There are few ways to lose customers faster than by offering sub-standard support. If your customers have issues regarding your product or services, customer support will be their first point of contact; so it’s crucial that your support services are available in their time of need. Nonetheless, a lot of SMBs have trouble providing the service that their customers need, and this is often due to inadequate budgets not being able to meet their requirements. In such cases, an outsourced helpdesk might be exactly what you need to give your business breathing room to grow.
#1. Free Up Your Human Resources
Outsourcing your customer support will give your IT team more time to focus on core business goals, such as those that translate directly into generating revenue and making important strategic decisions for the company. Instead of endlessly rifling through support requests, your staff will be able to use their time much more efficiently if common issues can be handled externally. An outsourced helpdesk run by experts with access to the latest technology will be able to respond to queries faster and more efficiently, freeing up your resources and improving satisfaction in the process.
#2. Round-the-clock Support
Most companies still follow a nine-till-five working schedule, which typically means offering little or no support during off-peak hours. Particularly if you’re a B2B industry, such a level of customer support will be woefully inadequate, since your customers will be relying on your business for the success of their own. For example, a customer might need immediate support should an issue arise with an ongoing transaction. A reliable outsourced helpdesk allows you to continue providing customer support around the clock, which is especially important if your customers are located in different time zones.
#3. Reach Customer Support Goals Easily
Any reputable company should have a stringent set of customer support goals to ensure satisfaction across the board. After all, it doesn’t take much for a little bit of negative feedback left by a disgruntled customer to put a serious dent in your business’s reputation. By outsourcing your helpdesk to a professional team, you’ll be able to take advantage of improved tracking and management, thus allowing you to meet and even raise your support goals. Instead, external providers will take on the responsibility of recruiting the expertise it needs to provide excellent customer support with minimal input from your in-house team.
#4. Reduced Management Costs
Since outsourcing helpdesk operations greatly reduces the need for in-house expertise and technology, your business should be able to reduce its operational costs substantially. For example, there won’t be any need to purchase and maintain the complex telecommunications infrastructure required to provide the level of support your customers expect. Instead, the entire system will be managed and maintained by a third-party team. Managed IT services are inherently more scalable than in-house systems as well, since you won’t have to worry about hardware upgrades, additional employee recruitment or staff training.
#5. Technical Expertise
Building an on-premises support team requires a high degree of technical expertise on top of the added hardware and office space requirements. However, by outsourcing your helpdesk, you’ll be able to take advantage of the best technical expertise in the industry. Your in-house IT team may have the best of intentions, but that doesn’t mean they have the industry and technical expertise needed to resolve issues promptly and improve customer satisfaction in the process. An outsourced helpdesk service should be able to resolve common issues quickly to the extent that it can make a positive impact on your bottom line.
#6. Faster Response Times
Aside from being available around the clock, faster response times will make life easier for both your employees and your customers. Consider, for example, how many times you’ve felt let down by customer support, particularly when you’ve needed immediate help with an ongoing transaction or a delivery that’s gone astray. It’s often very easy for an in-house support team to get overwhelmed, particularly following the launch of a new product or service. A third-party helpdesk service should have access to the latest and most effective technology for solving problems remotely in less time and at any time of the day.
Outsourcing everyday business IT routines can free up your staff, reduce reliance on on-premises resources and provide many other important benefits. Get in touch with the Dyrand Systems team today to learn how we can help your business make better use of its resources.