IT Outsourcing Archives

Microsoft Support and How It Relates to IT Managed Services

Written on June 24, 2019. Posted in Blog, IT Outsourcing. Leave a Comment

By choosing to outsource your IT management, you’re able to free up space for your in-house managers to dedicate their time on tasks that will grow your enterprise. Nearly all businesses are now opting to hire management services to further their company. Though, in order to harness the benefits of outsourcing, it’s imperative to find an IT managed service that aligns with your business standards, mission, and quality.

What are managed services?

Managed services is the practice of outsourcing tasks within your business to improve operations. Managed services have been used by enterprises since the beginning of the tech market. Originally, companies would choose outsourcing their services to gain access to the Internet and to rent server space so their business applications, such as their company website, could have a POP (point of presence) on the Internet. Since then, managed services have evolved to encompass every business tasks, from managing the hardware, operating system or applications on the server to overseeing business-to-business integrations and operations; from planning and processing transportation to marketing; from account management to customer service, and more. Managed services provide a vast array of solutions to relieve businesses of day-to-day operations that can be done off-site.

What are the benefits of managed services?

Outsourcing managed services enables your team members to invest their time focusing on the tasks that require their direct attention. It allows a third-party service to handle daily tasks, such as account management and customer service, without taking valuable team members away from the duties that are imperative to ensuring optimal day-to-day operations.

When you allow managed services to carry out certain responsibilities, your enterprise is able to advance as a result of the following benefits:

Prioritize support with the fastest response times for communication with your customers
Generate new business opportunities
Increase technical readiness
Solve complex IT challenges
Minimize downtime with in-depth support services
Increase productivity and performance
Reduce operational costs
Optimize processes, automation and workflow by removing unnecessary manual effort

Managed Services with Microsoft Support

Microsoft Support via help desk is a leading managed service that offers flexible support across all Microsoft technologies. Utilizing helpdesk and operational services frees up your staff of mundane daily tasks, such as responding to emails requesting a new password or answering phone calls where a customer needs help navigating the website. This allows them to devote their expertise to business operations that require their skillset, business operations that you hired specific people to oversee due to their experience. The services available provide you with a support plan that delivers superior services to your customers.

Additionally, Microsoft offers SharePoint Helpdesk App for businesses running O365. SharePoint can be used by both internal departments for communication with customers. It’s entirely supported on the hosted app to ensure your data never leaves your Office 365 tenant, which offers optimal security and protection of your business’ most valuable information. Integration is made easy with the Active Directory, and the app is compatible with all browsers and is fully integrated with services such as Skype, Yammer, MS Teams, MS Dynamics and more.

What are the benefits of Microsoft Support Services?

Microsoft Support includes premium services tailored to your business needs to maximize revenue and prioritize customer value. It enables a collaborative workspace that allows team members to work collectively to provide premium service. Tasks are able to be completed faster and with fewer distractions to your in-house IT operations due to the unique advantages of using Microsoft Support specifically:

Dedicated support with hands-on assistance
Training tailored to your business needs
Training courses available on a variety of topics
Flexible support across all Microsoft technologies
An assigned account manager and escalation management services
Self-service portable*
Create teams specific to specialty, department, location, etc.*
Collects complaints from social media channels and creates tickets for them*
Transform phone calls from customers and employees into tickets*
Routing algorithm to ensure tickets go to the correct team*
Adds closed tickets to a knowledge base for future reference*
Reporting*

* Services available with Sharepoint

Whether you are migrating, updating or planning a new solution for your business, managed services can help you achieve your business goals. Microsoft Support offers superior options that reduce unnecessary workload while maximizing customer support and value.

Why Is IT Outsourcing On The Rise?

Written on September 25, 2017. Posted in IT Outsourcing.

Instead of staffing an entire IT department, many companies are outsourcing these roles. IT outsourcing is on the rise for many reasons most of which are essential to how businesses adapt to the changing market (e.g., moving everything online). So why is IT outsourcing becoming increasingly popular?

Companies are shifting their spending

Organizations of all sizes are moving their spending toward outsourcing IT services in order to keep up with digital demand. The content management and information structures are all online, which requires an expertise that the traditional employee does not have. Yes, we can all use a computer, but when there’s something wrong with the program we’re using, we can’t fix it ourselves. Companies see this issue and are combatting it with additional IT help offsite.

Companies need their own app

In order to be competitive, you need an app. Clients need to be able to access your services when they’re on the go, and an app provides the perfect platform for that. One of the major ways IT outsourcing is happening today is through application development. Hiring an outside developer to create your company’s app gives you access to an IT professional with experience who can work as needed even after the app is created. You can continue to outsource the app developer beyond the launch period so that bugs and kinks can be worked out and updates made ready. Furthermore, as skilled as your IT department may be, you may not have anyone on staff who is well-versed in app development.

From help desk to disaster recovery

Besides app development, IT outsourcing fills the need for a virtual help desk. Service providers are giving companies desktop support, disaster recovery, and data operations on demand. IT professionals can work remotely while being available to assist your staff as necessary. This gives you an opportunity to save money without disrupting the workflow. Something’s wrong with Brad’s computer? Send a ticket to the virtual help desk and Veronica will remotely access the computer and fix the problem. You only pay Veronica for the work she does and Brad’s workflow is only temporarily disrupted. You may be thinking, “Why doesn’t Brad send a ticket to the in-house IT department instead?” The in-house IT department may be busy but Veronica is on-call to perform tasks like this and will get to Brad’s computer issue right away.

Outsourcing your entire IT department may be only a few years away, but don’t change your current IT department just yet. You still need them for now before the transition.