The first article of this series on IT outsourcing in the financial services industry focused on negotiating the outsourcing deal with the supplier. In this article, I'll describe a Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) initiative that yielded positive results for help desk functions at a large investment services company.

One of the key elements for a successful outsourced relationship, said Ciccolini, is for an open exchange of knowledge. "Documentation is critical. Clients have to be willing to transfer technology, down to its deepest levels. Supporting custom applications is one of our core strengths. For SEI, or any outsourced solution, to be able to provide high-level support, we need to internalize the knowledge base." Ciccolini stressed that when companies have clearly outlined their goals-reduced IT costs, higher levels of service, etc.-it's much easier for a service provider like SEI to step in and create a plan for realizing those goals. The relationship works best, he said, when both companies understand that an outsourced relationship is really an intimate partnership.

Business are always looking for ways to improve their bottom lines, and one of the latest cost-cutting methods to find favor is help desk outsourcing. Help desk outsourcing allows a company struggling with diminishing revenues streams to streamline by focusing on the improvement of its core business operations and letting outsource providers handle the peripheral ones.

A US company can spend several thousands of dollars each month simply to maintain each of its workstations; and instead of pouring more money into this sort of help desk workstation maintenance, companies have turned to help desk outsourcing as a way to bolster their staffs without the accompanying maintenance costs. The big advantage of help desk outsourcing is that it removes the effort involved in work station support. But it also raises the company's level of help desk performance, by employing a well-prepared workforce who are both effective and quick in completing their tasks.

Because the help desk is the public face of a company, interacting directly with its customers, the help desk outsource team has to be conscious at all times of what is required, and keep the customers' interests as their priorities.

Does it pay to outsource? According to some, it does. Vendors and others who make their living by outsourcing claim that internal IT is dead. After all, you can outsource your help desk, site hosting, applications, and even your network and data center itself. What's more, it may be simpler and cheaper to do so. But outsourcing does have it benefits. Although it won't save you money, it will improve efficiency. "We typically find that an internal help desk only resolves 50% to 60% of calls, but the external desk is close to 70% or 80%," says Matlus.

The primary goal of help desk outsourcing is to reduce long-term help desk costs by utilizing a vendor that spreads these costs across multiple companies. This, in turn, enables the organization to improve employee satisfaction levels, increase the number of incidents that can be resolved on the first call, decrease the turnaround time from initial call to resolution, and improve off-hours access to assistance. the help desk vendor assumes responsibility for day-to-day operations, while working closely with the client organization to define key improvement objectives and to establish long-term strategic help desk plans. Working together with the client organization, the help desk vendor controls the support environment. Working together with the client organization, the help desk vendor controls the support environment.

outsourcing does have it benefits. Although it won't save you money, it will improve efficiency. "We typically find that an internal help desk only resolves 50% to 60% of calls, but the external desk is close to 70% or 80%," says Matlus. If you haven't built the right self-help tools, knowledge base, and problem tracking system, then an outsourced help desk could be a boon.

Now that you have a clearer understanding of the concept of outsourcing, you might wonder why companies would go to the trouble of outsourcing certain tasks. Outsourcing is popular because there are a great deal of benefits to the companies who outsource the work. Some of the benefits include: * Reduced labor costs * Increased workforce * Greater flexibility

There has been much debate in the last few years over having to outsource help desk customer service jobs to countries like India. While this boost in jobs has been profitable to India, there are concerns that people who need help are not getting the answers that they need. There are several reasons for these doubts. Many companies have outsourced all types of outsource help desk positions which include jobs in the banking, electronics, credit card, and manufacturing industries. These are industries that rely on quality customer service in order to stay profitable.