The Cost of Downtime
You shouldn’t have to be kept waiting on your IT support.
Whether it’s over the phone technical support or waiting at your office for a technician to show up, the longer it takes the more frustrating it gets.
After you’ve placed a call to your IT support, it’s just a matter of time before the problem gets fixed – but do you even know how long you’re expected to wait?
Depending on when you place the call, they may not even show up the same day. And if the problem is serious enough to cause downtime for even a couple of employees, that’s a lot of wasted time and a lot of wasted wages.
Why Is Your IT Support Taking So Long?
There are a few potential reasons for this type of delay with IT support:
- Outsourced Support
If you’re working with a smaller IT company, it’s possible that they outsource their support calls to a third party. For support providers that lack the resources to invest in the people and resources needed to make service calls, it’s more economical to pay for a technician from a larger company to come take care of it.While this is more cost-effective for the IT company, the downside is that once the service call is passed from department to department and company to company, it’s much harder to make sure the same person is going to be available to address the service ticket. - Lack Of Strategy
At its simplest, it’s entirely possible your IT company isn’t worried about sending support in a timely manner. As far as they’re concerned from their perspective, all service calls are equal, and likely only based on one of a few common problems. As such, any given technician can handle it eventually, right? - Lack Of Accountability
It’s also possible that your technician isn’t showing up on time because they know they don’t have to. Did you double-check about response time guarantees when you hired this company? If not, they’re not directly obligated to show up in any window. They really only have to be there fast enough to ensure you don’t decide to take your business elsewhere.
How Long Should You Have To Wait For IT Support?
Wait times can depend on a number of factors:
- Where Is Your IT Support Located?
Are they nearby your business, in the same city? Do their technicians operate out of their office, or are they outsourced from another company? - When Did You Open The Service Ticket?
It’s one thing to call for a technician at the beginning of a business day. It’s another to expect one to come in on a Saturday evening.Not that you shouldn’t be entitled to 24/7 support, but it’s important to remember that availability (and rates for support calls) can vary drastically depending on the time of day and the IT company you’re working with. - What Did Your IT Support Tell You?
To an extent, this puts the onus on you, but it’s the reality of the situation. When you hired your IT company, did they make any service guarantees? Did they explain their service windows and rates? Did you make sure to ask these sorts of questions?
In the end, you have to hold your IT company accountable. If you want speedy response, make sure you get that guarantee in writing. There should be some form of Service Level Agreement (SLA) that will dictate expected response times. If you don’t have it in writing, then you’re probably not going to get the level of response you need. Make sure to have this conversation with your IT company sooner rather than later – don’t wait until something goes wrong to find out how responsive your IT company is.