The Technologist Newsletter
Volume 6
Issue 2
2015

T echnology Advice for Accounting Professionals from AccSys Solutions

 

 

BenefitsBenefits of Outsourcing Your IT Help Desk Support 


 

As your business grows, sales revenue and IT resources grow with it.  Your internal IT personnel need time to perform server maintenance, upgrades and new system installations. If IT personnel are constantly interrupted, they can't provide the necessary support for critical systems. But did you know you can outsource your help desk to provide fast, affordable support for both customers and internal staff?

 

Faster Response

Whether you are providing internal IT support or technical support for customers, you need fast response times to keep all of your users happy. With outsourced help desk support, you can provide a central phone number for users to call for quick response times. If additional support is needed, the help desk can then call your in-house administrator(s) to fix more critical issues. The user gets a quick response for technical issues and your IT personnel are only alerted if more critical issues are found.

 

Reduced, Fixed Cost

It costs big money to hire staff, pay benefits and create working space for new personnel. Outsourced IT charges a flat rate to support your infrastructure. You also avoid the cost of sick days, vacation and paid time off. You also have a help desk that is available around-the-clock, so you don't have to pay overtime or increased fees for extended employee hours. Most businesses have a technology budget that fits current sales revenue. Outsourced help desk resources also let you scale these costs with current revenue trends even when these trends are seasonal.


 
Expert IT Support Knowledge

Outsourced help desk support usually has a variety of personnel with several different skill sets. Many businesses need someone to address late-night staff issues. The help desk specialist can assist in helping the user set up a printer, fix a login problem or change a limited amount of system settings.

 

Your outsourced help desk can also provide you with a list of issues and phone calls handled throughout the month, so IT managers can identify common issues, and make systems more efficient in the future.


 

Cost, convenience and expertise are the three main benefits you get with an outsourced IT help desk. You can also get detailed reports that help you determine which areas of your network and infrastructure fail the most, or need upgrading. Outsourced resources let your staff manage more critical issues and hardware, so they aren't interrupted constantly by minor system installations and issues. Overall, the benefits far outweigh the cost when outsourcing your help desk.

 

As accounting software technology specialists, we don't provide outsourced IT services. In fact, we outsource our own IT support, because it just makes so much sense, and we have found providers we can really rely on. If you are looking for a referral, please give us a call. We are here to help you improve your business operations in any way we can.


Email  douglas@accsyssolutions.com, or call 1.888.534.4344 to get in touch.


tips The Techno Tips
Outlook Keyboard Shortcuts
Like Microsoft Word, Excel, and other Office apps, Outlook has keyboard shortcuts so you don't have to waste time moving your mouse around or drilling down through menus. Learn the ones you use most and you'll speed through your Outlook tasks. Among the most useful:
  • Ctrl+R: reply to email
  • Alt+R: reply to all in email or switch to the work week calendar view
  • Alt+W: forward email or switch to the weekly calendar view
  • Ctrl+M: F9 to Send/Receive all
  • Alt+S: Send email
  • Ctrl+G: open the "Go to date" dialog to jump to any date in the calendar
     

Using a Special "Inbox - CC" Folder In Outlook

Get emails that aren't sent directly to you out of your inbox, by using a special "Inbox - CC" folder to gather all the emails that aren't sent directly to you; that way, the inbox is focused on only the most important emails. To set this up, go to Rules > New Rules.... Then click the "Advanced Options" button. In the Rules Wizard, select "where my name is not in the To box" and then in the next screen, "move it to the specified folder." (Alternatively, set up a VIP email folder and move "emails sent only to me" into that special folder.) 

 

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