As any IT pro knows, every organization’s needs are different. Your duties may involve a little bit of everything: from tasks as complicated as managing a large intra-office network to jobs as simple as helping co-workers change the printer ink cartridge.
Fortunately, IT jobs are on the rise — but as more and more people enter into these careers, it’s important that everybody is on the same page, information-wise. Here are three IT tools every professional should be familiar with:
1. Salesforce
Currently termed the “most innovative company in America” by Forbes, Salesforce is a cloud computing company best known for their customer relationship management products. Simply put, Salesforce lets your organization track ongoing projects, customer needs, sales, and more.
It’s designed to be easily used by the non-techies in your company. IT professionals can explore the software further, however, because Salesforce offers four main certifications. If your company deals with projects and customers, and you’re not already using Salesforce, you should at least look into it. It’s an industry standard for the task management side of IT.
2. Zendesk
End users are going to have problems from time to time. On the ticket systems side of IT, Zendesk is a proven way to connect with your end users easily and help them out. Returns, questions, complaints, and more can be handled through Zendesk.
On your end, Zendesk allows you to track customer issues, so you can notice any larger problems before they get out of hand. Whether your product is virtual or physical, Zendesk offers an efficient method to handle the ticket system side of IT.
3. Rackspace
Started in 1996 by Richard Yoo in his apartment, Rackspace has grown into one of the largest web hosting services in the world. Unlike other hosting services, which primarily focus on the technological aspects of hosting, Rackspace focuses on their self-described “Fanatical Support” — an intense emphasis on service and support. Perfect for companies who, for whatever reason, don’t want to spend a lot of time and effort on their web hosting needs.
IT professionals in any organization are certainly responsible for more than just keeping ink in the printer. The IT department keeps projects effectively managed, customers satisfied and all services up and running. Of course, sometimes even the in-house IT people need some extra help — and when that happens, it’s good to be familiar with some of the most popular IT management tools.
Your customers and your workplace will thank you.
