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. Entering into a help desk outsourcing agreement which does not spell out exactly what level of performance is expected, and what the consequences will be if it is not met, can be a very costly mistake.

Add to that the security risks involved in help desk outsourcing, and the necessity for SLAs, or service level agreements, between a company and its help desk outsourcing provider seems clear.