Regardless of what type of business you are in, there will always be employees or customers that need typical assistance. There are several options for providing support to your employees and customers. Today we are going to be going over the options for help desk support, and why your company should outsource your help desk.
Option 1: Hire Internal Staff for your Help Desk
Hiring an internal IT staff to staff your help desk is a possible option. However, there are also several drawbacks to staffing your own IT Help Desk. Although there are a couple benefits to operating your own help desk, we have found there are more cons than pros. Unless you need a help desk of massive scale, one could conclude a company is better off outsourcing their help desk needs. Take a look at the Pros and Cons of operating your own help desk below:
Pros of operating your own help desk:
- Your company retains total control of the help desk and the experience your callers will receive.
- You can expand or contract the help desk as needed, adding or removing staff members as necessary.
Cons of operating your own help desk:
- Running your own help desk is an expensive undertaking. Even for the most basic help desk, you will need several tiers of technicians. Additionally, your company will need to employ a high level IT person, such as a seasoned CTO.
- If not coordinated and setup properly, your company’s internal help desk could end up being mismanaged and ineffective.
- For special events, or short term projects, your company will find it difficult to staff the help desk with qualified candidates, as these individuals are usually looking for job security with the current strength of the economy.
- Cost for implementation can be staggering. There is advanced software and hardware needed to build an effective help desk.
- If offering 24/7 support with your help desk, your company will need to maintain staff around the clock, which causes expenses to quickly pile up.
Option 2: Outsource your help desk
If done properly, outsourcing your help desk can save your company money while delivering the best possible experience for your employees and/or clients. Tekie’s outsourced help desk solutions allow for temporary or ongoing support, depending on your needs. Additionally, when properly done, outsourcing your help desk allows your company to focus less on IT problems, and more on running the business and retaining new clients. See below for pros and cons of outsourcing your help desk:
Pros of outsourcing your help desk:
- Tremendous cost savings, especially when the help desk is operated on a smaller scale. The help desk provider will be working other help desks, so those cost savings are passed to your business.
- Proper oversight provided to employees, while maintaining appropriate staffing levels from Level I to Level III support.
- Ability to scale your help desk up or down easily. All staffing is managed by Tekie or other help desk provider.
- No technology investment in most cases, the help desk provider already has the software and hardware needed to start the help desk.
Cons of outsourcing your help desk:
- Your business does not have total control. However, this is not an issue if you contract your help desk out to a responsible and reputable vendor.
- If not done properly, or corners are cut, the outsourced help desk can cause grief for your customers or employees. One way many outsourced help desk providers cut corners is by outsourcing to other countries. All help desk support provided by Tekie is based in the USA.
Concluding Remarks
There are two options for setting up and maintaining a help desk for your employees and/or clients. The first option is to setup your own help desk internally. However, as outlined above, if not done properly this can lead to disaster. To properly operate a help desk, you need dedicated resources on all levels. If you decide to burden existing staff with providing support, it can lead to ill performance in other job areas.
One can conclude that often businesses are better off outsourcing their help desk functions. By contracting the help desk to a reputable company, the business will save money and allow seasoned professionals to operate their help desk. At the end of the day, but outsourcing your help desk, you allow your business to save money while delivering an optimal experience for your employees and clients.
Read more here about Tekie’s outsourced help desk services
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