Impact’s Managed IT Help Desk: Everything You Need to Know

What Is a Managed IT Help Desk and Why Do You Need One?

A managed IT help desk is your single point of contact to remediate an urgent IT need.

When you partner with a managed service provider, they will likely offer a remote monitoring and management (RMM) solution to keep your IT operations running smoothly.

An RMM is designed to catch issues before they ever affect the end user, but sometimes problems slip through the gaps, and this is where the help desk steps in.

At Impact, we make every effort to function as part of a client’s existing internal IT team.

This generally means that we get the same kinds of requests that any traditional IT team would receive.

The IT Help Desk Process

One of the primary reasons for hesitation among decision makers in partnering with a managed service provider is, unsurprisingly, not having an internal member of staff in the office to address IT-related issues.

Quality MSPs are very familiar with this concern, which is why they will provide a service which is equal to, if not better, than a typical in-house IT support professional.

Here’s a walkthrough of the typical process for getting support from your partner’s help desk.

Communication

When an issue is identified, you naturally want it to be resolved as quickly as possible.

This means that if you cannot communicate with your partner in a timely manner, then the service simply is not good enough.

To accommodate these needs, you should have access to several channels of communication and the ability to talk to help desk staff (not a robot) as soon as possible.

With our service, clients typically prefer to email or phone, while our chatbot provides a further avenue of communication to resolve the problem. We have 120 support experts who hold over 200 active certifications for all of our solutions and technologies. In short, there’s nothing that our support can’t cover.

We also implement a clickable icon for all clients we onboard. This icon acts as an instant way to retrieve all the necessary system information you need to send to the managed IT team.

Ticketing

Once an email has been received, a ticket is automatically generated by our ticketing system.

A support engineer will take ownership of the ticket and get to work immediately. An email will be sent to the client notifying them that their request has been received and provide them with a unique number for tracking.

Once the support engineer has reviewed the request, they will reach out to the client on their preferred communication channel and discuss next steps.

If remote access for a specific machine is necessary, the support engineer will ask for contact info and the best time to reach out.

When a client calls for support, they will be met by one of our staff. We never connect our clients with an automated machine, only a member of our MIT support team.

They will ask about some basic information and confirm the correct contact info has been entered and note a description of the problem, after which they will work towards fixing the issue as quickly as possible.

Resolution

The vast majority of problems can be resolved during this first contact. This will be either over the phone or through remote assistance.

A very minor amount of problems cannot be resolved during the first stage. This is because in these situations, on-site assistance is required from one of our network engineers.

In a situation that requires an engineer on-site, the support engineer will coordinate with the network engineer to arrange a visit, documenting every step up until that point before handing it off.

Benefits of Outsourcing Your IT Help Desk

• Costs: One of the primary benefits of outsourcing is saving on unnecessary expenses. The salaries of full-time, internal IT support staff can add up pretty quick.
• Efficiency: MSPs are often hired by SMBs because they simplify the network maintenance of the organization and allow existing IT staff to work on business-related projects. The help desk aspect of a managed IT provider is central to this—instead of internal IT personnel putting out fires, your partner can take care of it for you.
• Working hours: Many MSPs will offer a 24/7 help desk to support their clients. For businesses with in-house staff, they will be more accustomed to 9am-5pm support during the working week.
• Availability: Small and midsize businesses with internal teams often have small rosters of IT support, many with just one member of staff supporting IT needs. This leads to overwhelmed IT and staff members who have to wait their turn before being helped.
• Specialization: A quality MSP will be properly certified for all the solutions they use. With a wealth of talent who specialize in virtually every aspect of technology across the board. For small, in-house teams, attaining the same level knowledge and certification is difficult.

Benefits of Keeping Your IT Help Desk In-House

• Familiarity: The chief advantage of keeping your help desk in-house is that your internal IT will have a member of staff who is familiar with the workings of your IT, which can be big advantage.
• Necessity: For small enterprises that do not have a large staff, the need for IT support might be limited. In these cases, it can make more financial sense to keep your support in-house and keep expenditures to a minimum.
• Building a team: If your IT team is small or even non-existent, it can make sense to hire IT support in-house for your business. If there is sufficient growth in your company, you can then expand your team or outsource your support and give allow them to take on more business-related projects.

Takeaways

• Outsourced help desks are best suited to SMBs that need extensive support without the added expenditures of hiring more in-house IT
• The resolution process from your managed services partner should be designed from the ground up to be equal to or faster than traditional in-house support
• Be sure that if you’re using an outsourced IT help desk, your partner has taken every measure to ensure your experience is acceptable to you as a client

Impact’s support help desk is built to meet client problems as quickly as possible. Every customer who calls or emails our support team is our top priority. Our 120-strong support experts hold over 200 active certifications—if there’s a problem, we have the depth of knowledge and manpower to fix it. Check out our support offering, FAQs, and awards and certifications here.