Still, helpdesks are unquestionably a cost center, not a core competency. In a climate where streamlining and budget squeezing are second nature, investigating the potential savings of outsourcing the helpdesk is natural.
Such an undertaking, however, is not a casual affair. The helpdesk is an enterprise's first and closest line of defense against computer and network outages. It can win customers and endear employees with prompt responses to inquiries and high quality of service. Furthermore, the helpdesk can provide the enterprise with a capacity to learn and integrate new technologies into the business.
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How It Works
Helpdesk services -- whether in-house or outsourced -- are layered in tiers. Users call Tier 1 to report a network, computer or application problem. This tier generates a report or incident describing the problem, notes the user's or node's location, and engages in initial troubleshooting over the phone. Staff members on Tier 1 have a general working knowledge of the enterprise's network, hardware and applications. If the incident is not resolved over the phone in a reasonable amount of time, the incident is escalated to Tier 2, where staff is capable of resolving more complex hardware and software problems. If necessary, Tier 2 staff will visit the desktop to resolve the problem. If the problem is hardware-related and under warranty or maintenance, those staff members may call for vendor support. If the problem is beyond the scope of the desktop and Tier 2, networking experts are available at Tier 3.
Enterprise helpdesks use automated call-distribution systems and specialized software, such as Remedy Corp.'s Help Desk, to help create, route, escalate and resolve incidents. In addition, helpdesk packages can provide inventory control, software distribution, remote control and self-healing technology for installed applications. These tools can be made available to users from a Web browser. Overlooking these benefits is easy when the helpdesk-budget line items -- hardware infrastructure, software applications, and personnel salaries, benefits and training -- are so costly.
To reduce costs and improve quality, many enterprises purchase computers with preinstalled operating systems and applications. The vendors are responsible for computer hardware under warranty. Thereafter, computers are placed under a maintenance contract from a local provider for the computer's life cycle, which ends when the support cost is no longer justified. Service levels for hardware and peripherals are usually determined by business criticality (for example, 24x7x365) and formalized in an agreement. The enterprise supplies an inventory to the provider that services and maintains the computers, peripherals and component parts on a fee-per-piece level. This model for outsourcing has been used for other IT support areas, including the helpdesk.
To cut costs and improve quality even more, some enterprises outsource helpdesk services to MSPs (management service providers), such as Computer Sciences Corp., Electronic Data Systems Corp. (EDS) and IBM Global Services. Still others outsource only portions of the helpdesk, such as hardware and peripheral support, that may be costly and time-consuming to support in-house.
Supply Versus Demand
The growth in the services segment should come as no surprise. After all, IT spending is on the rise, and the demand for helpdesk services is greater than ever, but the industry is facing a severe shortage of workers. Consider this statistic from the Department of Commerce's Office of Technology Policy: Information technology will suffer a shortage of 95,000 workers per year through 2005. Even more drastically, a recent study by the Meta Group found 400,000 IT job vacancies in 1999, growing at 25 percent per year. The Meta Group expects the figure to go to 1.2 million vacant IT jobs by 2005.
Cahners In-Stat Group, meanwhile, says IT spending on Internet-related activities in 2000 reached roughly $49 billion, or 15 percent of the total IT budget. By 2004, this market's expenditures are expected to rise nearly double to $110 billion, or 26 percent of total IT spending, according to Cahners (see "Total Spending on Internet Infrastructure"). With spending for Internet initiatives hardening and the economy softening, other areas of IT -- such as the helpdesk -- are likely to suffer from shrinking budgets.
Cahners In-Stat Group predicts the enterprise will increase spending on internal infrastructure in communications and software but will turn to MSPs for top-of-the-line hosting and management/monitoring services. Meanwhile, The Yankee Group predicts that these managed services will continue to grow and become a $4.5 billion market by 2002. Focusing on technical support, the Gartner Group predicts the overall market for outsourced technical support will grow to $139 billion in 2003.
Let's face it: A hot market for IT workers is a bear for the enterprise. Where there are many opportunities for employment, it becomes more difficult to hire and retain IT workers, especially in areas with many technology companies, such as Boston, Los Angeles and Silicon Valley. In these locations, outsourcing the helpdesk has appeal because support staff is not on the spectrum of "hot jobs." Typically, helpdesk staffers spend more than 80 percent of their time on phone duty; when off the phone, many are required to research and work on problem resolution. Even if support staff found time for training, enterprises lack organized training programs for the helpdesk, where career goals are ill-defined, even vacuous.
In light of scarce IT resources, enterprises with e-business initiatives looking to Web-enable their businesses need to scrutinize IT resources at home and investigate outsourcing. By outsourcing the helpdesk, you can turn the lost volume of work "fixing" things at the helpdesk into "building" things on the Web with guidance and training. Granted, difficult personnel decisions will accompany any decision to outsource. From a business-resource perspective, IT staff already on payroll can be diverted to business initiatives without hiring.
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