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Outsourcing has gathered a few negative connotations over the years, usually because of its close connection to “downsizing” and people who lose their jobs. Outsourcing isn’t all about job loss, though; it’s also a great way to get something done that you weren’t currently doing. An outsourced help desk is an excellent example of this notion, but even as it offers benefits, it also offers potential problems.
An outsourced help desk can deliver a wide range of benefits.
Improved costs. An in-house help desk requires substantial capital investment. An outsourced help desk is a monthly bill and is available only as long as you want the services. The provider, meanwhile, bears the costs of hiring, managing servers, processing data, and the like.
Scalable. An outsourced help desk can be ramped up or down as needed by circumstances. Have a busy season? Expect a big influx of callers in the near future? Upgrade the coverage and then dial it back down when it’s no longer needed.
The latest training. Help desk providers must keep current; those who don’t risk losing business to competitors who do. Instead of taking that expense on yourself, why not farm it out?
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While the outsourced help desk offers value, there are plenty of rumors regarding potential drawbacks. If you don’t choose the right provider, you run the risk of not being entirely happy with your outsourced help desk solution.
Perceived loss of control. An outsourced help desk is not controlled by you. You may perceive that you’ve lost the ability to make small corrections to suit your tastes. However, in place of handing over the control of your help desk to a provider, you’ll also lose all of the stress, expense, and difficulty that an in-house help desk comes with.
Less skin in the game. An in-house provider always answers directly to you because it’s composed entirely of your own employees. Outsourced providers are slightly less accountable than that, but they are still commonly eager to keep you as a customer. Outsourced providers actually have almost more skin in the game than your in-house help desk, because accountability can be had immediately via standard escalation list, without the associated complications of handling underperformance of employees.
A less-than-perfect cultural reflection. Corporate culture isn’t always quantifiable, but it’s always there. Finding exactly the right provider for your culture can be a challenge. Conversely, if you hire the wrong employee to manage your help desk, the cultural expense will be much higher as you pay to onboard and terminate that employee.
An outsourced help desk can mean real advantages and potential issues all around. To help take advantage of the high points and prevent the lows, start putting together your outsourced help desk with some help from us at Access One. We can offer the best in proactive monitoring, helping to clear up issues before they even become obvious to the users. Maintenance, updates, and more are also available, so when you’re ready to really make your outsourced help desk shine, start by reaching out to us.