All too often, customer support is your company’s face when dealing with clients. How efficiently and knowledgeably this first point of contact addresses your client’s needs will have a major impact on how long they remain clients and how happy they are with your organization.
Salesforce Canada published a rather iconic survey a few years back that stated that 89% of Canadians said their number one frustration with customer support was not having their problem solved on their first interaction. Also, 74% said they were prepared to share poor customer service experiences with friends. While that survey applied to all industries, the takeaway for IT is clear – customer service matters.
Small and medium-sized organizations are particularly at risk since limited budgets often don’t allow them to supply the type of 24/7 service today’s clients demand. For those businesses – and even some enterprise firms – an outsourced help desk that is specifically designed to cater to your clients might be the answer. Here are just a few benefits to looking outside your organization for customer support.
#1. Better Utilize Internal Human Resources
Particularly in the case of SMBs, in-house IT professionals are often stretched thin. Between internal pressure to focus on revenue-generating core business goals and in-house tech support challenges, there’s often little bandwidth left for outward-facing customer support. Outsourcing that customer support element allows internal IT experts to concentrate on what they were hired to do – grow your business and support your team as they do so. Plus, when you outsource customer support from overtaxed internal teams, you also gain a far better customer experience. They will be able to respond to customer requests more quickly and dedicate more time to servicing them, which will lead to higher customer satisfaction
#2. 24/7 IT Experts
Today’s business world is no longer 9 to 5, however, many IT professionals at SMBs and even larger organizations still work on that schedule. As client service has evolved – particularly in light of changes manifested during the pandemic – effectively servicing clients around the world during off-peak hours is now an expectation. That has become the case whether your clients are B2C or B2B. A reliable outsourced helpdesk can allow your organization to offer 24/7 support, no matter which time zone your clients are in.
#3. More Agile Response Times
The speed of business has also evolved, and in-house IT support teams often cannot handle the faster pace clients require. That’s not a negative statement on the capabilities of in-house experts; it’s the reality of having to juggle day-to-day job demands with customer service challenges. If a client needs an immediate answer regarding an ongoing transaction at the same time that your executive team is launching a new product or service, something will have to take precedence. At the same time, putting IT professionals in that situation will only lead to them feeling overwhelmed and burnt out, which is counterproductive. Outsourcing your helpdesk allows that team to prioritize your customers’ needs – because that is literally their only job – and they presumably will have the expertise to do so efficiently, which leads to our next benefit.
#4. Increased IT Expertise
All IT professionals do not have the same skillset when it comes to dealing with clients. Effectively handling customer support requests means staying up-to-date on all the possible variations of client hardware and software and all the various issues that can appear. Those are often not the same skills that are required of in-house IT experts who may be focused on developing and launching new products. Not to mention the fact that running an in-house customer support team requires additional hardware and office space. An outsourced helpdesk allows you to take advantage of a tech-savvy workforce with up-to-date equipment, support-specific training, and the latest technical knowledge. Their expertise, in turn, will help resolve common client issues more quickly and leave a lasting positive impression.
#5. Lower Management Costs
Operating costs are a concern of most organizations, and outsourcing helpdesk support can help reduce them. Without an in-house support team, organizations don’t have to buy and maintain the expensive and complex telecommunications infrastructure needed to provide the level of support today’s customers demand. Managed IT services are also more scalable than in-house systems, allowing you to increase service during peak times without having to outlay cash for hardware purchases and upgrades, employee recruitment, or staff training.
#6. Staying Ahead of Technology
One of the most challenging aspects of customer service is keeping current with new technology. Outsourcing allows an organization to tap into IT experts in their fields whose only job is to keep abreast of the latest hardware, software, challenges, and opportunities. Doing so in-house would mean dedicating a vast amount of monetary, technical, and training resources to technical support that could best be dedicated to other roles within your organization.
#7. Surpass Customer Support Goals
Want to ensure customer satisfaction? The data and analytics your organization requires to effectively track customer support goals can be supplied and managed by an outsourced team. By outsourcing your helpdesk to a team of seasoned IT experts, your staff will no longer be burdened with tracking support calls and response times. This allows you to meet and even increase your support goals while freeing your IT staff to do what they do best. Your MSP can tackle the responsibility of recruiting and maintaining the expertise necessary to provide exceptional customer support with minimal input from your in-house team.
Outsourcing IT customer support can reduce the burden on your staff, cut your reliance on on-site resources, and provide other cost-saving benefits as well. Get in touch with the Dyrand Systems team today to learn how we can help your business make the most of your resources.