Buying the service of an IT help desk is typically based on per-user pricing by (most) businesses, however they do not consider the hidden costs of continuous escalation loops.
As soon as agents at a level one contact center cannot resolve issues, highly paid internal engineers absorb time providing a safety net for companies at a high cost.
This article considers typical marketing claims and provides an actual ranked list of the best tech support companies based on actual performance, certification standards, and resolution rates.
The Costs of Managed IT Services
When a support agreement is poorly structured, the consequences are massive resource depletion. As an example, a typical break-fix model is reactive and completely unpredictable; companies have to pay $100-$200/hr for support only after their networks fail or devices malfunction.
Proactively managed services provide companies with a much safer way to manage costs and ensure systems are up and running. A standard per-user managed plan in the US can be between $50-$150 per month; however, pricing in the UK is between £20-£100 per user.
However, raw pricing is near meaningless without service level agreements. Companies should calculate their first contact resolution rates, as well as the average cost of a ticket if they choose to work with a service provider.
The cost of fully resolving an incident is approximately $22.50, while taking into account the convenience of self-service options, the cost can be reduced to approximately $15.
Best Tech Support Companies Ranked by Ability
Choosing the best vendor to partner with is based on the fit within their respective segments and operational scales. For example, a 200-person SaaS company would not be able to utilize a large enterprise provider.
The agencies and platforms listed below represent the leaders within the industry with respect to their respective core competencies supported by proven market data.
1. Sutherland
Sutherland is a leader in driving metrics down in highly complex enterprise environments. Research indicated that 20% of those in contact with support departments saw a decrease in the amount of time taken to handle their calls. This translated to an increase in their customer satisfaction score by 5% as well.
The team provides 24/7 coverage throughout the world. They account for the use of generative AI as part of the ways used to speed up the amount of time it takes to get answers to customers. The primary benefit of this is to keep Tier 1 responders operating at a high pace.
2. ExpertCallers
Companies that are having difficulties with too many lost calls and frustrated customers have the advantage of working with ExpertCallers.
The data acquired from the implementation of their services shows a high level of increase in positive sentiment towards the companies they work with.
One instance of working with a customer resulted in an increase in their customer satisfaction scores from the low 50s to the range of 87% – 93%.
At the same time, the customer was able to drop their abandonment rate from around 40% to just 8%.
3. Helpware
Agent turnover is an underappreciated contributor to the poor performance of outsourced customer service.
When an agent that has been trained leaves for any reason, the resolution times will increase significantly until the newly hired agent is trained.
Helpware has taken an active role in addressing this concern through its robust corporate culture and has reportedly achieved a 2.8% monthly attrition rate.
For comparison, the average monthly attrition rate in the industry is between 6% to 8%.
4. Influx
Most larger support vendors do not provide clear and transparent pricing, yet Influx breaks that trend and gives their customers a predictable idea of what the cost of outsourcing their help desk will be.
Influx does not require lengthy times of discovery calls for businesses to determine if an outsourced help desk is right for them.
Influx makes its pricing models available to everyone. Currently, their pricing models show that Tier 1 (first line) support agents working for businesses in the APAC region cost approximately $1,400 a month. Due to the simple nature of its billing model, Influx is highly attractive to digital brands that are rapidly growing.
5. TalentPop
TalentPop provides dedicated agents at competitively low hourly rates. Like Influx, TalentPop's business model focuses on serving fast-moving consumers and SaaS platforms.
An agent fee of $500 is charged as an upfront amount along with hourly rates ranging from $8 to $14; this pricing structure provides an avenue for e-commerce and digital goods companies/brands to quickly scale up their operations for the seasonal high demand periods.
6. Concentrix
Concentrix is a large global company that provides technical support to millions of customers each year. They utilize an advanced form of artificial intelligence with their iX Hello System to help agents solve difficult and complicated technical customer support inquiries.
They are designed specifically to work with very large companies/organizations in the telecommunications, healthcare, or retail sectors with a very large volume of customers. Smaller companies will struggle to navigate their corporate systems due to the enormity of their organization.
7. Teleperformance
Like Concentrix, Teleperformance is a very large company providing outsourced technical support for many of the largest technology brands in the world.
They have extensive compliance requirements, as well as extremely low costs associated with offshore staffing. However, because of their size, they cannot provide mid-market software companies needing to make rapid protocol changes with a solution that is quick and easy.
8. Enterprise IT Giants (Accenture, TCS, Cognizant)
These companies are the dominant players in the managed services market for Fortune 500 companies. They build very large and complex support systems across numerous continents.
However, their corporate structure makes them unsuitable for companies with 20 to 500 users. In most cases, mid-market businesses will be treated as a low-priority client and will not receive the level of service they need from these companies.
How to Measure Service Level Agreements
Vendor websites boast about the quality of their support, but the truth lies within the SLA (Service Level Agreement) contract. A serious buyer wants to see written guarantees for response times and severity levels.
Make sure to get hard escalation metrics from tech support companies before signing anything. Ask how many tickets move from Tier 1 to Tier 2. A successful desk will resolve 70 to 75 percent of problems with the very first contact.
Planning Your Transition Timeline
Another critical issue often overlooked during sales presentations is ramp-up time. When vendors claim they will launch in two weeks, they usually skip important steps. Safe transitions take four to eight weeks for sandbox training, system access, and validation testing.
Security and Access Controls
Security is a must-have; 43 percent of cyberattacks now target small businesses. Additionally, Verizon reported that 88 percent of breaches of small businesses are due to ransomware. All tech support teams need to operate under strict access controls to prevent internal threats.
Buyers in regulated industries, such as defense or health, require NIST or CMMC or HIPAA compliant vendors. Standard cloud vendors will provide vendors with proof of their compliance with SOC 2 or ISO 27001.
Agents must not retain access to your systems indefinitely as administrator access. Secure desks will use time-bound session recording and revoked access for the agent immediately upon leaving the account.
Q&A: How to Get the Best Results From Your Help Desk
What are the true costs of an internal help desk?
A comprehensive cost model includes salaries, benefits, software licensing, and your actual cost of system downtime. Data from downtime indicates that larger companies are losing $300,000 per hour in revenue during this time period.
Additionally, you need to take into consideration the impact of lost productivity for senior engineers engaged in fixing basic users' log-in-related issues.
In vendor transitions, what is the greatest risk of failure?
Inadequate documentation and rushed transfer of knowledge will lead to the demise of a new support desk. Vendors should develop a formalized testing plan and allocate a strict timeline for testing. Missing this step means your customers will become the testing ground for the vendor.
What is the reason that long-term managed service contracts eventually fail?
Managed service agreements usually fail when tech support companies either change their business model or go through an acquisition that includes private equity financing. Typically, ownership transfers lead to budget cuts and a different approach for providing software tools to customers.
Always ensure that your contracts include exit clauses clearly defining how the vendors will be required to provide access to successfully migrate your data and maintain your ticket history.