As one of the more prominent parts of a customer service system, the help desk is often one of the busiest. And it can sometimes be swamped by too many support requests. This is where outsourcing can be a good move. But how do your startup business do it the right way? And how can Virtua Solutions help you? Let’s find out.
Help Desk Vs. Tech Support
Before we talk about outsourcing, we need to clarify some things about the help desk. One of these is its difference from technical support. It might seem basic at first, but the difference between the two will help you decide how to outsource each.
To start, let’s define what the help desk is exactly. The help desk is the central contact point for customer concerns. It is primarily concerned with providing people with the information and guidance to solve basic problems. The help desk also serves as the gateway for directing customers to other parts of your support system.
Image from ProProfs.
On the other hand, tech support deals with more complex matters. These are the ones that require greater expertise to resolve. Thus, they serve as the next line of support the help desk escalates requests to.
The two departments also differ in their approach to listening to customers. With the help desk, the focus is often showing empathy in helping customers solve problems. Even if it’s a minor issue, they still need to assure customers that the company listens to them. It is also worth noting that the help desk isn’t about actively “fixing” a customer problem. Instead, they are there to provide solutions and recommendations.
Image from Help Lama.
That doesn’t mean that the tech support department is less empathic. However, they are more focused on resolving the problems at hand. Customers are already aware that they can solve the issues. Thus, they do not need the assurance, only the results.
The two departments also differ in their perspective. Since your help desk is more concerned with general issues, it provides a more comprehensive solution to problems. On the other hand, tech support often uses a more targeted approach in dealing with specific problem areas.
The Benefits And Risks Of Outsourcing Your Startup Business Help Desk
Now that’s out of the way, we can look at how outsourcing helps you. Understanding the merits will give you an idea of what role outsourcing will play in your help desk operations. There are several main benefits that you can gain from this move.
- Greater availability: Through outsourcing, you can run your help desk 24/7. That allows you to serve more customers.
- Additional capabilities: Outsourced teams have various tools and technologies that your startup business can use to boost its help desk.
- Expert knowledge: Your team might already be experts at the work, but it still helps that you can get more useful information from external sources.
- Better processes: Getting an outsourced team lets you create more comprehensive service level agreements that will help you develop better support processes.
All of these benefits translate into a more efficient help desk. With that, you also get to improve your overall support system.
The Challenges
However, you should be ready for the challenges. These can affect how effectively you can use the strategy. Some of these you will encounter include:
- Provider not aligned with your goals and culture: This can create friction between you and them, affecting how you serve customers.
- Lack of understanding of your process: An outsourced team not understanding the nuances of your process will have a hard time aligning it to their own.
- Personnel movement: Often, outsourced agents work for multiple accounts. Thus, when an agent working with you gets reassigned, you lose a vital talent.
- Issues with location: Depending on where your outsourced help desk is based, customers might have concerns with the team’s culture.
These challenges should not deter you from making the most out of outsourcing for your help desk needs. By carefully choosing the right provider, you can better incorporate them into your help desk process. That guarantees a more seamless operation for your customers.
Helping Your Startup Business Improve Its Help Desk
At Virtua Solutions, we aren’t just here to provide you with more agents to fill your help desk. We are also here to improve its overall effectiveness. One area that we will help you with is determining what parts of the work you should outsource.
We will look into your metrics to see which areas you might be struggling in. On the other hand, we will also study your strengths and determine how to amplify these. That will give you a more optimized strategy.
Our team also considers your business organization. We look into what tasks your team will still be able to handle effectively and what tasks our side can take over. That helps clarify your processes better. We can even help you determine how to refine these processes. With our experience with different clients, we can help you determine what organizational changes can be done to improve efficiency.
Delivering The Support That Customers Want
Ultimately, the mark of a successful help desk outsourcing is being able to deliver the kind of service your customers want. Here, having more data will be the key to understanding what that service looks like. As part of our partnership with you, we can handle all that data collection. That ensures that you get a constant flow of new data to refine your help desk strategies as customer behavior changes.
Additionally, we ensure that all the self-help services connected to the help desks are in good working order. For instance, our team can handle the updating and inspection of your knowledge base. We could also oversee the implementation of new self-help services that you add. This is vital, as you want these services to be always running so that the help desk can effectively direct customers to these and help them solve issues as they prefer.
Make Your Startup Business Help Desk More Helpful With Us On Board
Making your startup business help desk more efficient requires a comprehensive approach. Virtua Solutions is always ready to give you all the support you need to help your customers. Contact us today and we will discuss what we have to offer further.