News Feature | September 25, 2015

AVG Lists 6 Must-Haves For An Outsourced NOC + Help Desk

Christine Kern

By Christine Kern, contributing writer

An optimally functioning NOC (network operations center) and help desk  can help managed services providers (MSPs) meet service level agreements (SLAs) and take on larger contracts without adding technicians.

A white paper from AVG Business discusses how an outsourced NOC (network operations center) and help desk solution can benefit your managed services provider (MSP). 6 Key Requirements For a Profitable NOC + Help Desk Service states that for MSPs, while the decision to either internalize or outsource the NOC and help desk functions is not an easy one, “building an internal capability is both time consuming, expensive, and fraught with risks.  As such, outsourcing in all but the most exceptional of circumstances is likely to be a more cost effective strategy.”

In order to create a system that “cuts the mustard,” an outsourced NOC + help desk solution should do the following six things:

  • Support, not supplant, your MSP business. Create a triage function, where problems that are escalated to your attention to be pre-diagnosed.
  • Extend your brand to the end-client environment. Customers should never wonder who they are talking to; the outsourced solution should clearly represent the brand to your customers.
  • Scale to take advantage of larger contracts. The white paper states, “By offsetting the performance and availability of your customers’ infrastructure, your technicians are freed from those day to day support issues. They are able to focus on more profitable or higher value project work such as remapping a domain strategy for a customer rather than a password reset.”
  • Streamline staff and shrink payroll levels to improve profitability. Reducing the need for senior tech resources will help increase profitability and reduce costs.
  • Meet SLAs as a way to ensure customer satisfaction. An outsourced NOC + help desk can assist you with frontloading resources and expertise for larger contracts.
  • Eliminate dependency on senior technical resources and thus eliminate the expense of keeping up to date on constantly evolving technology. Outsourcing gives your customers access to a broad range of resources with varied educational backgrounds and technology expertise.

To read the full white paper, click here.