Can I outsource help desk support?

Hi Fred, I have been in the SMB space for many years and some has been outsourced... My opinion is based on my experience and what I have gone through to move back the work in house after an outsourced mess.

If the work is easy to do and very simple (limited system access required, one product line or is quick to complete a call or work activity) then outsourcing is definitely an option. If the work required multiple work streams, requires several systems or access levels, requires different groups to complete the work then I would (personal experience) build the capabilities in house until it has been automated.

Outsourcing can be a positive experience but can also be a gamble if not set up properly. I have consulted with businesses that have outsourced and had to build internal teams to manage the outsourcer and their defficiencies to a greater cost then doing the work themselves.

My thoughts!

Outsourcing your help desk support to a 3rd Party may make sense – but I would encourage you to select a vendor located in your region.

Before you consider sending your call center work overseas - just ask your friends & neighbors about their Call Center experiences.

I’m sure that some of your friends will tell you that they’ve occasionally had the experience of dealing with a Call Center Agent based in your region who was clearly a poor fit for the job - and who delivered a poor caller experience.

But when it comes to describing their experiences dealing with a company that has shipped their Call Center work overseas - the vast majority of your friends & neighbors will tell you that they generally have a hard time understanding – or being understood by the Agent – and that their call is typically being handled by a ‘script reader’.

The Call Center Agent is your ambassador to your customers. The human voice of the Agent provides your company’s human face. If your customer cannot understand the Agent due to accent issues or communicative style - the problems are compounded. The prospect can become agitated and your company may wind up losing a customer and future sales. In the present economic environment, just hearing a foreign accent could trip that trigger. Losing dollars chasing dimes is not a wise long-term Customer Care Strategy.

Companies are also re-examining the impact of sending their Call Center jobs overseas on their corporate reputation. Corporate Social Responsibility is considered an important factor in business success today. Companies are thinking twice about employing workers in countries with poor human rights records - or lax labor standards such as India.

Ask your friends what they think about the exploitation of Labor. Call Center workers in India experience abuse & exploitation to a degree and on a scale that would be viewed as criminal in some instances by North American Courts of Law. For example; Indian Call Center Agents are treated as 21st Century ‘cyber-coolies’. They work graveyard shifts - under high pressure – in work environments where liberal attitudes to sex and club drugs are encouraged and thriving. Colluding employers have set up “Blacklist” data bases - containing the details of their Call Center employees - so that “negative insider elements” can be detected at the recruitment stage. Workers in their hundreds are fired without so much as one cent in severance pay.

Overwhelmingly your friends & neighbors will tell you that when they are contacted by telephone – they want to speak with a Call Center Agent from their region - who is typically better able to serve and communicate with them. Probe a little deeper – and they’ll also tell you that they’re opposed to shipping Call Center jobs overseas – and particularly to countries with poor human rights records - or lax labor standards such as India.

From the Jan. 2010 Issue of Site Selection: “Offshoring calls to India works in very limited situations. Interaction with clients and understanding the culture & environment of clients doesn’t work very well at all. The direction of the industry is to bring these customer facing jobs back to the USA.”

The latest Labor Market Outlook from the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development in the UK: “UK companies are bringing back call centre operations to the UK from India. Most of the companies that we deal with are looking to keep call centre staff in the UK wherever possible because there is a significant increase in the level of service and customer satisfaction provided."

Top performing Call Centers drive their Revenue & Performance through superior hiring tactics. We help employers gain better insight & more accurate predictions as to which applicants from a pool of Candidates would perform up to, or beyond their established standards. You can find out about a Free Trial of SPAS Call Center Agent Pre-Employment Screening Software at http://www.telesoftsystems.ca/64201.html

Fred, as Amy mentions, you can surely outsource help desk support. It really is a matter of defining your requirements, needs, what's most important to you, etc... and then starting a search. Many companies do it today successfully.

Map out your environment (ie. systems, tools, agent profiles regarding skills they need, training). Identify what you seek in a partner. Identify decision criteria that is most important. Identify any perceived challenges, etc...

You then are ready to start searching, and search based on your comfort of a company's experience, location, references, tools, infrastructure, etc... Meet management, meet agents, see the site that is going to do the work.

I'm happy to be a resource as you see fit and give any insights, thoughts, and recommendations. I've been dealing with outsourcing since '93 and help desk is one area I'm quite familar with.

Cheers, Jeff Ph: 801.949.7585 / jguymon@rdimarketing.com

Absolutely. Are you after a support team to help your own employees, or a support team to take incoming customer calls on your behalf (if you make software, or have a web site, or something similar)?

Yes! You can definitely outsource either in the US or abroad. There are a lot of companies who claim they can handle your business so before you outsource everything, you want to be sure that they can do what they say they can do. Once they've proven their worth and you have a good working relationship, then you can give them the rest of your business.

When evaluating outsourcers, be sure that the support reps have not only good technical skillls, but good communication skills as well. People want their technical problem solved, but they want to feel good about the interaction. Plus, good communication skills aids in first-call resolution which is the number one driver of customer satisfaction.

