No one questions the value of an IT help desk. Your employees can't be expected to know how to troubleshoot computer problems; you need experts for that. Because you cannot predict when an IT issue will arise, you’ll want these experts right beside you, ready to help at a moment’s notice. But can you trust an expert that’s stationed several miles away?
Before the cloud, businesses relied on in-house IT help desks. But over the years, businesses have embraced the cloud as their delivery model for technology implementations and support. As of 2017, 75% of Canadian businesses have moved at least a part of their IT delivery to the cloud.
Thanks to technological advancements like the cloud and remote support, outsourced IT help desks, or external customer service, have become more efficient than their in-house equivalent. Using better software and expert personnel, outsourced help desks are able to minimize downtime and maximize your productivity.
And if you fully utilize an external help desk, your business will benefit in ways beyond solving day-to-day IT problems. Here are five reasons why you should seriously consider an outsourced IT help desk.
#1 All IT issues are funneled into a single place
Your IT help desk becomes a one-stop shop for anything and everything IT: inquiries, requests, complaints, support, troubleshooting, etc. They cater to both your employees and your external customers; this frees your staff from the hassle of handling your customers’ issues.
An outsourced IT help desk can rely on software such as ConnectWise, Zendesk and Clickdesk, two of the most popular customer service and support applications. Both are easy to use, even by non-IT savvy staff.
#2 Support is available after hours
In-house IT help desk staff will clock in and out just like everyone else; if they need to stay beyond their shift, they get paid overtime.
But you can schedule your outsourced IT help desk to be available during off-hours, or even 24/7. IT support is available to your employees working overtime, and downtime-intensive tasks like software updates can be scheduled to minimise business interruptions. Watch your employee and customer satisfaction go up!
#3 Problems are resolved efficiently
To ensure the timely handling of IT issues, an external help desk can generate a ticket for each case. They can prioritize tickets according to the order they were received and based on the urgency of the issue.
Outsourced help desks are also able to assign each ticket to the appropriate IT expert, so that customers and employees can expect high-quality support every time. And since tickets come with a time frame for when the problem should be addressed, customers and employees are assured of a timely response.
#4 You can focus on the business at hand
Having your own in-house IT help desk entails hiring the right number of quality IT experts to service your needs. Finding the right personnel costs time and money. Why not spend that on growing your business and just hire an outsourced IT help desk, which costs much less?
You may consider requiring several of your employees take on some tech support responsibilities. But that will take up a lot of their time and effort. An external IT customer service will spare your employees from wearing two or more hats so they can focus on more profitable tasks at hand.
With an outsourced customer service, everyone is doing what they’re hired to do. Now that’s efficiency.
#5 A chance to educate and train your staff
Your external help desk staff can do more than troubleshoot your company’s IT woes. They can also provide practical knowledge to your staff.
Through face-to-face instructions and occasional training sessions, they can impart useful lessons on IT trends and best practices. They can teach your employees how to protect themselves against phishing scams and spot potential spam mail that may carry malware. They can even advise your employees on improving workflows and preventing potential IT issues. If anything, your company will benefit from having a more IT-savvy staff.
For businesses in Vancouver, Burnaby, or Richmond looking for an affordable and dependable IT help desk, come to us at Quicktech. We guarantee quick response times, transparency with our service tickets, non-intrusive remote repairs, predictable fees, and customer-friendly service. We also offer managed IT support and IT consulting. You needn't stress over IT issues again. Contact our experts today, and let us handle IT.