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Advantages of Help Desk Outsourcing
Help desk outsourcing is the latest mantra for success in the corporate world today. As existing sources of revenues face sluggish growth, companies are trying new ways, especially outsourcing their back-office operations, to boost their revenues. The philosophy behind help desk outsourcing is simple - excel in your core operations and leave the help desk or non-core processes to outsource providers.
"America's pain, India's gain" - The Economist. This statement is not only an unjust perception of outsourcing, but goes against the very basis of globalization on which the United States was founded. Moving help desk operations from developed countries like America to developing nations like India has many benefits. Outsourcing allows an American company to slash its costs by over seventy percent in a lower-wage country. This implies while India gains thirty percent for taking most of the "pain", the remaining profits are captured by the U.S. in terms of new revenues i.e. more gain, than pain.
In U.S. support per workstation can average several thousand dollars per month. Instead of pumping in more money for enhancing support, many companies consider outsourcing as a viable alterative to increase staff. Help desk outsourcing not only eliminate the headaches involved with support, but also improve effectiveness and response time through proper utilization of highly trained workforce.
However, before outsourcing, the company needs to develop a plan, select the right supplier and maintain an active liaison to monitor how the provider handles the support functions. By designation, the help desk provides front-line support for customer problems, making it indispensable that the supplier be one with a clear understanding of the requirements and expectations, and should be highly customer-centric. The risks associated with help desk outsourcing include maintaining the service quality and security issues. Therefore, service level agreements or SLAs are of particular importance, when outsourcing help desk operations.
All the backlash and political rhetoric has little effect on outsourcing, as companies will continue to look at outsourcing as the only feasible way to expand business, while controlling costs. IBM taking over Daksh, one of India's largest outsource-providers, for an estimated US $175 million, cements this fact.
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