What’s The Difference Between IT Support and IT Operations?

You might’ve heard the terms “IT operations” and “IT support” thrown around interchangeably. And while they are similar, their scopes differ. 

IT support helps end users with day-to-day issues and questions, whereas IT operations provides daily IT support while also supporting your business’s long-term goals and strategy on a greater level.

Despite those differences, the bottom line is that every company should be thinking about their IT operations, how their IT supports their team and potentially investing in an external organization filled with experts that can help utilize IT to support their business goals.

Read on to learn about IT support, IT operations, and how investing in IT can pay dividends for any organization.

What Does IT Support Involve?

IT support refers to the assistance that firms and individuals receive from IT experts. These professionals have the knowledge, expertise, and experience to handle technology-related device issues and complications.

IT support often goes beyond offering assistance within the business environment and also involves IT equipment setup, installation, and configuration, but every organization tends to define IT support and its various roles a little differently.

What is the Role of IT Support in a Business Environment?

Besides addressing questions and fixing problems, IT support involves guarding against cyberattacks and optimizing network performance as well. That means that firms can adopt best practices for securing their digital assets thanks to IT support.

This, in turn, allows for proactive monitoring of equipment to eliminate the downtime resulting from equipment failure. Companies also benefit from IT support in the case of disaster recovery and backup site plans.

Responsibilities of IT Support Technicians

Multiple specialties are a necessity for supporting company networks. Technical support specialists have such expertise because they can analyze, evaluate, as well as troubleshoot network issues. So, IT technicians play the critical role of backing up digital assets and maintaining a company's network. That is possible since the responsibilities of IT support technicians include:

• Establishing relationships with end-users.

• Making inquiries to diagnose IT problems.

• Managing open customer requests.

• Recommending problem-solving steps.

• Adding users to a system and ensuring credentialing.

• Training users how to use a particular technology.

• Supporting various applications.

• Installing and configuring network components.

• Troubleshooting system and network issues.

• Monitoring and maintaining computer networks and systems.

The Importance of Outsourcing IT Support

It can be challenging to find qualified individuals to manage an in-house IT department. Instead, hiring an external IT organization packed with experts to take care of the IT issues relevant to your company is a much sounder investment, as it requires gathering and organizing much fewer resources than creating a whole in-house IT department would. 

Think of IT as an investment in the wellbeing of your company; staying on top of technological tools and security measures is in every organization’s best interest. Outsourced IT support can help companies save money proactively by finding faster and better ways to do things or preventing data breaches or attacks.

Cybersecurity threats are also a grave concern for most organizations. If more workers move from a secure office network to a remote location without sufficient security protocols in place, hackers could try to exploit these weaknesses to obtain information. As a result, you may experience downtime which will affect your business operations in a myriad of ways. The solution is outsourcing IT support services.

Utilizing IT support services not only helps you protect your digital assets from online hackers but also provides you with access to experienced IT support experts, which will prevent/reduce any downtime.

What are the Processes Involved in IT Operations?

IT operations involves a range of tasks that all have to do with supporting an organization’s overarching IT infrastructure. There are many different processes that can fall under the umbrella of “IT operations,” but a few big ones are:

• User onboarding and offboarding
• Network and security support
• Strategically managed services
• Vendor management and help ticket support
• IT asset management
• IT security education
• Ongoing user support
• Facilities management

IT Operations Support vs IT Support

As the definitions of IT operations and IT support can differ slightly depending on the organization, there is some overlap in tasks and duties of IT operations and IT support. Overall, though, IT support is assistance given to end users of a particular program or technology to help them with certain problems. 

IT operations support, on the other hand, is much more overarching; IT operations support aims to protect companies by bolstering their cybersecurity measures, analyzing their tech stack so they are using platforms and tools that best benefit them, and overall helping to match their use of technology to their long-term business strategy and goals.

Why is Embracing IT Operations Trends Important for Organizations?

CIOs that embrace digital transformation and adapt to current trends can experience an improvement in their IT operations. These improvements can include:

• An improvement in productivity and profitability
• A decline in IT complexity
• Maximized operational efficiency
• Enhanced visibility across the entire IT infrastructure
• Ability to make preemptive and immediate corrective actions to reduce risks
• IT operations processes improvement
• Technical management improvements
• Improved incident management

Why IT is Considered Essential Regardless of One's Level of Technical Expertise

Our world is more reliant on technology than ever before, and that reliance is only going to increase. It is important that, alongside this increased use and growth, things like cybersecurity, data storage, IT strategy, and asset management also become stronger and more prevalent. 

Virtually every company should have some level of IT services, be it IT support or IT operations support, as it is essential for the security and prosperity of any company in this modern age.

If you're looking for support with your IT operations, contact us today with any questions or needs you may have. Here at Ripple, we pride ourselves on providing expert IT operations services and IT support. With a company like Ripple as your MSP, you can have all your bases covered with day-to-day support, as well as regular analyses to ensure that your IT services contribute to your business’s long-term goals.