vulnerabilities and increased security risks
• Confusion over which system to use or unclear workflow
• Poor communication between departments results in reduced productivity/efficiency
• Repeated delays that could impede project progress and client costs increase
• Unexpected expenses and higher operational costs

EIRE Systems is a trusted IT support integration partner that helps businesses evolve at breakneck speed, using a customized IT support strategy to aid business leaders as they get — and stay — ahead.

Aligning IT Support With Your Business Goals

Align IT with business goals, and you’ll be better positioned for the agile implementation of new technology. You’ll know in seconds whether it will advance your organization’s journey or simply muddy the waters.

Even better, the right IT support network and proper IT and business alignment can aid in accurate, real-time data collection. Use this information to make informed decisions and set benchmarks as you drive the team to achieve vital key performance indicators (KPIs) selected by upper management or your investors.

Building a Collaborative IT Support Culture

One major benefit of integrating IT support is the ability to construct a more cooperative and collaborative working environment. Reducing separation and connecting often siloed departments makes it easy to brainstorm and innovate solutions that will work across the board. Specifically, an IT team that understands the why as much as the what can make suggestions on how requested IT integrations can be tailored to prioritize the company’s core mission better and drive more value.

You can help break down those silos and build a culture of shared understanding by:

• Scheduling regular cross-departmental meetings and encouraging broad participation
• “Lending” employees from one department to another to build relationships and broaden perspectives
• Using collaborative platforms and communication apps to discuss projects, assign tasks and manage projects
• Instituting open-door and no-dumb-idea policies to encourage ideation
• Forming multifunctional project teams with reps from each relevant department

Implementing IT Support Best Practices

Best practices for IT support and business integration begin with establishing clear roles and responsibilities within the IT support team. There must be a definitive workflow to ensure seamless operation and minimize disruptions within the IT infrastructure.

A basic process might include allowances and assignments for:

• Incident management. Combine automated detection, user reports, and manual tasks to identify, log, diagnose and ideate resolutions for IT incidents.
• Problem resolution. Your problem resolution processes get to the bottom of whatever caused an IT incident. Know who’s responsible for root cause analysis, developing workarounds, testing resolutions and generating all essential documentation.
• Change management. Insist on controlled and coordinated IT and business integration, no matter how small the change. This helps minimize risk, prevents unexpected outages and allows time to gather feedback before you test implementation.

Confused about how this plays into strategic business process integration? EIRE Systems has proven methodologies for integrating systems and optimizing IT operations and gives you a plug-and-play approach to technological advancement and overall growth.

Leveraging Technology for Enhanced IT Support

When planning your integration strategy, new technology can help demystify and streamline business processes.

• Help desk software. An organized and comprehensive help desk setup can be an operational efficiency powerhouse. These utilities are designed to help you organize support requests and respond to them in order of priority. Some programs tie into business operations and customer support, exponentially increasing your opportunities to connect and impress.
• Remote monitoring tools. Remote monitoring tools help you observe and interact with your IT infrastructure via remote PCs and mobile devices. This is priceless when it comes to being vigilant regarding how tech is used when there’s a problem and how those problems are handled.
• Automation. As you streamline processes, keep an eye out for opportunities to automate routine tasks. Automated workflows, email automation, chatbots that answer customer queries 24-7 and automated ticket replies help keep things moving even when no one’s in the office. These tools help with IT but can also be used for other tasks, like supply chain management and creating targeted marketing campaigns.

EIRE Systems’ IT Support Services can improve efficiency and response times by providing top-tier technical support and technology integrations that improve performance and reduce costs.

Measuring IT Support Success and Continuous Improvement

Before implementing any changes to your IT support processes, establish a baseline understanding of your current support performance by gathering data on the following KPIs:

• First response time: How long it takes your team to send the first response to a customer query/incident report
• Resolution time: How long it takes your team to solve an IT incident entirely
• Ticket volume: How many support tickets you’re receiving overall
• Net promoter survey (NPS): How likely it is that a customer would recommend your product or service to others

EIRE Systems has processes that reflect an ongoing commitment to comprehensive support and IT optimization. That includes offering guidance on how clients can collect and analyze customer data and use that information to identify areas for improvement.

Partner With EIRE Systems for Seamless IT Support Integration

Aligning IT support with your business strategy can be quite a task. It requires long-term foresight, stellar organization and multidepartmental cooperation. However, the potential to enhance customer experience, reduce costs, and improve efficiency is monumental.

Looking for ways to improve your internal IT infrastructure? EIRE Systems’ customer-centric solutions and proven track record of successful integration projects can help you get what you need from a customized IT support solution. Contact our team today to schedule a free consultation.