Software as a service! Moving to the cloud! Going mobile! More and more, you may be hearing these kinds of phrases, especially when it comes to the software services that your company engages in order to optimize its functions. When it comes to how companies interface with their customers, especially, the cloud seems to be all the rage; yet what good is it having your help desk, one of the most important tools for client satisfaction and retention, on the cloud? Doesn’t this present security problems, among other issues? Why not simply have an in-house helpdesk installed at your HQ and have it maintained by your IT team?
The Infrastructure
First, let’s just take a moment to reflect on just how important customer service is in today’s business world. With the world growing ever flatter, it is important that your company have an edge over the competition, as that competition is now coming from around the world with a variety of advantages over you. Your ability to understand and meet the needs of your customers is going to be key to your company’s ability to survive, thrive, and grow in the coming years. As such, developing a customer service solution that is head and shoulders above that of your competitors is critical!
That is why so many companies are turning to software-as-a-service for their help desk software. The simple fact is that when your help desk software is hosted on the cloud, you enjoy a number of cost-efficient benefits that allow you to optimize the customer service aspect of your business in such a way that would be costly, time-consuming, and difficult for you to accomplish in-house.
To begin with, you can expect an almost immediate return-on-investment when you choose to have your help desk software hosted on the cloud. Rather than spending vast amounts of capital on the network and hardware infrastructure necessary to host your helpdesk software, along with the IT training necessary for installation and maintenance of the solution, you can instead have most of those costs absorbed by the cloud host, with your company quickly plunging into using the help desk software almost immediately.
Being able to quickly update and optimize your help desk software is important if you want to increase client retention while immediately being able to offer a superior service to prospective clients. Your help desk quickly earns you a return on investment over your initial investment in the cloud software itself once you begin to use it.
The Human Element
Moving to the actual support side of things, your support agents are plugged into the help desk software 24/7 when that software is hosted on the cloud. They can access the help desk anywhere, anytime, so long as they have a web connection and a browser. Phones, tablets, laptops, and home computers are all able to be accessed, meaning that your support staff is capable of helping your clients practically 24/7. This is the kind of responsive, always-on support that clients are looking for today.
Another advantage presented by hosting the help desk on the cloud is the ability to have all maintenance and updates taken care of by the cloud host, rather than paying for the IT staff to handle these issues. The requisite training necessary for your IT staff to be able to work on the system would take a fair amount of time and money, further putting a quick ROI beyond the horizon.
Finally, having your help desk hosted on the cloud allows for the security apparatus of your help desk to be considerably stronger than it might otherwise be if it were hosted on-site. The simple fact is that for your cloud host, the safety, security, and stability of their system is their bread and butter, the source of their business and their profits, and therefore something they jealously safeguard. They have several trained, experienced professionals who are guarding your data at all times and in many ways that your own IT team likely would not have thought of. It is a safe bet to always go with the experienced professionals when it comes to something important like the data of your company and your clients! Fortunately, software-as-a-service for your helpdesk software offers all of that and more!
