ABSTRACT
User support is most commonly set up as a part of the computing function. This would seem logical on the face of it. After all, it is dealing with technical knowledge, which is only necessary because the computer is there. But by the same token, payroll should always be part of finance, because it deals with money; but payroll also turns up in the personnel department, because it deals with the overall concept of ‘staff’. In the end, the decision to place the IT support department in the IT department is based on a set of technological priorities; if the company sees ‘support’ as a technical function, and if it behaves as such, then logically, that is where it should sit. If, however, support begins to conduct itself as a customer service centre, or a user productivity department, or a business services enabler, then the reporting structure becomes less clear. Some more enlightened and visionary support managers have been backed into a corner over this issue, but it is one that is gaining ground as the customer-service-oriented ethos progresses.
