Technical Support

[1] Technical support (abbreviated as tech support) is an advice service provided, usually over the phone, to help people who have problems using a computer. Presently most large and mid-size companies have outsourced their tech support operations.

Technical support is often subdivided into tiers, or levels, in order to better serve a business or customer base. The number of levels a business uses to organize their technical support group is dependent on the business' needs regarding their ability to sufficiently serve their customers or users. The reason for providing a multi-tiered support system instead of one general support group is to provide the best possible service in the most efficient possible manner.

L1 Support: The first job of a Tier I specialist is to gather the customer's information and to determine the customer's issue by analyzing the symptoms and figuring out the underlying problem.

L2 Support: Tier II (or Level 2, abbreviated as T2 or L2) is a more in-depth technical support level than Tier I and therefore costs more as the technicians are more experienced and knowledgeable on a particular product or service. It is synonymous with level 2 support, support line 2, administrative level support, and various other headings denoting advanced technical troubleshooting and analysis methods.

L3 Support: Tier III (or Level 3, abbreviated as T3 or L3) is the highest level of support in a three-tiered technical support model responsible for handling the most difficult or advanced problems. It is synonymous with level 3 support, 3rd line support, back-end support, support line 3, high-end support, and various other headings denoting expert level troubleshooting and analysis methods.