How Global Companies Handle Customer Support Across Time Zones

The Follow-the-Sun Model

The most common approach for 24/7 support: teams in different time zones hand off tickets as their workday ends. A ticket started in Sydney is picked up by London, then handed to New York.

Follow-the-Sun Handoff Zones

Region	Coverage (UTC)	Hub Cities
APAC	22:00 – 07:00 UTC	Sydney, Tokyo, Singapore, Bangalore
EMEA	07:00 – 16:00 UTC	London, Dublin, Berlin, Dubai
Americas	13:00 – 01:00 UTC	New York, Austin, São Paulo, Toronto

Key Practices for 24/7 Support Teams

• Detailed handoff notes — Template: "What happened, what's pending, what's next"
• Shared knowledge base — Every solution documented so any team can resolve
• Overlap periods — 1-2 hours of overlap between regions for knowledge transfer
• Regional SLAs — Different response time targets for different regions