8 Tips To Improve The Productivity Of Your Outsourced IT Service Desk

The outsourced IT help desk has become an indispensable part of businesses. Technology has made our lives easier, but the same has presented new challenges for companies moving their operations to the cloud.

Managing your IT resources while handling technical issues has become quite overwhelming for businesses. This explains the increasing number of small and large-scale corporations relying on outsourced IT help desk providers like 31West.

According to HubSpot’s annual service report, 91% of users agreed that outsourced help desk services result in increased productivity within the organization.

Those offering help desk services constantly look for ways to boost their productivity. Below we have compiled a list of 8 proven ways to improve the productivity of your IT service desk. Let’s get started.

1. Know Your Users’ Expectations

The first step to improving the productivity of your help desk is understanding your users’ expectations. Do they want 24/7 support? Are they looking for a help desk that employs innovative security tools to boost their business’ security? Do they want a fast response time?

Clarifying these questions beforehand will help you create a service level agreement (SLA) around your users’ expectations. For instance, if your user expects your staff to resolve all issues (major and minor) within 6 hours, you can mention this in the SLA.

2. Create Self-Help Portal

Your IT team no longer has to spend their time answering repeated questions. If your users ask the same questions over and over again, let them find the answers from the self-help portal.

This self-help portal serves as the central repository of tech-related information. You can add how-to blogs, FAQs, and other forms of content to allow your users to find the help they are looking for. All this is done without assigning your user’s query to a support agent.

Not only does it reduce your agents’ workload, but it allows users to resolve their minor tech issues quickly. Of course, if the problem is complex, you can connect them to an agent for in-person assistance.

3. Resolve Issues Based on their Priority

IT issues are prioritized based on their impact on the business as a whole. Setting priority levels for each issue makes it easier for your IT agents to know which issues are severe and must be resolved at the earliest.

Suppose one of your clients has sent a request for new Apple hardware. Another client is facing server-down issues. Your priority will be checking the problem in the client’s server and getting it running again so that the company can resume its work usually. The request for an Apple device can be fulfilled later, as it’s not an emergency.

After evaluating the issue, your staff can set the priority to Low, High, and Normal.

4. Invest in Training Your Workforce

IT companies are responsible for their staff’s ongoing training. Since your agents will face different security and network issues, they should know the latest tools to resolve all tech-related problems efficiently.

Training your employees is all about keeping them up-to-date with the latest technology in the IT industry and its uses. Use online IT management software apps to help employees hone their skills and learn the latest security trends.

ITIL certification training is another training method to improve your agents’ knowledge in this industry. Trained employees are less likely to escalate tickets. They will handle most issues, including the ones that require great technical expertise.

5. Create and Update Your IT Service Catalog

The IT service catalog shows your users what services are available, what’s the pricing structure, when they should expect the service delivery, and what quality standards you follow.

The service catalog ensures that your entire team, including the major stakeholders and IT agents, are on the same page. It’s one of the most crucial strategies for improving productivity in your organization.

6. Track Key Metrics

User-centric IT companies grow fast. It’s important to record the data that shows your company’s growth. However, if your business is generating tons of incomprehensible data, then it’s useless.

Do you know 35% of IT service desk companies have reduced the number of metrics they track annually? These businesses are focusing more on user-focused data, such as tracking user experience, the common challenges most of your client’s face, and so on. This helps you find the areas you can improve to offer a better user experience.

For example, you can track metrics like the volume of tickets raised from different channels, average response time, average resolution rate, and user satisfaction percentage.

7. Manage Escalation Process

Managing your workforce is equally important. Each agent must know their role. For increased productivity, you must divide your team into different tiers of support. The work responsibilities and authorities of each agent depend on their position.

If a low-tier agent is unable to address an issue, they should know who to escalate the tickets to. It’s obvious that someone who’s just joined your IT team might not be capable of fixing complex problems.

Having a smooth escalation process ensures that your staff knows who to report to when there’s an emergency issue. The end-user should also be kept in the loop about the escalation. This will assure them that their problems will be addressed soon.

8. Align IT Services with Organizational Goals

When outsourcing an IT service desk, businesses check their soft and hard skills to determine whether the help desk is a good fit for their organization. Businesses expect a long-term commitment from IT specialists.

They’d prefer working with an IT service that aligns their services with the company’s long-term goals. So, it’s important you understand their requirements and offer services that can help the company grow in the long run.

Bottom Line

The IT help desk affects the operational efficiency of a business. A service-based business can’t afford to have server downtime, a security breach, or any technical issue.

They trust the IT help desk with their entire IT infrastructure. So, it’s important to put your clients above everything. Hope the above tips help boost your productivity and offer a better end-user experience.