Advances in Information Technology (IT) have made support systems
necessary so that organizations, their customers, and even end users
can cope when problems arise from using IT systems. The software and
hardware have intricate and sensitive technical components which make
it necessary that support systems have competencies in managing these
components. There are three specific areas of support:

The Help Desk – people who man the Help Desk are called the
frontliners. They are the first people you to talk to when you call
up the help desk hotlines. As a rule, every call must be considered
important and requiring swift action. The Help Desk not only answers
calls, their staff must also attend to walk-ins, troubleshoot
hardware and software problems at the drop of a hat, and monitor the
status of pending cases. When the help desk has been able to identify
the problem, troubleshoot it, and the case has been dealt with
properly, then it is considered accomplished.

The Support Specialist - The Support Specialist team are those who
are equipped with more specialized information technology training.
They act as a higher level of support for the Help Desk.  The
Support Specialist assists the Help Desk staff in troubleshooting PC
and network problems; isolate and diagnose network problems; monitor,
test and document network infrastructure. Because of their more
advanced training, the Help Desk refers hard to solve cases to the
Support Specialist team.

The Technical Support Specialist – This team is composed of employees
who have the highest level of technical expertise in troubleshooting,
problem resolution, and systems maintenance. When compared to an
army, they are the elite forces (perhaps the SWAT team of IT, if you
will). This team must be equipped with specialized technical
knowledge because they deal with extremely complicated cases. They
are there to support the Help Desk and the Support Specialist in a
cooperative manner since these three groups are expected to work hand
in hand to meet a common goal - to solve every computer-related
problem presented to them.

As far as other IT personnel are concerned, the three groups
previously mentioned must be able to work with them as well. Everyone
in the organization should be aware of the value of teamwork so that
the organization will function like a well-oiled machine.