How the Right MSP Can Relieve the Strain on Your Help Desk
The help desk remains a core element of most IT departments, but many organizations struggle with high staff turnover rates. The persistent IT skills shortage makes for fierce competition for technology professionals. Help desk personnel are among those most likely to leave for greener pastures.
Many organizations are addressing this challenge with automation. Self-service tools enable users to get quick answers to common questions and perform simple tasks such as password resets. However, self-service tools can’t handle every support situation.
Users will need to contact help desk personnel from time to time, whether it involves help with a seldom-used application, recovery of an accidentally deleted file or assistance with a serious hardware problem. Do you have the resources to help them get back up to speed quickly?
A Wide Range of Expertise Needed
Info-Tech Research recommends the following roles for a customer-centric help desk:
- The first contact team answers users’ phone calls, emails and chats. This team has general knowledge and can troubleshoot simple issues. They should also be customer service oriented.
- The analyst team answers calls if the first contact team is busy or unavailable. This team has more experience and can handle more complex problems. They also serve as the interface with engineering staff and vendors.
- The engineers and specialists handle the most complex issues. They also serve as consultants and create knowledge articles for the rest of the IT team.
Outsourcing your help desk support to a managed services provider (MSP like GDS makes good business sense.
Larger organizations may have a fully staffed help desk dedicated to supporting users. However, many midsize enterprises lack the full depth of expertise needed for responsive support. If the help desk is understaffed or inefficient, users will likely try to troubleshoot problems themselves or turn to colleagues for support. This can be a real drag on productivity and may lead to even larger problems.
Benefits of Outsourcing Your Help Desk
That’s why it makes good business sense to outsource help desk support to a managed services provider (MSP). Qualified MSPs deliver 24x7, unlimited support across both desktop and mobile devices. You gain rapid response to user support requests without the headache of hiring and retaining dedicated help desk staff.
The MSP should have extensive knowledge and experience in today’s systems and applications and employ disciplined processes that help ensure accurate and efficient handling of issues. You should be able to set the priority of the call, with SLAs governing response time. And because of the “always-on” nature of today’s business environment, you should have access to emergency support around the clock.
Outsourced help desk support provides six key business benefits:
- Reduce productivity-killing downtime
- Speed resolution of issues that impact customer service
- Enhance the end-user experience
- Get faster support for remote and mobile users
- Smooth out support costs
- Identify recurring issues that might point to system failure
Your IT Team Will Thank You
Outsourcing help desk support isn’t just for small organizations that don’t have an in-house IT team. Organizations that have IT staff can also benefit from the consistent, timely support that an MSP provides. With the right partner, you don’t have to worry about ensuring help desk coverage for holidays, sick leave and vacation.
Your IT team can focus on strategic initiatives that advance your business objectives while relying on the MSP’s expertise and methodologies for user support. The MSP will also monitor systems and perform proactive maintenance, reducing the need for users to contact the help desk.
Collaborate with GDS for Reliable Help Desk Services
Hiring and retaining help desk staff can be challenging, and automation is only a partial solution. The GDS remote desktop management program gives your users access to a highly qualified team who can resolve their IT issues quickly and professionally. Outsourcing help desk support relieves the strain on your staff while improving productivity and customer service through faster problem resolution.
Benefits of Managed IT Services from Global Data Systems
- Strategic Managed IT: We help you solve your technology related business problems.
- Connectivity: We get you reliable, secure connectivity anywhere in the western hemisphere in 48 hours.
- Support: When you need help simply call our 24x7x365 support number.
- Billing: Instead of managing hundreds of vendors - get one, easy to read bill from GDS.
Contact Managed Services Provider, Global Data Systems >