[Plug] We've worked with a number of top tech firms who outsource their support but find their outsourcer lacking in communication skills. Our programs are certified by CompTIA and TSIA. If you could use any help, please let me know. E-mail: pcarlaw@impactlearning.com or call 800-545-9003.

Peggy Carlaw

Dear all,
I you are looking for IT Helpdesk services from Sri-Lanka, I would like to assist. Please contact me on jayantha@live.com for more details. I am confident that a reliable delivery of services could be extended to the best of indistry expertice. Please call should you are of interest. THank you.,

Jayantha Perera
+94777874747

Hi Fred,

Yes, you can definitely outsource help desk support. However, this also depends on the nature of the support that is required. I work for an outsourcing company and we have helped SMBs in their work processes and we can proudly say that they have been satisfied with our services and with the help we have/are giving them.

I agree to one of the answers above that outsourcing can be a gamble, but can actually generate positive results if executed properly.

Hope this answer has helped in answering your question.

Jamee

Hi Fred,

You may want to have phone support based in USA or Canada. However, you can surely outsource email and chat support to India.

I run an outsourcing company based in India. Feel free to call me on 313-447-1275 to discuss your needs.

Thanks.

FYI, At Infotrex - we provide Internet Marketing Services as mentioned below:

1. Email Marketing
Collecting Email Addresses of Prospective Customers
Developing & Executing Email Marketing Campaigns

2. SMS/Text Marketing
Collecting Mobile Numbers of Prospective Customers
Developing & Executing SMS/Text Marketing Campaigns

3. Web-Site or Search Engine Marketing
Making a Better - User Friendly Web-Site & Adding Marketing Elements in it.
Bringing your website on first page of search engines like Google,
Yahoo, MSN for popular keyword searches.
Giving Paid Ads in Google/Yahoo/MSN Search engines & Other
Advertisement media(Blogs) on Internet

4. Social Media Marketing
Making a Professional Profile of yours on Social Sites
Participating in Social Sites like - LinkedIn.com, FaceBook.com, MySpace.com, Twitter.com etc.

5. Virtual/Live Chat Marketing
By setting up virtual as well as live chat applications.
Marketing through Automatic or Manual Chat sessions.

We can help you increase sales/ leads for your business by leveraging
successful internet marketing strategies mentioned above.

Thanks.

Fred,

My company provides help desk and call center support to clients of all shapes and sizes. We have over 2,000 agents globally today with facilities in the US (Tampa and Atlanta) as well as Romania (Brasov and Bucharest). If you want to send me an email with some of the specifics, I can put together a rough estimate for you regarding the cost of the service.

Sincerely,

Scott McKinley, Vice President
Contact Center Support Division
Computer Generated Solutions, Inc.
Email: smckinley@cgsinc.com
Office: 813-249-3281

Hi Fred,

We are a UK based Helpdesk facilty that could with your requirements.
Please take a look at our website: www.technicalservicesatseymourhunter.com
We offer 24/7/365 days support.

Please feel free to contact me on +44 1635 879700 or email me at jane.midwood@seymourhunter.com

Look forward to hearing from you soon.

Many Thanks

Jane

Dear Fred,
Yes,you can outsource Help desk Support. But, With so many vendors claiming their competence in Technical/Help desk Support Services, it is often overwhelming to pick the right offshore partner. The fact is that most of them have no foot-prints in Technical Support Outsourcing. It is suggested that it helps to follow a structured process, as described below, to arrive at the right partner.

Learn - Identify - Seek Information- Evaluate - Check References - Select Vendor - Try pilot - Scale-up

We have world class infrastructure and technology with proven track in serving the customers Globally.

Request you to get in touch with us to answer/solve all your issues. Email: Pavanm at adventglobal.com

Regards
Pavan

Hi Fred,
Outsourcing your help desk support will have two major benefits. 1. It will reduce your current operation cost considerbaly. 2. It will help you focus on your core competencies.

We would be more than happy to assist you on this. Feel free to reach on at ashraf.imran@fusionbposervices.com

Best Regards,
Ashraf
Direct Line:732-584-2389
Desk Ph: 866-581-0038 extn.: 2003
www.fusionbposervices.com

Fred,

as you can see above you certainly can outsource your help-desk/customer care.

For me the real question is "Should you outsource?" If the answer is still yes then the next question is when?

I've just written a post on my blog about "The customer is always right" - you can find it here: http://www.sme-blog.com/customer-service/the-customer-is-always-right - in it I deal with some of the worries I personally have with customer care.

To cut a long story short - your customers are your business - getting to know them, their needs, their frustrations with your organization and allowing them to getting to know you is, IMO, paramount to the success of your business.

If you really run a customer centric business, I'm not sure I would be happy to outsource my help-desk - for me my customers are core.

I outsource - but only non core business functions - and even that turns out to be a problem sometimes, doing that with core business functions may be playing with your businesses future.

