2nd Line IT Support

2nd Line IT Support

2nd Line IT Support

The success and the reputation of the business of any IT company depend on several factors, and 2nd line IT Support is one of those. Research and development on new products is a regular task for almost any IT company where they need to put their continuous effort in collaboration with software developers, hardware engineers, application developers, system analysts, and so on. The production line of an IT company may consist of different and diversified products to compete with the other companies in the market. Fortunately or unfortunately, this is not the entire story. After-sales service has a significant impact on building the reputation of a company. 1st and 2nd line IT Support professionals are playing the key role here to build and maintain the company’s reputation.

2nd line IT support professionals are responsible for dealing with both the existing and new clients once they communicate with the 1st line IT Support. This is a common scenario for the clients of most of the IT companies to deploy both the 1st line and 2nd line IT Support Team to ensure a better business operation.

1st line IT Support is good enough for small-scale IT companies to continue their business with limited resources and workforce. It is now becoming necessary for mid-sized and big-scale IT companies to deploy both the 1st line IT support and 2nd line IT support to optimize the interaction among the clients and the business to build a strong business reputation and confidence among the clients. The key role of 1st and 2nd line IT Support professionals is to establish effective communication with both the new and existing clients of the business.

Why is 2nd Line IT Support required?

Sometimes, 1st Line IT Support is not good enough according to the size and shape of the business. Though the new and existing clients first communicate with the 1st Line IT Support professional, and sometimes the issue might not get resolved by the 1st Line IT Support professional. In such cases, the issue is handed over to the 2nd Line IT Support professionals. Usually, 2nd Line Support Professionals are ex[licitly trained in technical and business aspects compared to 1st Line IT Support professionals. Usually, the 2nd Line IT Support Professionals must deal with some advanced level of issues that are not usually resolved at the 1st Line IT Support professional.

The importance of 1st Line IT Support is so significant that the IT companies are trying to put their best human resources in the front line to provide an excellent vibe regarding after-sales service and/or any clients’ queries. Sometimes, the query type becomes so technical that it requires a higher level of knowledge and skills to resolve the issues. In such cases, 1st Line IT Support professionals refer the corresponding client to the 2nd Line IT Support professionals. To some extent, the domain of knowledge and skills for 2nd Line IT Support professionals are higher than 1st Line IT Support Professionals to deal with the client’s queries.

Skills and Job Responsibilities required for 2nd Line IT Support Professional

2nd Line IT Professionals are required to have some minimum academic and professional requirements to serve this position. Some such requirements are mentioned below:

  • Candidates are required to have a GCSE or A level or any Primary degree, as per the need of the organization.
  • Prior experience of working as a 1st Line or 2nd Line IT Support professional for at least one or more years
  • You must have the experience to work and communicate with the 1st Line Support Professional
  • You are also required to have the required knowledge to know when to escalate any problem to the 3rd Line Support Professional, as required
  • You must be capable of working in collaboration with the IT Support team and IT Managers to accelerate the progress of the work
  • To be eligible to work as a 2nd Line IT Support professional, you must be familiar with the ticketing system of the issues received by the clients
  • You must know how to keep a log of all the queries from the customer so that effective and appropriate action has been input accurately and correctly
  • You must be a quick learner and have an urge to continuously improve your knowledge and understanding of different software and hardware technologies, supported by the team of the organization
  • You must maintain a customer-oriented approach have a strong customer focus all the time
  • You must also have a strong communication and customer service approach
  • To become a part of the 2nd Line IT Support Professional, you must follow the ethical issues of the organization and work dynamically within the organization
  • You must be able to undertake small to medium-sized IT projects as per the instructions of the IT Manager
  • Finding faults to the core IT services
  • Setting up new users and deactivating expired users
  • Install, uninstall and configure new software to the system
  • Delivering required services for the MAC Services
  • Ensuring the security of the IT system and upgrading the security patches of the system
  • Providing support for Desktop and Server, which are not available at the 1st Line of IT Support
  • Diagnosing and resolving IT services that are related to MS Server. Desktops and MS Exchange
  • Providing support and solutions for Windows and other operating Systems (OS)

Other Responsibilities

2nd Line IT Support Professionals are also required to accomplish some additional work, which includes:

  • Managing documents, project materials, and meeting resources
  • Performing basic administrative support duties, as per the requirement of the company
  • Executing different and diversified job-related duties as required to accomplish specific operational objectives
  • Putting extra effort into one or more project to meet the deadline
  • Providing required assistance to the IT Manager
  • Providing required support to the team members in any IT related Project
  • Ensuring that an optimum level of customer satisfaction is confirmed through both 1st Line and 2nd Line IT Support

The average salary of 2nd Line IT Supports professionals are between £28K to £33K.