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In a world of growing technology; do you think help desk positions will still exist in 30 years?

Defining help desk as tier 1 support. solving issues users "SHOULD" be trained to troubleshoot and solve themselves, but for whatever reason they can not. If the issue goes beyond tier 1; help desk would create said ticket and route accordingly.

To me; this sounds like it can all be accomplished by AI. AI is going to play a big part in the future of the IT world. Will it play such a large role as to start taking over those that tech support for users? There would of course need to be someone onsite to physically install computers; unless said company is using thin clients; then the thin client, mouse, keyboard, ect could just be mailed to the user to set up themselves; which can all be plug and play.

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Tammy’s Answer

What an interesting question Blake.  As someone who has seen technology change the past 30 years I predict that there will still be help desk positions but it will be different that the positions today.  If this is a career that you're interested then go for it.  Once you're in the field don't stop learning.  Stay current and you'll evolve with the needs of the market.

Tammy recommends the following next steps:

Keep your skills current.
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Mohammed Sikandaruddin’s Answer

It is imperative to suggest how the support would be in the next few years with growing technology day by day as most of the companies are working towards automation.

There are people who would love human touch instead of pre-built automated softwares

I suggest keep yourself updated to the latest technologies so that you are aware what is happening at ongoing era and grow accordingly

Mohammed Sikandaruddin recommends the following next steps:

Keep your skills updated to the latest
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Theresa’s Answer

More than likely, there will be help desk positions that will exist in 30 years. AI will never be perfect to handle every situation. There will always be users that need that person to person contact and help as I have seen with my many years of supporting IT users. If this is an area that you enjoy, focus on your customer service skills and being able to proactively identify what the customer needs.

Theresa recommends the following next steps:

Keep updated on technology and the evolution of AI
Read and learn about customer service and the companies that do customer service very well - a good read is "Legendary Service The Key Is to Care" by Ken Blanchard
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Rajesh’s Answer

Blake, it's great question that you've and kudos to you for thinking about 30yrs ahead. I've worked in Tech Support (tier2/3/higher) for various organizations and from my experience what I see is that automation is certainly a key factor that is either in place/companies are moving at a rapid pace to save costs incurred from regular help desk tasks. Today you see many companies have iOS/Android apps/websites that can help them provide a self service option to their customers thereby helping companies not get bombarded with Tier1 calls and save costs.

Having said that, I see Tier1 would still be offered as a "premium" service to customers to talk (or video or whatever tech is in place 30yrs from now) with someone to report issues. There is one catch with this - Companies may have a pay structure that doesn't incentivize their Tier1 support, either these type of jobs are outsourced to other countries or pay might be very less (depending on the place where one resides). I've known a few friends of mine who moved from Tier 1 (getting a problem statement from customer and routing) to Tier2/3 Support (deeper Technical know how) and also a few who ventured from Support to other areas of Tech and have stayed there happily for a long time.

Rajesh recommends the following next steps:

Explore certification programs from Google https://grow.google/certificates/
If you had worked on Tier1 for sometime and know the pains/challenges to be solved, then explore starting a SaaS based product to solve that
Explore complementary Support roles like Solution Engg, Implementation expert, IT analyst
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Celeste’s Answer

30 years is a long time. I think at the rate technology is developing, we will still need human interaction for support but not as we envision it today. Plan to have a career that is flexible and you can evolve as well.

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Dinesh’s Answer

Blake, It's interesting question but now everyone thinking whether organization required Helpdesk or not, most of organizations are already started BOT, but organizations still required Helpdesk/Services desk coz lot of work which required physical presence or remote (phone, etc.). I would say definitely helpdesk will be there but functions will be change such as way of handling the call and issues .

I would strongly recommend to upgrade yourself up-to the market because technology changing overnight.

Dinesh recommends the following next steps:

Start learning new technology
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Patrick’s Answer

The position will probably still exist, but the number of positions will be greatly reduced by technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning and software as a service. When software is provided as a service, rather than installed at a customer's premises, support drops significantly, meaning less need for help desk staff. Those companies that continue to sell product for installation on-premise will look to AI & ML as a means of reducing cost. These trends are already well underway, so 30 years is probably quite optimistic.

Patrick recommends the following next steps:

Read a book called Prediction Machines.
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