Outsourced service desk: benefits, costs and contracting considerations
The service desk is the central contact point between users and IT services. It records incidents, fulfills requests, guides employees, tracks deadlines and connects the teams responsible for resolution. When it works well, it reduces disruption and produces valuable information about issues that affect the operation.
Outsourcing can expand coverage and expertise while making costs more predictable, but it does not automatically fix poorly defined processes. To deliver results, the agreement must reflect the company’s users, applications and business-critical services.
When should an external partner be considered?
- Ticket volumes fluctuate and the internal team cannot keep up;
- Users need assistance outside regular business hours;
- There are no consistent rules for recording, prioritizing or escalating work;
- Specialists spend too much time on repetitive requests;
- The company is growing, opening branches or supporting hybrid work;
- Reliable service and satisfaction metrics are unavailable.
A shared model is also possible. The provider handles first-level support, standardized requests and demand peaks, while the internal team retains specialized applications, architecture and strategic decisions.
Define exactly what will be supported
The scope should specify users, locations, languages, hours, channels, devices, systems and request types. Incidents, service requests, problems and changes must be distinguished. A locked password requires a different process from a company-wide outage or a change to a critical system.
A service catalog provides this structure. It explains what users may request, which information they must provide, who approves the work and the expected completion time. Simple recurring requests can be standardized or automated.
SLAs should represent the user experience
Measuring only the time to first response can create good-looking reports without solving the problem. Metrics should include resolution time, first-contact resolution, reopen rate, abandonment, satisfaction, SLA performance by priority and recurring demand.
Priority must combine impact and urgency. An issue affecting one employee is not equivalent to a failure that stops an entire department. The contract should also explain service hours, paused timers, customer dependencies and escalation rules.
Knowledge and security are essential
Before transition, the environment, contacts, procedures, access and frequent solutions need to be documented. The knowledge base should be maintained throughout the agreement and remain available to the company. Otherwise, service quality depends on individual memory.
Support professionals may reset passwords, install software and access devices. The provider should therefore use multifactor authentication, least privilege, activity logs, customer segregation, confidentiality and secure onboarding and offboarding processes.
What should be compared beyond price?
- Team experience and the provider’s ability to retain professionals;
- Coverage, channels, languages and remote or onsite service;
- Ticketing platform, integrations, portal and automation;
- SLAs, metrics, governance meetings and continual improvement;
- Security, auditing, privacy and access management;
- Transition, continuity and knowledge-return plans;
- Pricing model and handling of extraordinary demand.
Outsource execution, retain governance
Accountability does not disappear when execution is outsourced. The company should keep an internal service owner who reviews metrics, prioritizes improvements and monitors the user experience.
How CSP can help
CSP can design and operate a service desk aligned with users, applications and business priorities, supported by a service catalog, SLAs, security, escalation paths and metrics. Contact CSP to assess your current support model and design an outsourced operation that improves productivity.
