HDI, the leading organization dedicated to elevating service and support across the enterprise, today announces the “The State of Technical Support in 2024,” a benchmark study examining the progress, perceptions, opportunities, and challenges shaping the industry.
Key finding of the study:
- Despite slower job growth, tech support isn’t going away any time soon. Organizations continue to hire and fill jobs (82%), but not at the record levels seen back in 2022 (92%). With turnover rates also down this year, support professionals may feel more cautious about changing jobs in an uncertain market.
- Support teams have big plans for generative AI, and they’re laying the groundwork. Forty-one percent of respondents are planning to deploy generative AI in the next year, up from 34% in 2023. Nineteen percent are already using AI. Nearly half of all respondents (47%) have already established an AI oversight group and of this group, 55% believe the support organization feels represented in the group.
- Tech support is adapting to meet modern expectations. An overwhelming majority of respondents have opted for a mix of both in-office and remote work arrangements, and many have zero intention to ever return to the office full-time. Roughly three-fourths of respondents say their organizations handle tickets outside of normal business hours, whether through a 24-hour support center (29%) or through alternative means such as on-call staff, chatbots, or outsourcing to a provider.
- Emotional intelligence, leadership, and problem-solving skills are key to delivering a superior service experience. HDI identified training as an ongoing challenge for support teams. Managers say new hires are able to achieve job proficiency in the first two months of onboarding, and only around 40% of respondents said that staff receive more than ten days per year of ongoing training.
HDI surveyed over a hundred support professionals in March and April 2024 on a variety of issues and concerns from recent workforce trends and hiring forecasts, to skills and training needs, as well as key support metrics, technology initiatives, and adherence to best practices.
To read the full report, click here.
“Our study suggests that while technical support isn’t going away, it’s also never going to be the same. With the advent of AI, the growing number of devices and support technologies, and customer expectations evolving over time, support organizations must prepare for the next generation of technical support specialists to meet these demands,” said Tara Gibb, Senior Director, HDI. “With all of the changes in the industry, our certification courses can help prepare professionals with the critical information they need to perform better in their roles, improve employee engagement and retention and grow their careers.”
HDI Certification Courses
HDI offers certification and topic-based courses to educate technical support and service management professionals looking to advance their knowledge, skills and career.
HDI offers 14 highly interactive courses including:
- HDI Support Center Director
- HDI Support Center Manager
- HDI Desktop Support Manager
- HDI Support Center Team Lead
- HDI Desktop Advanced Support Technician
- HDI Support Center Analyst
- HDI Customer Service Representative
- ITIL® 4 Foundation
- KCS Principles
- KCS Foundation
- Experience Practitioner
- Experience Foundation
- Problem Management Principles
- Troubleshooting and Problem-Solving Bootcamp
Courses are available via on-demand and live virtual instruction. Customized content and private group training is also available. Select courses offer industry certification.
Learn more about the HDI technical support and service management courses here.
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About HDI
For more than thirty years, HDI has partnered with thousands of professionals and their organizations to improve their performance by helping them to: drive change, harness knowledge, transform teams, make connections, and turn challenges into opportunities. HDI empowers the technical support and service management community to advance their strategy, operations and teams through optimized service delivery. From the employee to the enterprise, HDI transforms service and support through its comprehensive lineup of training and certification courses, industry-leading annual conferences, results-driven consulting services, community-based networking opportunities, and insightful research and informational resources. What does HDI stand for? HDI stands for smarter service resulting in better business outcomes. Learn more at https://www.thinkhdi.com. HDI is brought to you by Informa Tech.
About Informa Tech
Informa Tech is a leading provider of market insight and market access to the global business technology community. Through in-depth expertise and an engaged audience community, Informa Tech helps business professionals make better technology decisions and marketers reach the most powerful tech buyers and influencers in the world. Across its portfolio of over 100+ trusted brands, Informa Tech has over 1000 industry experts, including over 400 research analysts and consultants in global research group Omdia, and a monthly audience reach of over 125 million. Informa Tech is a division of FTSE 100 company Informa plc.
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