The case for maintaining traditional IT support even in the face of social resources.
The other day I witnessed a Twitter discussion between an analyst and two employees at two separate security companies. The conversation went something like this:
Person 1: in order to satisfy the needs of the SMB and have effective security, vendors need to reduce both price and resources needed
Person 2: agreed but often times vendors take this to mean they can/should offer a product that doesn’t have all the features needed for effective security
Person 1: this doesn’t have to be the case, they can just get rid of phone support instead
Get rid of phone support? After that comment the conversation evolved into a discussion about the need for Tech support in SMBs, and luckily it ended with everyone agreeing that you can’t completely cut support – especially if your market is SMBs. But it did bring up a good point; some organizations are now using tools that do not offer traditional customer support models. As pointed out during the Twitter conversation, companies standardizing on Google Apps instead of Microsoft Office tools aren’t able to call a support line if they have issues with the product. These users can depend on user forums, chat lines and crowd sourcing for support, which can be effective for solving common product problems.
I am a firm believer in crowd sourcing and the power of the community for solving technical problems. Very few people know a product as well as customers who have been using them for years. User forums are a great resource for people or companies using free tools, but they shouldn’t be the end all for businesses paying for products. This is why the Twitter conversation and the direction it took surprised me.
Many of the IT managers I work with every day come from small- to medium-sized organizations, and without phone support they would be in big trouble. This isn’t to say they can’t manage their own security. This is hardly ever the case. They are, however, very busy supporting multiple network areas and don’t have time to become security experts. This is why it is important for them to have access to technical support via phone and not just through crowd sourcing.
The original point made in the conversation was that small- and medium-sized businesses can’t compromise security functions for the sake of price – although many security vendors ask SMBs to do just that. They also can’t compromise support for the sake of price, and depending on the community to solve complex issues would be too time consuming and, in some cases, completely ineffective.
Yes, we live in the age of free tools and social forums, but that doesn’t mean we can replace support from product and industry experts with the opinions of the community. And I hope I don’t see the day when companies stop offering support, not just for my job, but also for businesses everywhere that would suffer.
