In-House vs. Outsourced: Which IT Jobs Belong Where?

Some IT tasks will always require good old-fashioned hands-on care, while others can be managed quite successfully through remote IT helpdesk services. But what do we mean by “helpdesk,” anyway? Which of these jobs should stay in-house, and which should get outsourced? Let’s look at this question.

The term “helpdesk” covers a lot of ground, so IT professionals tend to break it up into four levels of difficulty. These include:

● Level 0 helpdesk - This is the stuff that, while important, doesn’t require human intervention at all. It includes automated functions such as scheduled backups and OS patches. You don’t need an outsourced helpdesk service or your own in-house team to lift a finger; you just set it and forget it.

● Level 1/2 helpdesk - These categories encompass the majority of trouble calls. Here are where most of the basic troubleshooting, password reset requests, ticket routing, and break fixes happen. These problems typically get resolved in the course of a phone call, but the influx of phone calls can get pretty overwhelming. Outsource this!

● Level 3/4 helpdesk - These categories cover things that can’t reasonably be handled at Level 0-2. They range from device support and email/network problems to serious hardware repair and replacement concerns. They also include issues that started as Level 1/2 complaints but then escalated into something trickier. You may find that is it best to keep these jobs in-house.

Levels 3 and 4 can involve a great deal of time and work. You obviously want the bulk of your IT department’s time and attention going to these problems instead of wasting it on L1 or L2 complaints. That’s where Gravity Philippines comes in. We can handle those incoming trouble calls and fix those little issues while you’re doing more important things, from installing clients’ IT systems to streamlining your own internal processes. Contact us today!