The Power of Managed Services: 3 Advantages of Outsourcing Help Desk Services for Banks and Credit Unions

Like many banks and credit unions, you may have considered outsourcing help desk services in the past. Now, with the ongoing labor shortage impacting the availability of seasoned IT professionals, this option may be more strategic than ever for your organization.

The Value of Outsourced Help Desk Services

Help desk services impact both employee and customer satisfaction. We all know that a customer who is dissatisfied with banking services is likely to leave. So too is the case with employees who are consistently dissatisfied and frustrated with IT support. After too much frustration involved with broken applications or equipment, they may have a reason to leave.

In these times of limited resources, one key imperative of corporations everywhere is retention -- of both employees and key customers. Improving help desk services will have an incremental impact on both priorities.

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Whether your help desk supports business critical enterprise applications for internal departments or business customers using remote deposit capture services or other merchant solutions, you have to find ways to make this function highly available, trusted and efficient. Building a reliable and efficient help desk team can be challenging when you have inadequate staffing, legacy applications and numerous competing projects.

Access to vetted and trusted managed services can give you the flexibility you need to ace strategic priorities while providing the application and hardware support both your customers and internal teams expect.
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Here are three key advantages outsourced help desk services provides.

1. Efficient Services From Trained Technology Experts

A common complaint about help desk services is that the technicians are slow, incompetent and rude. When ticket-handling times are high, end-users get frustrated. When IT personnel don’t have the training and technical know-how to handle an issue, it’s hard for them to project confidence. This lack of confidence in turn impacts the time needed to close a help desk ticket.   

Managed services providers who offer help desk services have to maintain specific service level agreements (SLAs)—with no excuses. As a result, they make it a priority to staff your project with qualified personnel who can quickly and confidently serve your customers’ needs.

For example, a bank or credit union offering remote deposit capture services should make sure that issue resolution is fast and effective. When customers have to make multiple calls to get the help they need, they might seek out another provider.

With IT support that’s contractually obligated to meet certain standards for every help desk ticket, you can be assured that your valued customers are receiving the quality assistance they deserve. A good outsourced service provider will understand the impact of their services on your business. They will staff your project with technicians who have been handling check scanners, software, or general troubleshooting questions for years and have a knowledge base of tricks and tips ready for your customers.

This is the same level of quality that Benchmark white labeled help desk service provides. Our Help Desk prioritizes your customer with impeccable execution and high-quality service delivery.
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Seasoned technicians understand the importance of quickly resolving a problem. A quick resolution gives your customers more time in their day and leaves a positive impression of your bank or credit union. Be rest assured that your customer will feel heard and understood by our technicians. 

​2. Dependable Support Available On-Demand

Help desk services are a unique but necessary function your bank or credit union needs for both internal and external customers. Although these audiences have different needs, the goal should be the same: dependable support that’s available when needed.

Outsourced help desk services give you the power to scale your help desk up or down as needed. For example, during an acquisition, you may not have enough experts to provide application support to the acquired company. Simply by logging into their website and clicking a button, you can augment your staff with trusted resources from your professional services provider.

With these outsourced help desk services, you can ensure existing customers continue to get the quality experiences they expect while you onboard new users. Managed services providers work hard to exceed quality metrics—such as response time, resolution time, and customer satisfaction-- while minimizing aging tickets and transfers from agent to agent.

A good managed service provider offers dashboards so you can easily monitor and assess the performance of your outsourced help desk.

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3. Technicians Trained to Deliver Excellent Customer Experiences

The final but most crucial element of successful outsourced help desk services is the people. High-level support personnel have a great balance of technical and people skills.

When you bring in outsourced help desk support, they become an extension of your team. Everything they do reflects on your bank or credit union. That means you should be careful in selecting an outsourced help desk provider. Look for a partner who carefully selects IT professionals based on their extensive technical knowledge and exceptional customer service skills. 
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They should be excellent trouble shooters and problem solvers. They should also be good with people and able to communicate solutions with care and comfort to nontechnical people. Their goal should be to make every interaction a positive customer experience, making users feel heard and respected.  

​Moving Ahead With Managed Services

At the end of the day, you need help desk services that are reliable, scalable and effective, empowering you to easily navigate today’s—and tomorrow’s—challenges. At Benchmark Technology Group, we can help.
 
​Our help desk professionals have deep knowledge of banking software and technology. They are highly skilled, with deep experience in being that friendly face to your end customer. Plus, they’re available on demand. We work with our customers to provide the flexible arrangements that meet their business needs and we’re committed to growing with them as their needs evolve. 

Contact us to learn more.