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.

In an outsourced environment, 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. The vendor enables the client organization to focus on the results, providing regular detailed reports on pre-established metrics, which may include time until call is answered by a human agent, time to resolve problem, abandonment rate, overall system availability, and overall customer satisfaction.

Working together with the client organization, the help desk vendor controls the support environment. Specific metrics are critical - for example, stating that the help desk must answer calls in 30 to 60 seconds, and that 80 percent of incidents must be resolved on first contact, so that actual performance can be tracked against goals.

Driven to resolve problems even before they occur, an effective help desk partner should engage in proactive problem analysis, such as tracking equipment that needs replacement, monitoring potential software incompatibility problems, and identifying users in need of additional training.