As more global organisations and their employees choose to leave the traditional full-time office life behind, outsourcing IT services has become more and more commonplace.
Why?
Outsourcing comes with a whole host of benefits such as improved cost management, increased productivity from end users and higher service quality. So, why should you outsource your IT services to an external team?
Reduce Costs
Hiring a full team to run an in-house IT service desk can be costly. Not only does your business need to pay full-time salaries and benefits to ensure enough resources are available to deal with any issues that may arise, but it increases operational costs too. For example, if a business wants to upscale quickly, they need to hire more people to ensure nothing falls through the cracks – this in-house process can take months to find the right person for the job and also incure considerable recruitment fees. Training new and existing employees takes up time and resources as well, which can significantly eat into budgets and potential revenue while impacting an organisations performance, staff morale and productivity.
Working with a managed service provider allows businesses to control costs effectively by utilising an agreed pricing structure. Partnering with a provider in this way means you only pay for the IT services you need when you need them. There’s no requirement to pay the high upfront fees that are synonymous with setting up internal infrastructure, support and personnel. The external partner can handle all the technology integration, transition and support for end users removing the headache of sourcing, managing, training and retaining staff.
It’s important to remember that a managed service provider already has all the in-house expertise that an organisation might need, no matter how small or large, and when it comes to scalability, they can upscale much quicker. Also, an outsourcers broad industry experience, focused specialists (e.g. ITIL processes) and burst capability which allows SLA achievement without additional costs are considerable benefits.
Provide a superior quality of service
Alongside the obvious cost saving benefits, outsourcing to an external IT service desk facilitates a higher quality customer experience for your employees. The provider already has the experience and expertise from supporting similar organisations in the same sector that is required to handle any issues that may be presented. They can quickly resolve the issues that stop reactive in-house teams from delivering consistent, high-quality end user support.
By working with an external IT provider, global organisations can also utilise services such as multilingual speakers across time zones and around-the-clock support. In turn, these services help to create an enhanced user experience and improve workforce productivity for employees. Response times are also greatly reduced when a dedicated team are on hand 24/7, with preferred communication channels considered, so end users always experience a more personalised support network.
A benefit of providing a superior quality of service is ensuring business continuity. Downtime due to IT-related issues can not only damage productivity but also reputation and ultimately, incur monetary losses. A committed external provider can prevent IT-related issues before they can have a negative impact and often before the company they are providing services to is even aware of the problem.
Facilitate the modern workplace
The IT service desk is an essential factor of the digital first workplace. As businesses and employees alike remain steadfast on the hybrid and remote way of working, it stands to reason that organisations will increasingly look to partner with outsourced IT service providers in response to more varied working hours and the reduced need for traditional on-site IT support. Factors such as greater flexibility, increased worker productivity, lower employee turnover and the ability to globalise operations all have a part to play in why companies want to remain remote. A recent survey from FlexJobs found that 58% of respondents would actively look for a new job if they couldn’t continue to work remotely.
Chris Matchett, Senior Director Analyst, Gartner says “The pandemic presents an opportunity for infrastructure and operations (I&O) leaders to accelerate the IT service desk evolution […] Even as some workers return to offices, new IT service models will enable enterprises to embrace the hybrid workplace of the future.”
Many in-house teams were not – and still aren’t – equipped to adapt or scale their services to meet the requirements of the modern workplace. It’s no longer a case of simply walking down the corridor to the IT team to resolve an issue. New processes are needed to facilitate remote working, especially where cyber security is concerned. Unsecure wi-fi connections, unattended devices and potential data breaches are just some of the safety issues that must be seriously considered and addressed. Even the ability to access IT tools and services remotely needs to be taken into account.
Managed service providers have been providing these services on an external basis for years. They can provide tailored IT service desk support depending on your internal requirements and ultimately, become an extension of the in-house IT team.
Choose the right provider
Though there are numerous benefits associated with working with an external IT service desk provider, choosing the right one is still a challenge for many businesses.
A good choice of provider is one that offers:
- The services you need – there’s little point in hiring an external partner that can’t provide what you actually need. For example, a provider that focuses on First Contact Resolution (FCR) for your end users. Make sure it’s included in their list of outsourced features.
- 24/7/365 support – knowing someone is always available at any given time – should an internal issue arise – is critical to providing a smooth and painless end user experience particularly with flexible working environments.
- A superior service – you need to work with a MSP who cares about and understands your organisation and employees as much as you do. Think about working with a provider that is KPI driven and has dedicated engineers focussed on delivering service excellence for your end users and that will get to understand your business and people inside out.
Once these factors are guaranteed, it’s time to progress with a provider. If you are looking to renew your outsourced IT service desk provider or want to look at outsourcing for the first time, Littlefish provides a service desk ‘Pod’ system that offers a customisable IT service desk experience which is focused on understanding your organisation and improving service quality.
Speak to an expert to see how we can help you reduce costs, increase service quality and support your transition to the modern workplace.
