Pro’s and Con’s to Outsourcing Your Helpdesk

Outsourcing vs In-housing is an involved decision which must be based on several factors.

To assist in your decision, we've outlined many of the key decisions and their implications.  We define the terms as follows :

Outsourcing is having an IT company or Haken* company provide and manage a number of IT staff to fulfill a role, such as a Helpdesk.  This means the IT/Haken* company may replace, hire, or change staff as is necessary to meet the requirements of the role.

In-housing is having these staff introduced to you through a recruitment contract, or a yearly contract where the staff remains an employee of the IT/Haken* company, but the employment contract typically has hiring clause based on agreement from all 3 parties.  Then the staff work directly for a designated client manager, who hires them, manages them, and takes responsibility for fulfilling the SLA contract of the role often through a combination of in-house staff and contracted staff.

*Note : "Haken" means temporary staffing in Japanese.  These staffing companies hire staff, and send them out to various companies.  They are often good at supplying staff en-mass, but typically are not specialists in IT or interviewing to uncover specific skills or IT abilities.

If you have any questions about this, or would like a free consultation, please contact us on this email address.

Cost type:
Outsourced helpdesk staff - variable cost
In-house helpdesk staff - fixed cost

Start-up costs:
Outsourced helpdesk staff - low set-up cost
In-house helpdesk staff - high cost for advertising, interviewing, recruiting, and hiring staff

Resource costs:
Outsourced helpdesk staff - costs include outsourcer profit margins and return on investment
In-house helpdesk staff - if company is particularly skilled at recruitment and salary negotiations costs can be minimized

Hiring costs:
Outsourced helpdesk staff - requirement for labour skills is outsourced
In-house helpdesk staff - employer takes on all risks of hiring inappropriate staff

Additional hiring costs:
Outsourced helpdesk staff - covered by outsourcer
In-house helpdesk staff - annual turnover of helpdesk staff averages 35%; so, a team of 3 should budget for 1 new person per year to recruit

Management costs:
Outsourced helpdesk staff - managed services used when skilled resources unavailable
In-house helpdesk staff - skilled management of helpdesk staff required

Timescale costs:
Outsourced helpdesk staff - outsourcer may have staff already, if not, they will have expertise in finding them quickly
In-house helpdesk staff - finding good staff takes time, can delay projects - reducing responsiveness and adding cost

Efficiency:
Outsourced helpdesk staff - using a specialist outsourcer can save money through their economies of scale
In-house helpdesk staff - developing skills in house can increase company responsiveness

Staff retention:
Outsourced helpdesk staff - A specialty employer offers activities and challenges to keep good staff interested and engaged
In-house helpdesk staff - may be unable to offer a career path internally

Risk:
Outsourced helpdesk staff - some risks transferred, cover for absence due to sickness, etc., cover if staff leaves, responsibility for transfer if individual proves to be unsuitable
In-house helpdesk staff - employer takes all risks

Breadth of expertise:
Outsourced helpdesk staff - access to wider skill set across outsource company staff
In-house helpdesk staff - skill set is restricted to those of the employees recruited

Improving and extending skills:
Outsourced helpdesk staff - training can increase the value of an individual to the outsourcer
In-house helpdesk staff - training can increase the value of the individual in the employment market and increase the attraction of other employers

Salary Control:
Outsourced helpdesk staff - ultimately, the decision to pay outsourcer invoice will depend on service delivered
In-house helpdesk staff - salaries must be paid irrespective of the employees workmanship or perceived value of the resulting service

Productivity:
Outsourced helpdesk staff - outsourcer should be incentivising staff to increase productivity and so extend the term of the contract and increase the return on their investment
In-house helpdesk staff - being legally employed by the same organisation can sometimes benefit the working relationship between staff

Core skills or non-core skills:
Outsourced helpdesk staff - employing a specialist supplier makes economic sense if the required skills are special or the cost is lower
In-house helpdesk staff - developing a department can sometimes defocus a business away from its core competencies

If you have any questions about this, or would like a free consultation, please contact us on this email address.