There are many benefits to obtain from an
outsourced help desk. However, as with many things in life, there are drawbacks to thinking against these professionals.
Start with the cost benefits: First, the costs (and savings) provided by the contract may not be true in reality. This is often the case where some business needs are neglected during the initial contract negotiations and therefore need to be added at an additional cost (and perhaps at different margins).
Secondly and continuing at margin levels, the outsourced help desk service provider is a job that needs to do some margin that contributes to the overall profitability of each transaction. If the required margins are not available (in a "live" contract) and price remarketing is not an option (with the customer), quality levels are likely to decline.
This may still be in line with the agreed service level objectives, but unnecessary costs (usually roles / services) will decrease and the service level will become "good enough".
Third, this "good enough" level of service can cost more than the customer saves through an outsourcing contract. Because? Because of the negative impact on employees and business operations caused by long-standing IT problems will also have a significant cost.
Finally, in terms of costs, a necessary action that would entail additional costs for the outsourced supplier could delay the corrective action. For example, the customer must wait until he agrees to cover the additional costs before continuing.
In addition to the costs, there are numerous disadvantages associated with the outsourced help desk located outside the customer's organization and organizational "disconnection" at different levels. For example, this is:
Help desk staff is not in line with the client's organizational goals and culture, which can cause friction and disrupt the way end users are managed by external
help desk staff.
Help desk staff can only understand the business activities of the organization well, which means that the context and impact of IT problems may not be fully understood and addressed.
The quality of the service and the level of customer information can be influenced by the staff who passes by the
outsourced help desk. For example, staff can be trained in a customer account before being transferred to another customer. It will also affect customer-supplier relationships on a personal level.
Given the potential disconnect between the outsourced help desk and customer staff, the main event type scenarios may seem "cold" or "eliminated". pump ", when there is internal support.
The position of the outsourced help desk can cause problems for customers' employees, from cultural differences to the ease with which helpdesk conversations take place. Although the same language can be spoken, the level of true understanding may not be sufficient.
The customer-supplier relationship can be difficult for a number of reasons, from the spiral of costs to the reduction of quality and impact on the business. There is no longer a valid partnership, the two sides are going in the same direction, on the contrary, a contradictory situation in which the two sides want to maximize what they get from contact. The result will likely be a loss rather than a win-win situation.