5 reasons why outsourcing end user services can deliver results

The advantages of outsourcing

To do their best work, your employees expect to have the best technology support at their fingertips, 24/7.  Downtime simply isn’t an option.

Even a relatively small problem with an employee’s network access, cloud connectivity, or authentication processes could have a serious impact on their productivity, and result in a sub-optimal customer or employee experience. Many businesses are overly reliant on their in-house IT team – or even a single IT professional in a smaller organisation – to keep the company’s systems operational around the clock, responding to employees’ questions and requests for assistance.  

When it comes to managing your employees’ service requests and IT incidents, a MSP can help you realise the benefits that can come from outsourcing this all-important end user services function. 

1. Access to an ITIL-accredited desktop specialists

When a company employs its own staff to perform end user services responsibilities, these people are often expected to be ‘jack of all trades’ – possessing a working knowledge of cloud, security, workplace software, authentication processes, deployment and much more. While certain individuals may have strong knowledge in certain areas, the need to support multiple technologies, applications and software as well as respond to all kinds of requests, means their expertise can be spread thin.

A managed services provider should have experts that are on the forefront of new and existing technology and adapt to the changing needs of your business. To ensure this, you should look out for an ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) certification– meaning the EUS team is able to effectively assist with IT issues. MSPs will be able to offer layers of end user support staff with varying expertise – meaning if there are any immediate knowledge gaps, they can usually be addressed by another expert within the provider’s broader team.

The more sophisticated and experienced the end user support team is, the faster they can troubleshoot and resolve issues, meaning your people can get back to work quicker.

2. Cost savings

Keeping end user services support staff on the books – either as full-time or part-time resources, or even contractors – can also be costly. Staff come with a raft of overheads, like payroll tax, hardware and software, desk space and other entitlements. You also need to factor in the impact of annual and/or sick leave, and how you will fill gaps in your team at certain times.

Managing staff is also a cost in itself, with an impact on human resources and accounting teams, as well as the technical leads who are responsible for managing end user services employees. If an employee leaves the business, there’s also the effort and time associated with recruitment and training.

When you outsource your end user services to a managed service provider, however, you’re only paying for the services you need, and can also customise your support according to your budget. You also are only charged per user or support ticket. All payroll, human resources and management costs are covered by the provider – you simply pay an ongoing fee for the services you need.

3. Greater responsiveness

Internal end user services support resources are often overwhelmed by a raft of responsibilities, some of which may fall outside the realm of typical help-desk work. This is often the case in a smaller business, where an IT professional may have a more generalised role – of which providing support is only a part. Other responsibilities could include things like deploying security patches, transitioning workloads to the cloud, or setting up new devices for staff who are working remotely.

Also, while internal staff will generally only work office hours, outsourced end user services may provide support around the clock.

4. Superior employee experience

Having a managed service provider looking after your end user support can result in end user issues being resolved faster and more effectively. This means less downtime and greater overall productivity for employees.

Also, a managed service provider can provide data-led insights regarding where issues are occurring – and how they can be resolved – meaning the organisation can focus on fixing the right issues first time, which has an overarching benefit in terms of the employee experience.

5. Round-the-clock availability

Another great benefit of a managed service provider looking after your end user services is that the contract is designed in accordance with your company’s needs and that of your users. While internal staff will usually only work standard hours, an outsourced end user services team can provide 24/7 responsiveness, providing essential peace of mind.  

How we help

In a flexible working environment, technology is paramount to allow employees to do their best work.

Downtime can be crippling for businesses’ productivity and they need an end user services provider that can help.

At Interactive, our end user experts are at the forefront of new and existing technology and we adapt to the changing needs of your business. Our individual team members are ITIL accredited desk top specialists and can effectively troubleshoot IT issues from start to finish. Our team’s primary focus is to streamline EUS and get your business back to work quickly when issues arise.

Learn more about the benefits of outsourced end user services and speak to one of our experts today.