As businesses continue to navigate remote work and digital transformation, the demand for reliable and efficient IT support services has grown significantly. CEOs and IT leaders have found themselves grappling with increasing costs, growing workloads, and managing it all within tight budgets. As a result, many modern businesses are now turning to outsourcing their IT help desks and support to tackle this challenge head-on. In this blog, we’ll delve into the outcomes of this approach and analyse its strategic importance in modern business operations.
Recent trends show that outsourcing has become more popular than ever before. Organisations are increasingly outsourcing their first line support to specialist providers for various reasons. First, internal IT departments often find it difficult to keep up with the growing demands for IT support. The increasing workload and multiple responsibilities can make it challenging to provide timely and efficient support. By outsourcing service desks, businesses can free up internal resources and ensure that IT teams can focus on other critical areas of the business.
Second, specialist providers bring a wealth of expertise to the table. They invest in the latest technologies and tools, as well as hiring and training highly skilled and experienced IT professionals. As a result, businesses can ensure top-notch service to their employees, customers, and stakeholders. With the current remote work set-up, this is even more critical. Working with outsourced service desks means that employees can receive the support they need instantly, regardless of their location.
Outsourcing service desks can also have a positive impact on a business' bottom line. For one, the costs of training, hiring, and maintaining in-house IT staff can be significant. Managed Service Providers (MSPs) can offer flexible pricing models that allow businesses to pay only for the services they need. They can also scale up and down as needed – an essential feature for businesses that experience seasonal fluctuations in demand.
Is outsourcing right for you? The answer is not straightforward. It depends on the unique needs, challenges, and goals of your business. If you are experiencing challenges with your in-house IT support team and cannot afford to hire, train and maintain a full-time team, then outsourcing service desks could be an excellent solution. Additionally, if you are looking to boost your business's productivity, eliminate bottlenecks, and improve customer satisfaction, outsourcing your service desk may be a suitable option.
Getting started with an outsourced service desk partner involves finding a Managed Service Provider (MSP) that aligns with your business culture, values, and goals. Look for providers that offer customised solutions that align with the needs of your business. Remember, you're looking for a strategic partner, one that provides long-term solutions, supports your business objectives, and is invested in the success of your business.
Another consideration is finding a partner that uses innovative technologies and constantly optimises their processes to improve issue resolution and boost the end user experience. A service desk with self-service options and automation capabilities can provide several benefits, including:
- User empowerment: Self-service portals allow users to solve common and straightforward problems by themselves without waiting for service desk personnel. This gives them a sense of control and efficiency, thereby improving their overall experience.
- Reduced workload: automation and virtual assistants can handle repetitive and mundane tasks, freeing up human agents to focus on more complex and critical issues. This leads to increased productivity and efficiency.
- 24/7 availability: virtual assistants are available round-the-clock, providing immediate assistance to users regardless of time zones or working hours.
- Quick issue resolution: with automated processes and AI-powered virtual assistants, issues can be identified and resolved faster, reducing downtime and enhancing business continuity.
- Cost-efficiency: by reducing the need for human intervention in routine tasks, businesses can achieve significant cost savings in terms of labour and operational costs.
- Improved user satisfaction: a swift and efficient resolution process leads to improved user satisfaction and loyalty.
- Data insights: automated systems and virtual assistants can collect and analyse vast amounts of data, providing valuable insights into user behaviour, common issues, service performance, etc. These insights can be used to further improve and optimise the service desk operations.
At Advanced, our dedicated team, rigorous processes, and unwavering focus on user experience set us apart. We empower our users with self-service, self-help, and self-healing options, and our intuitive technology including Virtual Assistants and automation ensure seamless, accelerated resolution.
Our service desk utilises an enterprise-class IT Service Management (ITSM) platform- ServiceNow, which underpins our entire support operation, providing ITIL v4 aligned capability. We accommodate various support scenarios, including standard business as usual support, tactical resource recruitment challenges, and supporting disaggregation from single suppliers, improving service quality and user experience. We can provide either dedicated or shared services, with tailored SLAs to suit your requirements. Learn more about outsourced service desks, or get in touch today to learn more.