IT Service, by it’s very nature is a “people” business. It is here that the gap between business and technology is filled with individuals who not only understand and support technology when it fails, but also understand the impact to the business when it does. These individuals have the ability to empathize with users who are unable to perform their normal business duties due to failure, which they are not required to, nor want to understand. In the heat of the moment, from their view, IT has once again prevented them from doing their job.

It is the IT Service professional who understands how IT appears in the eyes of their users. Who feels the frustration of that person and not only works to resolve the issue at hand, but accepts the responsibility to manage the situation back to normal operation. It is during this period where the successful support analyst demonstrates the ability to manage the emotions and expectations of their clients in ways that prevent the situation from escalating into a completely unproductive encounter.

Patience, commitment, enthusiasm, trustworthiness, vision, passion, drive and commitment are only a few of the traits stored in the IT Support professional tool-kit. However, with the growing focus on providing a process driven technology environment, it becomes imperative for the support analyst to further develop skills such as Project Management, Data Analysis and Process Engineering which will allow them to start to contribute strategically to both the technology mission as well as the business strategy.

In this era of renewed IT Management focus on leveraging metrics and processes to position IT along side the business, they must also come to the realization that leveraging the support teams more strategically, can only nurture an environment of partnership by viewing the business users as stake-holders in their own technology solutions. An additional benefit is the sense of ownership and purpose through understanding the business mission, which can become viral, across all of IT. In both cases, it is an example of vested interest through ownership.