Do you outsource your IT helpdesk efforts?

Dear Lindsey,
Yes, you can certainly outsource your Helpdesk support depending on the needs.Request you to go through my profile and get in touch with us at Pavanm at Innominds.com

Selection of the Outsourcing partner:

With so many vendors claiming their competence in 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/Helpdesk 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

Learn: When considering a successful outsourcing initiative, it is very essential to initially understand the concept of outsourcing and industry trends. Also, set your strategic and tactical objectives upfront.

Identify: Identify offshore companies based on clientele, references, known-contacts, market-research firms, search engines etc and prepare a short-list of them – not exceeding 6 to 10.

Seek Information: Obtain detailed information on company, infrastructure, scalability, clientele, relevant experience, references, technical competence, global presence, multi-language capability, disaster recovery, IP protection practices, quality and process standards etc.

Evaluate: Critically evaluate telecom infrastructure, technical competence of the resources, HR policies, cultural fit, process compliance such as SCP etc.

Check references: Speak with management of offshoring companies, their employees, and obtain as much information as possible from their other clients – preferably visit their clients.

Select Vendor: This is the most important activity of outsourcing initiative. It is important to select the right partner from heap of several who claim they are good vendors. Make sure, you get the executive commitment from the offshore partner company - that goes long way in your success.

Try Pilot: It is always advisable to try small and then expand quickly. Pilot should help you assess your partner’s competence in terms of telecom suitability, management commitment, technical competence, process adherence and SLA compliance.

Scale-up: This is the time for you to scale and reap the benefits of outsourcing to the fullest extent. Prepare the transition plan based on modules of the product, or geography of the customer base or simply number of resources.

Questions for you:
In order to provide the proposal/quote/estimates, we need the following information from you,

Type of support?
Level of Support?
Volume?
Languages?
Time zone's to cover?
Turn Around Time?
Job Description of the resources/skill set?

We are experts in providing 24/7 Helpdesk support services for many ESV's and Telco's. Request you to visit profile and get in touch for free estimate/quote , Email: Pavanm at Innominds.com

Regards
PavanM

Lindsey,

I actually represent a 2,000+ seat IT Outsourcing provider, but I'll give you my non-biased answer. I have run internal desks and managed outsourced desks for over 20 years and I am confident that outsourcing Level 1 technical support services makes sense and allows you to:

1) Leverage technology investments made by the partner for ACD, Workforce Management, Quality Assurance, etc. These tools can often cost millions of dollars, but through outsourcing you gain access to these tools at only a fraction of the cost.

2) Gain better traction with Knowledge Management. Most of my customers did not do a good job with their internal desks creating knowledge articles and related resolutions electronically. Instead, they relied on the knowledge residing in the agent's head. While you can never replace a solid technician who has the ability to troubleshoot a real technical issue, the lack of knowledge management typically means that attrition hurts very badly when it happens and most internally supported IT models rely on paying their Level 1 agents more money than is really necessary in order to retain the skills.

3) Disaster avoidance and scalability. Most internally run IT help desks have no true disaster recovery capability and seasonal volume changes my mean increased hold times and abandonment rates if you do not have the scalability from a facility or technology perspective to handle the volume spikes. Outsourcing help alleviate this issue, but effective planning with your selected partner is extremely important.

I always recommend that you retain "Level 2" technical resources internally to act as escalation points for very difficult issues...and this allows you to stay in touch with the technical support your company relys on to keep up and running. This is especially true when you have internal business applications that are not commonly available "off the shelf"...outsourcing providers can support these products as well, but you do not want to outsource more than a Level 1 support function since this starts getting into your company's core competancy and most likely your business applications are critical to your company's operation.

I hope this helps with your decision. Feel free to give me a call and send me an email to discuss further. I'm always available to talk about Service Desk Operations!

Sincerely,

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

Hi Lindsey,

Outsourcing your IT helpdesk is something I can surely help you with at the least can refer few good companies who can assist you with the same.

Best Regards,
Ashraf
732-584-2389