The rapid growth of remote work has been a boon for employees, as it empowers them to work from anywhere, whether at home, at a coffee shop, or on the go. IT teams, however, have often found that providing remote support can be a challenge.
Fortunately, there are tools and strategies IT teams can leverage to efficiently work remotely and support users no matter how far away they are.
With that in mind, let’s look at the best practices for remote IT support and how you can give your teams the tools they need to succeed.
Understanding the Common Challenges in Remote IT Support
To understand the best practices for remote IT support, we first need to know what challenges IT teams face. Remote work has created new obstacles for IT support agents, including:
1. Managing Security
Security remains a top concern for IT teams. When multiple users connect over different devices and networks, the risks continue to increase. That’s why it’s important to find a solution that focuses on security and includes advanced security features to protect user and company data.
2. Technological differences
Consider all the various hardware and software people use for their work. We have different types of computers, smartphones, tablets, operating systems, and so on, which makes compatibility a concern. This is why using a multi-platform remote access and support solution like Splashtop is important, as it allows users to connect to devices regardless of the platform or OS.
3. Communicating across time zones
Remote work has enabled organizations to hire employees worldwide, which is fantastic for businesses and workers alike but presents a tiring new challenge for IT teams. It’s hard to provide support when working across time zones.
However, remote support tools can help agents quickly assist users from anywhere, making it easier to hire a distributed IT team and provide assistance from states or even countries away.
4. Varying technical expertise
IT support agents are skilled technical experts who can efficiently diagnose and troubleshoot issues. The same cannot be said of everyone they assist.
Trying to walk users through step-by-step processes can be a challenge, especially if they can’t see the user’s screen, which is another reason why remote support solutions are so helpful. These tools allow agents to access a user’s device directly, enabling them to troubleshoot the device as is they were in-person.
Best Practices for Remote IT Support
So, how can organizations give their IT teams the tools and support they need to help users quickly, efficiently, and smoothly? These are the best practices for IT remote support you need to know:
1. Enable Remote IT Support from Anywhere
When you have a globally distributed workforce, you also need an IT team that can support them at any time.
Providing your IT teams with remote access tools allows them to assist employees from anywhere, even when working across multiple locations. This gives your remote teams access to real-time resolution, allowing them to stay productive no matter what time zone they’re in.
2. Equip Your IT Team with the Right Tools
IT support agents are valuable members of any organization, and they must be treated as such. IT teams should be equipped with the tools they need to work from anywhere and efficiently support remote workers, such as remote support software and secure communication tools.
When IT teams have the software and solutions they need to communicate with employees, diagnose issues, and effectively support users, they’re equipped for success. Without those tools, the best they can do is try to talk employees through troubleshooting step-by-step, which is a difficult and time-consuming process.
3. Implementing Robust Security Measures
Cyberattacks and phishing scams are some of the biggest threats any company faces, but implementing security measures to prevent those attacks is the best way to support remote IT teams in their fight against them.
Adding strong security measures like multi-factor authentication and encryption helps keep employees’ devices and data safe. Robust, advanced security features help prevent unauthorized access to remote systems, which is essential for businesses and ensures IT teams can focus more on support and less on dealing with the fallout of attacks.
This is one of the many reasons why Splashtop is dedicated to security and provides a wide array of security features, including multi-level password security and device verification. Splashtop is also fully compliant with a broad range of standards, including ISO/IEC 27001, SOC 2, GDPR, and more.
4. Establish Clear Communication Channels
Communication is important in every aspect of business, but this is especially true for IT support. IT support agents need to be accessible when employees need them, clearly see the issues, and guide them through the troubleshooting.
As such, organizations must invest in communication platforms that IT agents can use when communicating with customers. If they can see the end-user's screen (or better yet, connect to their device remotely) and talk through the problems with the user, they’re better equipped to resolve issues quickly.
5. Create a Comprehensive Knowledge Base
As the saying goes, knowledge is power. In a business environment, this means that having a knowledge base is essential for support teams and users alike, as it empowers them to effectively address any issues that may arise.
It’s important to maintain a self-service knowledge base, complete with FAQs, troubleshooting guides, and key information that can help remote workers address common issues. This helps reduce the workload for IT support teams and ensures remote workers have uninterrupted access to the information they need.
6. Proactive Monitoring and Maintenance
The best way to address a technological issue is to fix it before it becomes problematic. Proactive monitoring tools allow IT teams to identify and address potential issues in advance so work can continue uninterrupted.
Your IT teams should have tools in place to look out for any problems that start to arise. This lets them get the jump on bugs, security flaws, or other problems before they affect remote employees. When they do this right, no one will realize they did anything at all.
7. Provide Consistent Training for IT Staff
Technology is constantly improving, which means our knowledge and training have to grow with it. It’s important that your IT support teams stay up to date on the latest tools, systems, and best practices to support remote teams.
Be sure to provide regular training for your IT support staff to make sure they’re equipped to keep up with recent developments and technology. The last thing an IT agent wants is a problem they can’t solve, and proper, regular training helps ensure they’re ready for anything.
8. Develop a Strategy to Mitigate IT Risks
One of the best ways to support your IT team is to have a plan in place to minimize risks. This includes having security system protocols and contingency plans should any issues arise.
Having a strategy ready (and carrying it out) helps keep the risks low and disruptions minimal, so remote teams can carry on without interruption. Your IT agents will also appreciate having clear plans and guidelines in place, as they help mitigate issues before they become bigger problems.
Measuring the Success of Remote IT Support
When your remote IT support team is equipped for success, the results will show it. Be sure to track your key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure data such as response times, resolution times, and overall satisfaction to see how well your IT team is doing, as well as identify areas for improvement.
Tracking these metrics provides actionable insights into your IT team’s performance, helping managers find areas for improvement (not to mention the areas their agents excel at; credit should always be given where it’s due).
These insights can help drive improvements, increase the support team’s efficiency, and keep your teams aligned with business goals.
Get Started with Splashtop: Streamline Your Remote IT Support Today
If you want to support your IT teams and empower them to efficiently help remote users, you’ll need to give them the tools and technology they need to thrive. The right software can empower IT support agents to provide top-tier assistance from anywhere, to any employee or end-user around the world.
Enter Splashtop. Splashtop’s remote access and support solutions allow IT agents to remotely connect to end-user devices so they can quickly and efficiently diagnose issues and carry out troubleshooting from anywhere.
With Splashtop, organizations can give their IT teams the power to work from anywhere and assist end users with ease. This includes in-session voice calls, user role and access management, and integrations with PSA ticketing and ITSM solutions to simplify management.
Plus, Splashtop is built with security in mind, so users can connect without needing to worry about the safety of their devices or data.
Ready to experience Splashtop for yourself? Get started with a free trial today!
