Senior Application Support Analyst - DBN at BET Software

You Bring:

• Matric
• Relevant qualification in IT: Computer Engineering or Software Programming (Degree or Diploma).
• A minimum of 3+ years of experience in an Application Support environment.
• Minimum 1-year experience with databases.
• Minimum 1-year server/client-side languages.
• Exposure and experience with monitoring tools such as Dynatrace/ Elastic/Grafana and Prometheus.
• Experience with service-level agreements and ticket management tools.
• Exposure and experience with SQL.
• Flexibility to work shifts.
• ITIL Certifications (advantageous).
• Microsoft Certifications (advantageous).

What You’ll Do:

Technical Support

• Monitor and refine metrics to be used as a baseline for monitoring.
• Serve as the third point of contact for customers seeking technical assistance over the phone, live chat, or email if this cannot be resolved by the first line of support.
• Ensure each individual complaint is properly dealt with, minimising financial and reputational damage.
• Holistically assess customer problems so areas of concern may be identified.
• Determine the best solution to the problem and the information provided by the customer.
• Walk the customer through the problem-solving process.
• Escalate an unresolved problem to the development personnel immediately.
• Follow up on the escalation and ensure resolution.
• Ensure the customer is appropriately informed.
• Escalate when resolution does not occur within the agreed time.
• Manage the incident queue for escalation to the development team where necessary, including triage and re-prioritisation.
• Respond to outages and failures when and where needed.
• Improve fault tolerance even when operational conditions are not optimal.
• Ensure the solution is maintainable, and actively seek methods to reduce downtime.
• Ensure the solution is durable so that as user volumes and requirements change the solution can evolve over the long term.
• Ensure the solution simplifies support and maintenance support through traceability, and effective error messaging.
• Ensure the solution is secure, and confidential by protecting all information and data (also data transmission).
• Ensure persons or other solutions have the degree of access appropriate to their level of authorisation and types.

Provide Deployment Support

• Provide support to operational teams and support the solutions being delivered.
• Ensure newly deployed solutions are closely monitored for an agreed period.
• Provide impact analysis for defects and roll-back events.

Provide Advanced Technical and Business Support

• Provide quick resolutions to app/system issues, driving stability, efficiency, and effectiveness.
• Maintain application systems that have completed development and are in the operations phase.
• Manage, maintain and support applications and their operating environments.
• Develop and maintain technical support documentation.
• Assess risk and impact of production issues/changes and escalate to the business and development teams.

Perform Debugging

• Perform debugging on logs/databases/code.
• Modifies, and changes code to resolve issues.
• Adheres to development practices and guidelines.
• Performs appropriate risk analysis, testing, and validation before rolling out changes.
• Participate in retrospectives and identify work process/development improvements.

Issue Resolution:

• Identify and fix intricate software issues pertaining to system integration, database faults, and application functioning.
• Comply with standard operating processes for resolving issues and record resolutions.
• Assist Level 1 and Level 2 support analysts in solving challenging problems by serving as a mentor.
• Escalation:
• Report unsolved problems to development teams, including thorough details and, if required, replicating the problems.
• If necessary, work together with Level 3 support teams from other organisations.

User Training:

• Create and provide sophisticated software application user training.
• Provide user guides and training materials for support analysts at Levels 1 and 2.

Knowledge Base Maintenance:

• Facilitate knowledge sharing through the creation and maintenance of technical documents and SOPs, simultaneously contributing to the currency of the support knowledge base.
• Assume the role of a mentor and offer guidance and knowledge sharing to Junior and Intermediate Application Support Analysts.
• Write and update guidelines and articles to help with the upkeep of the support knowledge base.

User Training:

• Create and provide sophisticated software application user training.
• Provide user guides and training materials for support analysts at Levels 1 and 2.

Quality Assurance:

• Take part in software patch and upgrade quality assurance testing.
• Make certain that bugs in software are well-tested and recorded prior to releases.

Strategic Guidance and Decision-Making:

• Provide strategic guidance and expertise to clients, including senior management, on technical matters related to application support, performance optimisation, and risk mitigation.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to assess the impact of proposed changes, upgrades, or enhancements on application performance and stability.

Continuous Improvement Initiatives:

• Lead and drive continuous improvement initiatives to optimise support processes, streamline workflows, and enhance the overall efficiency and effectiveness of application support operations.
• Identify opportunities for automation, standardisation, and process optimisation to improve service delivery and reduce response times.

Incident Management and Resolution:

• Lead the resolution of critical incidents, coordinating with internal teams and external vendors to ensure timely resolution and minimise impact on business operations.
• Conduct post-incident reviews and root cause analysis to identify underlying issues and implement corrective actions to prevent recurrence.

Alert Management and Communication

• Send out alerts to stakeholders regarding system outages, maintenance activities, or other critical incidents, ensuring timely and accurate communication.
• Collaborate with the business and client teams to communicate the impact of outages or maintenance activities and provide ongoing updates on the progress of issue resolution.

Shift Work and SLA Adherence

• Ability to work shifts as required to provide support coverage during business hours, weekends, or holidays.
• Adhere to SLAs for response and resolution times, ensuring that all support activities are conducted within agreed-upon timelines.
• Ensure that all tickets assigned to level ones are categorised correctly.

Team Work

• Constructively participate as a member of the wider IT Department.
• Undertake any other tasks or once-off projects which may be assigned from time to time.
• Provides individual and/or group instruction and training on new or updated technologies.
• May lead lower graded Team members i.e. Level 1s, and/or Graduates in performing the same or similar type of work.