Here's how you can get ready for the growing automation of technical support tasks ahead.

Getting ready for the growing automation of technical support tasks involves embracing technology while focusing on enhancing the human touch. It's crucial to identify which tasks can be automated effectively without compromising service quality. Investing in AI tools, training teams in new skills, and maintaining a strong customer focus will be key. Balancing automation with personalized customer care ensures that technical support remains efficient, responsive, and capable of meeting evolving demands in the digital landscape.

If you are not using AI in some fashion, you need to make a change today. Right now are some of the most pivotal moments for learning all what AI can do. How it can move you forward in your career, business and overall industry can be game changing. Basic AI and automation can be the difference between days of manual work vs minutes.

Maybe you don't need to use AI right away. Start by using "traditional" automation tools like PowerShell, bash, or Python scripts. Ansible is a good option in the Linux realm. And Robotic Process Automation is another option.

To thrive in an automated technical support environment, understanding AI fundamentals like machine learning, natural language processing, and robotics is essential. Nonetheless, developing strong interpersonal skills, adaptability, critical thinking, and collaboration abilities is equally important. Balancing technical knowledge with these soft skills will enhance your effectiveness and adaptability in working with AI-driven tools and handling complex customer interactions.

Familiarize yourself with automation tools and technologies such as scripting languages (Python, PowerShell), configuration management tools (Ansible, Puppet), and IT service management platforms (ServiceNow, JIRA). Understanding these tools will help you automate routine tasks and streamline workflows.

In today's automated world, success depends on a blend of technical expertise and essential soft skills. Professionals must develop business acumen, prioritize customer-centric approaches, maintain ethical awareness, and embrace continuous learning. By aligning with business objectives, enhancing user experiences, and staying current with industry trends, they can effectively navigate the ethical implications of technology. Cultivating unique human skills and mastering relevant scripting languages further ensures adaptability and value in an evolving technological landscape. This holistic approach is key to thriving in a rapidly changing environment.

Keep abreast of developments in automation, artificial intelligence, and machine learning within the technical support domain. This includes understanding how these technologies are being applied to streamline support operations and enhance customer experience.

Remember to "fail fast" in a controlled environment. Use disposable virtual machines and practice away! Practice makes perfect.

As a freelancer in the support field we constantly need to update our skill sets and new technology solutions so we can provide solutions to any problems within the deadline. Skills are a key point for success.

Soft skills will become more and more important. With the AI started, hard skills will become easier to be archived but soft skills will still need us to learn. It’s not good to remember the details of formulas but it’s the time to know how to raise your hand and ask a correct and accurate question after communicate with partners.

When I first encountered automation tools (ChatGPT) in Automattic, I saw them as enhancements rather than replacements. Automation freed me from repetitive tasks, letting me focus on more rewarding challenges. Staying open-minded and proactive in learning new tools made me a valuable asset. Embrace automation with a positive mindset—it can elevate your role and contributions.

Try to be an early adopter of new processes and tools when working as part of a support team. Being a trailblazer and showing others how to effectively use new tools will help your team adapt. Every change needs leaders.

In tech, to keep up, you always have to keep learning and be okay with needing to learn new skills. Automation, AI, and new technologies aren't taking away your job or potential roles. It's just changing what and how you do the job. You need to use these new technologies to better yourself.

These types of automation applications could be viewed as having a dedicated personal assistant. One that handles your repetitive tasks throughout your work day. Can also identify schedule optimization. AI is here. Utilizing this technology is a life enhancement.

With your network, you can learn about the best tools for the trade and tips on how to use them. Connecting with peers in your field allows you to exchange valuable insights and experiences. This can lead to discovering efficient tools and techniques that you might not have encountered on your own. Engaging with your professional community is an essential way to grow and excel in your career. Remember: "If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together."

Learn from other people’s mistakes before you make your own. Network with likeminded people but also people who think totally different, broaden your scope and don’t live in an echo chamber.

Networking is like computer network which speed up and facilitate data transmission. However, nowadays may be we also need some firewall to filter data or prevent DDoS as there are so many fake information.

I would recommend the Maximum PC magazine, "Security Now", "Behind the Tech", "Down the security rabbit hole", "Real Python", and "Babbage" (among other) podcasts.

In addition to practicing flexibility, honing your technical support skills is essential in an automated environment. Strong troubleshooting abilities and in-depth technical knowledge allow you to effectively address issues that automated systems might miss. Familiarity with various software and hardware tools, as well as the ability to communicate technical concepts clearly to non-technical users, is crucial. By combining flexibility with robust technical support skills, you can seamlessly integrate new automated tools into your workflow and provide exceptional support, ensuring continued success in a rapidly evolving industry.

Cultivate a mindset of adaptability and continuous learning. The field of automation is rapidly evolving, so being open to learning new tools and methodologies is essential. Upskilling in areas like data analysis, cybersecurity, or cloud computing can also be beneficial.

Being adaptable made a huge difference when new systems and procedures were introduced in my WooCommerce support role. Taking on projects outside my comfort zone helped build this adaptability. The more flexible you are, the easier it becomes to integrate new automated tools and maintain exceptional support in our ever-evolving industry. Embrace the changes and pivot when needed - it’ll make you a stronger, more versatile technical support engineer.

Being the first person to try new programs and automated tools and convincing customers also to embrace self-service tools helped me build a skill set vital to technical support in any industry or department. Many times I have been called out to help evaluate early releases to aid in their design and improvements. Often I soften the transition by showing coworkers how to implement new programs or procedures, design words that work and create a team atmosphere by sharing 'work-arounds' and benefits when launches have been less than stellar.

Automation can turn hours worth of work into seconds. If you have ever had to scroll through data for days to find an outlier you will empathise with this. Losing 5X minutes twice a day doesn’t sound like much, that could be a weeks worth of production. How long would it take you to find the missing minutes? To me automation and data analysis go hand in hand, find the outlier by automating data collection, remove the cause of the five minutes downtime and then move in to improvement and make your 5 minutes of production be effectively completed in four.

Thriving in technical support also requires customer empathy, effective communication, attention to detail, time management, documentation skills, security awareness, collaboration, and emotional resilience. These qualities complement technical expertise and are essential for providing exceptional support and adapting to an ever-evolving industry.

I believe focusing on a wide range of end users is so important in everything we do, accessibility and ease of use with interfacing, along with solid succession plans are vital components to success. If people cannot use it, they won’t. If it’s function is not fit for purpose it will be outmoded. Whenever I had technical support queries I always empathised with the level of exposure my customer may have had to that system and scaled my answers to suit, success for me was being able to teach both a child and an expert on the same topic, have flexibility and there won’t be a thing you touch that will be less than perfect.