How To Find The Best IT Help Desk For Your SMB

Posted by Stephanie Snyder on June 7th, 2021

In today's computerized world, every business relies on state-of-the-art technology to help them meet consumer demand more efficiently. Since everyone on your staff isn't skilled in computer programming, this means you will need to have access to technicians who can help resolve technical problems.

Instead of keeping IT professionals on staff, you can meet this need more efficiently using an IT help desk service. This guide can help you hire the best IT help desk to meet your business needs.

Establish a Spending Budget

The first thing to consider in retaining an IT help desk service for your business is how much you're willing to spend. While there are services to fit every budgetary limit, finding one that fits your budget can be challenging due to how these services are billed. To begin, some companies charge every month while others charge a one-time annual rate.

Additionally, many charges on a per-agent basis and charge for the number of users the agents will be asked to serve. This can work in your favor when you use a company that offers free service for up to three agents and under 100 users. Exploring how each company charges can help you find some great money-saving options for your small business.

Decide Between In-House or Virtual

Another factor to consider is the type of service you want to utilize. There are several reasons you might wish to help in-house IT desk support for your business, including having access to allow for any problem that might arise. If you experience an issue with connectivity or cybersecurity, it may not be possible or preferable to discuss your situation over a virtual connection. 

Additionally, getting help over an internet connection may put your business' sensitive data at a greater risk as you work with your IT help desk service to resolve the problem. Alternatively, a virtual helpline can save you time and helps you avoid the practical issue of finding extra space for additional personnel in your office.

Ticket Management Efficiency

When considering the efficiency of the IT help desk service you use, it's a good idea to take advantage of free trials. This will help you see how quickly the help desk addresses your needs. Each problem will be assigned a ticket to create an order in which clients are serviced, so you'll want to ensure the tickets are processed within a reasonable time frame. For instance, if you find that api-ms-win-crt-runtime-l1-1-0.dll missing from your system, you'll want to trust that your request for help will be processed in an efficient amount of time.

If your request for help is delayed or forgotten, this could result in downtime for your office. Evaluating efficiency before committing to an IT help desk service will help you avoid that situation.

Look For an Extensive Knowledge Base

In many situations, an employee may only need a quick answer to a question, and they may not want to create a ticket just to get that information. For that reason, you should inquire about the knowledge database that each service offers to help you determine who offers the most extensive database. 

This can help your employees resolve issues quickly themselves without spending time waiting for a ticket to be processed. They can simply research the topic related to their question and access the information they need without assistance.

Collaboration Transparency

One other consideration is that of how the help desk team collaborates. If you have an employee who calls for help about an issue and that same issue later emerges again, you'll want to ensure they can get the most efficient service possible. 

This means ensuring the second agent can access the file to see what solutions the employee tried with the previous agent. This will save time by skipping those first few steps to dive right into more complex or comprehensive solutions.

While finding the right IT help desk for your business is time-consuming, it's not something you want to take lightly. Spending more time to evaluate the expertise and services that a third-party service offers can help you get more for the money you spend on retaining that service. This will help you to better meet your IT needs without overspending on your operating budget.