VB, Stefan

Hi Fred,

You can outsource help desk support services and even you have challenges too. Identifying the right partner and getting seamless support. You should analyze the offshore partner whether they technically savvy with respect to imbibing your ongoing business line and your working environment and then map your environment (ie. systems, tools, agent profiles regarding skills they need, training) with them.

We have proven track record in providing help desk support various companies globally and can help you. We would like to take the discussion forward and understand your requirements and challenges.
IonIdea is ISO 9001 certified and assessed at SEI-CMMi Level 3. It is headquartered at Fairfax, VA, USA delivery centers in India and Ukraine.It has professionally managed BPO/ contact center division called Talent Tigers with 10+ years of domain experts, partnering B2B companies in Retail/ Banking/ Financial/ Telecom and Insurance.

Looking forward in discussing with Fred on his convenient time,

Thanks and Regards,
Rakesh Kumar,
Work : +1 703 279 4860 (Direct - Fairafx),
Skype: rakesh.kumar.tt
E-Mail: rakesh.kumar@ionidea.com, URL: www.ionidea.com
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/rakesh-kumar/14/593/9b4

You can outsource your help desk, although you will still need some level of staff on site for hands-on break/fix items (such as replacing a broken mouse, power supply, LAN management, etc.).

Outsourcing your phone and email help desk support can be beneficial. Find an outsourcer experienced in technical support, so you can be confident they have the right troubleshooting skill sets among employees and managers.

An outsourcer may have more advanced technologies than the SMB, such as a better quality monitoring system, CRM/ticketing system, and self-help IVR capabilities. These all add value to the help desk operations.

Please contact me if you would like to know more about help desk vendor selection. I would like to demonstrate the ways Microdyne can meet your needs.

Regards,

Rick Daley
Business Development Consultant
L-3 Microdyne Outsourcing
740-879-3325
rick.daley@l-3com.com

I agree to what David says. But Yes you can use India to do the loops.

Regards
Vincent Cooper
vincent.cooper@qbm.in
www.qbadvisory.co.uk and www.qbm.in
Quantum Group

Hello Fred,
You can certainly outsource your help desk support, as we are handling this requirement for several of our partners. Your biggest question will be cost effectiveness,
and that will depend on the specific needs for your project. Please give me a call to discuss your needs and see whether an on shore solution will be a good fit.
Thanks,
Joe
jgearon@mktalt.com

P: 224.856.7108
C: 913.558.6919
www.mktalt.com

I suggest you can maintain your helpdesk system easily with the web based helpdesk software like AJ Helpdesk.

http://www.ajhelpdesk..com

Hi Mr Cole,

Greetings,

I would like to know if you've any Chat Process to be outsourced?. I would like work along with you if we could meet all the SLA'S.

You can send me the details to rohith.g.r@gmail.com / srikanth8485@gmail.com.

Regards,
Rohith.

If you are looking for chat support, just use Live2support live customer support software. Its easy and cheap.
http://www.live2support.com

Fred,

To answer this question, you need to understand the outsourced IT support model, commonly called Managed IT services.

Forgive me if this looks like a solicitation, but our web site actually has some information resources that might be able to help you make a better decision.

Primarily this page: Compare the MSP Model to other Support Models:

http://www.carceron.net/compare.html

Another good resource site might be:

There are many options for help desk. Find the best outsourcing services to manage client calls or to support all your PCs at www.kensium.com.

Or contact at info@kensium.com. We are happy to assist you for your desk support.

Kensim LLC,
200 South Wacker Drive
Suite 3100
Chicago, IL.

We have 3 centre 1 is having 100 seats and rest of 2 centres has 50-50 seats.

Having around 5 yrs experiences and having experience Inbound/Outbound process and looking for some US/Uk Inbound Process. Please let me know if you can help us in this regards.

Waiting for your prompt and frutiful response.

You can also contact me at 00.91.86875.02448.

Thanks,
Amar Verma.
av@amarverma.com

Hii,

We at http://www.24x7-livesupport.com/ will provide you best inbound call center services, we are affordable, reliable. right now we have 20+ international clients, let us know what can we do for you? You can mail us any time at 24x7liveservice@gmail.com

Thanks & Regards

yes you can outsource help desk..check out the IT search engine for seeking any IT solution....http://search.usourceit.com/

Feel free to call me or check out my company's website. We provide a great helpdesk based in Canada. THis is one of the many services we provide as we're a one stop shop for all things technology. We support infrastructure and business applications. My phone is 877-781-2990 the website is www.theutilitycompany.com
Dave

Hi Fred,
Foiwe is outsourcing company based in India. We are into Email Marketing, SMS/Text Marketing, Virtual/Live Chat Marketing, Non voice and voice base call center

Let us know what can we do for you? You can mail us vandita@foiwe.com & Business@foiwe.com. You can also visit our official website http://www.foiwe.com/Outsourcing/

Thanks & Regards,
Team Foiwe
skype: foiwe.india
call us: 09741376000

Hi Fred,

I work for The Response Group and they have a call centre that run a number of Help Desks for large clients.

We are based in Dublin, Ireland

If you are interested in talking to us please give me a call

David Keane
01- 4092700
0851547606