The primary responsibility of a help desk administrator is to assist employees in resolving computer issues. Administrators are experts at troubleshooting and customer service and typically have access to all of a company’s servers and shared drives. When employees encounter technological issues, they typically contact the help desk, where an administrator is expected to listen to the issue and then find a solution, whether over the phone or in person.
A help desk is found in almost every company with a computer mainframe. Almost all computers break down at some point, and the chances of something going wrong rise when multiple computers are linked together and asked to run multiple programs at the same time. Most businesses have teams of help desk personnel on call to deal with technology issues on a regular basis. Smaller businesses may choose to outsource help desk administrator jobs by using services provided by their Internet service provider or account operator.
A practical understanding of how computer networks work, the ability to quickly troubleshoot problems, and excellent customer service skills are the most important requirements for this position. Employees who call the help desk are frequently frustrated. An administrator must be able to deal with the employee in a courteous manner while also resolving the issue.
After a hard drive or web browser crash, the job can sometimes be as simple as assisting an employee in resetting a password or restoring web settings. Other requests, on the other hand, can be extremely complicated and frequently require in-person visits. It may be necessary to work with other help desk employees to find a solution.
A help desk administrator is a member of the company’s technical support team in traditional setups. Administrators are typically in charge of both answering help desk calls and taking proactive measures to ensure network integrity and security. Installing security patches, updating spam filters and anti-virus software, and monitoring suspicious Internet activity are all common non-troubleshooting responsibilities.
Depending on the supporting organization, the specifics of what this job entails can vary greatly. In a large company, day-to-day aspects of the job are frequently very different from those in a small company, and the nature and age of internal mainframes will inevitably influence the nature of the job. In almost every case, these administrators are tech-savvy support personnel who, without them, corporate life in today’s wired world would be significantly slowed.