Beyond personnel issues, it doesn't take a consultant to predict that helpdesk incidents and their costs will continue increasing. First, consider the growing complexity of network infrastructure in the enterprise. Client/server technology has grown into small cities with expansive directories, data centers, firewalls and edge caching devices. Next, consider the difficulty of installing, configuring, supporting and updating shrink-wrapped and custom applications for end users and customers. Last, add up the personnel costs in the time necessary to resolve incidents, along with salaries, benefits and training.

The top three reasons identified by the Help Desk Institute for increased calls and call length were changes, upgrades, conversions and installations; more customers; and newer, more complex technologies.

If you have not seen an increase in support costs over the years, either you don't use technology to its fullest capabilities or you don't know your support costs. If you fall in the latter group, you're not alone. The Help Desk Institute found that 54 percent of 1,042 respondents did not know the average cost of a service request. This figure suggests that respondents perceive the helpdesk as a cost center, and not a business resource.

Whether your helpdesk is a cost center or you generate funds from services provided, your users are most likely demanding more and better services; they don't care about shrinking budgets and vanishing personnel. After fending off Y2K problems, you now support or pursue e-business initiatives without respite. Outsourcing helpdesk services will secure a consistent, trained work force to handle high volume and recurring incidents; this will free up IT resources for business initiatives.

Managing Relationships

Outsourcing the helpdesk presents challenges. For one thing, you're transferring ownership and aspects of control from your enterprise to a service provider; hands-on ownership and control of the helpdesk extends to arm's length in a contract where managing the relationship is tantamount to providing support services.

If you perceive the helpdesk as a problem to off-load to the lowest bidder, you are simply moving the problem and undermining your management tasks. Rather, you should perceive the helpdesk as a business process and treat outsourcing as a business strategy with a strategic partner (see MIT Sloan Management Review, "Leading Laterally in Company Outsourcing," at mitsloan.mit.edu/smr/past/2000/smr4122.html). Consider the level and quality of services desired, your business objectives, and the performance metrics to monitor progress. Knowing the costs of doing business at the helpdesk is a prerequisite to outsourcing.

Determining helpdesk costs involves tracking numerous statistics over a period that ensures solid numeric averages -- for example, average response time, time to resolution and so on. We suggest you have statistics for at least six to 12 months on the number of calls, their duration and the average time to resolution. If your ACD (automatic call distribution) supports it, the average number of calls in the hold queue and the volume of calls lost in that queue are important in generating SLAs (service-level agreements). Most important, the number of resolved incidents vis-à-vis reported incidents gives you a baseline to monitor the success of a service provider to support end users. These numbers will provide a basis to compare the offerings of prospective service providers.

Where the customer is king, service orientation provides a court. Any business partner that offers helpdesk services should provide an equal or better face to the customer or end user than your own staff can. Look for service providers with qualified, even certified staff that requires some level of continuing education. And every provider should allow a trial period to test the quality of customer service. Look for skills in listening and questioning, along with troubleshooting and analytical skills in resolving problems. Also, some degree of customer self-help should be available from a knowledge base (see "The Bases of Knowledge Management"), FAQs or user forums.

Enterprise management should determine clear objectives for the helpdesk "process" and detail proper service levels for partners to enable specific outcomes. Clear objectives and service levels will help service providers meet your needs and achieve the desired results. And, where ownership is transferred without ultimate responsibility, accountability must follow.

Management must monitor the quality of service provided, checking regular reports on helpdesk statistics such as incidents created, response times, call durations and the average mean time to incident resolution. Service providers should offer customizable reports on a regular basis. These statistics, over time, will show historical trends and enable managers to analyze and provide direction to the service provider. And the service provider should be willing to meet with the enterprise and discuss these reports on a regular basis. The reports should be available on the Web, in real time.

At a minimum, agreements with service providers to outsource the helpdesk should specify service levels and end results, and detail performance metrics. They should provide incentives to achieve results and stipulate penalty clauses for nonperformance. In addition, negotiating the ability to change the scope and levels of service at regular intervals will mitigate the risks of technology change and enable long-term, meaningful relationships with partners. Signing the contract is only the beginning; managing the relationship will bring a new focus on the helpdesk: from the inside to the outside.

Inside, Out

Helpdesk services have intricate, Siamese relationships with the network architecture and end users. Taking these services from the inside to the outside will involve economics, politics and technology. As a CIO, you will have to view the rising incidents and costs of your helpdesk, keeping in mind your available budget and IT resources, to determine your outsourcing strategy. You will also need to consider the "lost volume" of work devoted to fixing rather than building and integrating technology with the business.

We sent an RFI (request for information) to potential service providers to look for the next-generation helpdesk (see "Helpdesk Heroes"). The RFI looked at a fictitious enterprise helpdesk with rising incidents and costs facing staff shortages and looming Internet business initiatives. The results of our RFI show that helpdesk services can be bundled into large packages aimed at providing an entire solution for IT support. Enter the MSP. Although comprehensive, the MSP model can be flexible enough to scale its offerings in granular services to meet the needs and the budget of small to large enterprises.

The RFI also affirmed an old maxim: "Good things come in small packages." Offering less than the full-service model, application service providers have Web-enabled a subset of helpdesk services supporting call centers and spinning self-help services with knowledge bases, chat forums and e-mail. These providers reduce helpdesk costs and carve their own niche as a next-generation helpdesk (see "ASPs: Help From Afar").