Why Outsourcing a Helpdesk Makes Good Business Sense.
The motivation behind why so many companies now choose to outsource their helpdesk is fueled by increased demand for a near-perfect IT function at all times. With increased dependence on IT, the requirement to be ‘always on’ is also much greater than it has ever been before.
On the front-end, clients expect nothing short of 100% uptime; and any deviation from a smooth digital customer experience can result in an instant bounce, as consumers quickly find an alternative that can better serve their immediate needs.
Operationally, a company and its employees cannot be fully productive without constant access to organizational data, and the supporting systems and applications it uses.
How Outsourcing IT Support Will Benefit Your Business
Without question, the deliverance of a responsive and effective IT support service is fundamental for the healthy operations of any organization. When things stop working or people cannot get access to the tools they need to do their jobs; productivity, morale, customer service, and many other elements of a business can take a hit.
Depending on the severity of the issue, if left unresolved for any prolonged period, this can have devastating effects that may impact the overall perception of your brand in the eyes of your customers and your team.
#1 IT CAN SAVE YOU MONEY
With an outsourced IT helpdesk service, you get a predictable monthly cost. While some companies will outsource all of their support function, others will only relinquish certain elements and tasks. However, whichever you choose, when you compare the ongoing monthly cost of outsourcing your support with the cost of paying out an annual salary, plus holidays, etc.; external helpdesk services always present a more cost-compelling solution.
Aside from the obvious, IT support services can reduce costs in other areas of a business. For instance, there is no longer a need to invest money into the ongoing training of IT staff as this is all now handled externally. There is also a cost-saving element attached to a reduction in lost hours from people who are unable to stay productive due to IT constraints and problems.
#2 INSTANT ACCESS TO MORE SKILLS AND CAPABILITIES
When you use a managed IT helpdesk service, you instantly boost the IT knowledge you can access to. Most companies that offer these services invest in the regular upskilling and training of their teams; they also have access to a much broader range of skills through a larger set of people.
So, without needing to invest in further training and development, you can instantly fill any knowledge gaps, while improving the capability and capacity for support within your organization.
#3 GUARANTEED UPTIME AND SLAS
When you hire a managed IT support service, you will enter into a formal agreement in which certain service level agreements are set and should be adhered to at all times. These specifics will allow you to receive certain assurances of the quality of the helpdesk services you can expect to receive. For instance, a couple of key metrics that will typically be included in the SLA could include the internal wait time and time to resolution.
If a smaller or time-constrained IT support team is struggling to meet the current demands that are being placed on them; this could result in tickets taking longer to resolve and wait times starting to creep up. Perhaps they need to conduct an audit, perform essential upgrades, or there is a larger project task that might require their undivided attention.
With outsourced IT, the service provider is accountable for their performance, and they will need to adhere to the terms set out in and type of SLA or contractual agreement.
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#4 IMPROVE EMPLOYEE PRODUCTIVITY AND MORALE
When members of a team encounter an issue with systems or software; it can slow them down and leave them unable to perform essential tasks. What might seem like a small and insignificant issue, such as a password reset; can have potential ramifications that leave a person unable to move forward with their day until it is resolved.
By providing a consistently responsive service that can not only receive helpdesk calls but handle the requests quickly; this improves the likelihood of your team being able to stay productive and being able to work without limitation.
Because the team is getting their issues resolved quickly, they can stay productive without worrying about falling behind; and this will ensure there are no negative issues to deal with in terms of staff morale around failed IT or IT issues.
#5 FLEXIBILITY
This is actually one of the major reasons that organizations of all sizes turn to outsourced helpdesk services. First of all, when there is a spike in demand within a business, and only a limited number of people to deal with requests, this can create a bottleneck effect. IT Support services can act as overflow agents for these busy periods; they can cover sickness or annual leave as well as any other unplanned absence that may need covering.
If it happens that most of the queries are classified as Tier 1 (basic) support queries, such as some of the following, then an IT service desk provider can easily pick up a number of very specific tasks on an ad-hoc or ‘when required’ basis.
- Locked Out of Accounts
- Password Reset Requests
- New Starter Configurations
- Workstation or Server Patches
- Firewall or Server Monitoring
- Office 365 Migrations
The flexibility and scalability that outsourced IT now offer means that you can adapt the support you need, as and when your organizational requirements change.
#6 IT SUPPORT CONSOLIDATION
If you are an organization that offers IT helpdesk support across multisite or international borders, you could be paying out for staff members locally at each site, or you might be paying local staff additional money to be on-call for any out of hours requests that come from other locations. By hiring an outsourced IT support service, you can easily consolidate the frontline IT support that is offered to different locations.
Not only does this further provide cost-saving benefits, but it can also help to streamline the workflows and help you provide a more consistent and responsive service.
#7 CROSS-FUNCTIONAL MORALE AND TEAM WORKING
While some of the lower-level IT help requests can be time-consuming, they are also very basic in nature. If your skilled IT personnel are unchallenged within their roles, and unable to use their skills to resolve more complex tasks, this can have a knock-on effect on their individual moral and reduce their job satisfaction.
Typically, the vast majority of support engineers and techies, in general, enjoy the problem-solving aspect of their job, and they take great pleasure in saving the day when things go wrong. Outsourcing your support can ensure that any internal IT talent within your organization is given a chance to focus on other business IT issues which could present them with the opportunity to demonstrate their advanced IT resolution skills.
#8 IT PROCESS EXCELLENCE
Outsourced IT helpdesk companies dedicated themselves to delivering efficient services at all times. All of their clients will have Service Level Agreements factored into their contracts, and they will use face a penalty for failing to adhere to these pre-determined levels of service.
The processes used to support clients have been tried, tested, and improved; again, and again over time. From proactive maintenance, security scanning, backups, performance monitoring, asset management to routine maintenance; this is the bread and butter of their business, and they will have worked hard to perfect their processes.
In Conclusion
The eight reasons each provide some useful insight into why more organizations are now choosing to outsource some or all of their IT helpdesk function, and it’s not just about the cost comparison.
Being able to better support customers, systems, and employees; while also protecting the needs of the business by boosting morale and ensuring the teams are able to remain as productive as possible makes an exceptionally compelling case for outsourced helpdesk services.
About
As a service-orientated business, Tech Solutions provides world-class IT Support and technology solutions for every type and size of business. All our IT support services are tailored to the individual needs of our client’s organization; and we offer affordable, competitive, high-quality services, 365 days a year.
If you need an IT department for your business that can manage some or all of your support requests, let’s have an initial conversation about your growing needs today.
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