With all the IT & MSP help desk software options available today, it’s no wonder business owners struggle to determine exactly how much they should spend on their help desk software solution. How much should a good service desk software cost?
How much you spend on customer support software will largely depend on what type of software you need to do the job, how big your company is, and the complexity of the problems you are solving. At the same time, choosing a help desk solution that is perfect for your business and allows it to grow is important.
Each approach has pros and cons, so let's explore exactly how much you should be spending based on your business needs.
Different Types of Help Desk Billing Methods
When it comes to the price of a help desk software solution, it mostly depends on a couple of factors:
1. The number of customer service agents you have
2. The number of features you need
The good thing about your help desk is that it helps you generate profit by ensuring your customers are happy. However, in and of itself, your help desk doesn’t turn a profit for your business. So in order to make the most of the software you use, you need to find ways to minimize costs without minimizing the level of service you provide.
Many popular IT help desk options have free options. For example, SherpaDesk works on a “per agent” pricing model, and your first agent is completely free.
You pay more when you add more agents, and you also pay more for added features. This means smaller teams aren’t paying the same as larger teams, especially when they probably don’t need all the bells and whistles. It also means there is room for smaller teams to grow when needed.
When evaluating the variety of available help desk software options in the market, think about the types of services you want to offer.
Do you want to offer real-time solutions such as on-page live chat? Or just email? Note that options like live chat, especially voice-activated live chat, are more expensive and require you to have service agents online and be ready to talk on a set schedule.
You should also look into how complex the usual help desk issues you handle are and how many requests you receive on a monthly/daily basis.
When you are evaluating the cost of a specific help desk software, it’s important to remember that the ultimate goal of your help desk is to support your business and help it grow, so keep that at the forefront of your mind when making your decision.
How Can You Reduce The Cost Of Your IT Helpdesk?
Most organizations are under pressure to reduce operating costs or keep them flat while growing the business (help desk cost as a percentage of IT operational costs has decreased from about 8% in 2004 to 4%-5% now).
But where many businesses go wrong is when they reduce operating costs while also reducing the quality of their service.
Creating Knowledgebase Content to
Reduce Overall Service Desk Costs
One of the easiest ways to reduce your customer support costs without reducing the level of service offered is to keep track of frequently asked questions via a Knowledgebase. When you track your customers' issues, you’re likely to notice a few specific questions that crop up often.
Depending on the complexity of these issues, consider whether you can create support documentation that lives in a knowledgebase in order to enable customers with these specific issues to help themselves. This way, they won’t need to contact your help desk to ask the questions in the first place.
If you find this is the case for you, make sure the information is easily accessed. You might consider adding it to the feature/product page or perhaps even creating a self-help portal that addresses many of the most common issues a customer might face.
Doing this frees up your time for support agents to focus on more complex issues. Failing that, have a list of the most common issues your support team faces that can easily be sent to customers.
For example, if someone gets in touch via your live chat software with a common issue you know can be solved easily through the self-help FAQ portal, you can send them a pre-written response, sending them to a relevant place on your site where they can sort out their issue.
If you choose to take this approach, make sure that your documentation is as detailed as possible. You don’t want to anger a customer by making them go through your knowledgebase articles only to find they still have issues at the end of it.
Creating pre-written support documentation isn’t a way to get out of interacting with customers, but a way to provide them with the support they need without taking up too much of your techs' time.
Sometimes You Can Save Your Business
Money by Paying More
It seems like a fallacy to suggest that by spending more, you’ll save more, but when it comes to running a customer support help desk, that’s often the case.
Think about it: your customer support team is talented and often has to wear many hats. One day they might be working their way through support tickets. Another day they might be adding new documentation to the knowledgebase, or perhaps they’re liaising with the product team to improve the overall product based on customer queries.
What we’re getting at here is that if weak support systems bog down your team, they’ll spend more time receiving, tracking, and organizing tickets as opposed to actually resolving them.
Your entire helpdesk solution is there to help your business simplify the act of supporting your customers.
So when looking at building an IT helpdesk team, consider the features you'll need before you think about the cost. Look at which IT helpdesk software allows you to automate many processes, therefore freeing up time for your team to handle more complex issues.
So How Much Should You Pay
For Your Service Desk Software?
In short, you get out what you put in; the same goes for a good service desk. When it comes to costs, think strategically about what features you’ll need and how many active support team members you’ll have in order to decipher what you should be paying.
A good service desk saves your business time. In most cases, time = money. So if your help desk saves your team more time, you’re doing okay. Having good customer support in place is beneficial for your bottom line, as customers end up spending 20% to 40% more with responsive companies. It's also a big plus if you can include social media responses within your help desk, as when customers were asked to name items that are important for overall customer satisfaction, 82% named a service desk, and 45% named desktop support.
How much are you spending on your IT help desk today? If you want to look further into how Sherpadesk can help you reduce costs while making your IT help desk team more efficient, check out our features and prices here.
comments