In this blog, we are going to take a closer look at the benefits of outsourcing an IT Helpdesk.
We all know that technology moves along at breakneck speed. Employees may require help with new technology and addressing any problems they encounter so that IT issues do not have an impact on the day-to-day operation of your business.
SMEs with limited resources are not always able able to offer staff the level of support that they need in-house, especially with commonly recurring IT problems. Having an additional resource to augment your IT department and provide that extra back-up, as and when required, can be of great benefit to businesses. It means your IT department can be more proactive and concentrate on income-generating activities, spending less time on the more administrative duties of general support and problem-solving for your employees.
If you own a small or medium sized business and don’t have the resources for a dedicated IT Helpdesk, We Can Help. So, if your business is located in Yorkshire or Lancashire and you are concerned that your IT team is spread too thinly, or that they are being called away from core business activities to handle common IT problems, call SquareCubed today to find out how our Helpdesk can support your IT requirements.
Identify your requirements
Before you decide to approach an external supplier to provide an IT helpdesk, it may be beneficial to identify the needs of your company from an IT resource perspective. For example:
• How many hours per week does your IT team spend resolving IT problems for your staff?
• As a result, how many hours per week are lost on core IT business functions?
• Have major IT projects that improve efficiency been deferred because you just don’t have the resources to dedicate to them?
• Is your IT team spending too much time firefighting and not enough time being proactive in moving your technology forward?
• Are there common recurring IT problems that can be addressed by upgrading or patching?
• Are any IT problems caused by not following the correct procedure that could be addressed through better training?
• Do you have adequate IT resources to apply upgrades or security patching promptly?
An outsourced IT Helpdesk will offer a range of services, so it is important that you know your requirements and that you can rely on them to provide everything you need to address the pain points you have identified.
Minimise downtime
If your employees are unproductive because of an IT problem, you need to reduce this downtime time to an absolute minimum to avoid losing revenue and customers. An outsourced IT Helpdesk does not need to be physically on site but can take control of a computer or account remotely. This results in a quick response time to troubleshoot problems or diagnose technical glitches.
An IT Helpdesk can respond with the technical expertise required to solve the problem. It is difficult for SMEs to provide this kind of support internally because of financial constraints, a lack of expertise in-house, a small IT department or the allocation of IT resources to other core business projects. Having expert help on hand allows you to allocate your internal IT team to more proactive activities, while you have the peace of mind that your employees are receiving the IT support they need, when they need it.
Technical expertise
One of the benefits of outsourcing an IT Helpdesk is access to highly trained and experienced professionals who have most likely encountered your IT problem before! They have a wealth of knowledge and the required skill set to solve any issue quickly and effectively.
In addition, they can help you to determine the frequency of specific issues, so you can make an informed decision about how to tackle them such as allocating more resource or training in that area or purchasing new technology that may address common issues.
You are in control and can choose the level of service you wish to outsource.
For example, there may be cost benefits to receiving help with more general day-to-day IT problems on generic platforms. This frees up your in-house IT team to handle business-specific problems, depending on the nature or type of business. It is a good idea to set up a Service Level Agreement (SLA) for an outsourced IT Helpdesk. This will detail your requirements and the level of service you will expect including response times, incident closure rates and other key requirements.
External IT Helpdesks may also provide you with reports that specify key indicators, for example:
• How many issues occur on a certain platform or programme
• The frequency of common issues
• The average length of time taken to fix an issue
• How many tickets are opened per day/week/month
• Which members of staff report issues most frequently
and any other statistics that may help you to pinpoint recurring problems, so you can take the relevant steps to deal with them.
The benefits of outsourcing an IT Helpdesk to the experts at SquareCubed, means that when your staff experience any IT problems, we can shoulder that worry for you. So, why not contact us today to find out how We Can Help?
Resources
Outsourcing an IT Helpdesk service means that any personnel issues, from hiring and firing to individual performance reviews and training, are all handled by the external IT company. This relieves your company, specifically the Human Resources Department, from the responsibility and the associated time and financial costs of providing this resource.
The benefits of outsourcing an IT Helpdesk to SquareCubed
We want to get to know you and your business and how We Can Help to make it successful. We provide clients across Yorkshire and Lancashire with our IT Helpdesk services and use our expertise and specialist skill set to solve their IT problems. With several decades of combined support experience in both corporate and SME business environments, we have seen and solved virtually every IT problem out there.
All you have to do is pick up the phone and call our IT Helpdesk, safe in the knowledge that we can fix it! Alongside our Helpdesk service, We Can Help with cloud migration, centralising communications, disaster recovery and back up, IT projects and consultancy, streamlining business processes with Office 365 and any other IT issues you need help with! So, don’t delay, call SquareCubed and discover the benefits of outsourcing an IT Helpdesk today.