Hey,

Was wondering what you guys do when it comes to support. Is it better to hire staff, or outsource your support to a company.

And if you think outsourcing is the way to go, list some companies you would recommend.

Thanks

Jamie

Depends what kind of support staff, as in what qualifications they need to have, but having staff in-house is generally the best thing.

That's a question that can only be answered by each individual company and their specific needs.

--Tina

Agreed with Tina,

Also depends on the size of the company. If you have more than a few servers full of customers, better to have a level 2 or 3 technician in your staff, few sales/support staff in front, and outsource company in the back-end

I agree as well. It also depends on your budget. If you can afford inhouse staff then yes that might be a better option but if you are just starting out outsourcing might be a solution for you. But as was said in the previous posts it all depends on your company goals and on your budget.

Its entirely depending on your budget.. If you cannot afford inhouse options are to go with outsourcing.

There is also different forms of outsourcing, whether you hire a company to handle or simply get some freelance people to work (like pay per ticket or commission). Though it's always a good idea to remember that these people have access to your data and could also freelance for another company (that pays higher commission?) so they might attempt to steal clients.

Many of the companies outsource support; and I would suggest to keep billing and sales with you – as no one else can work on that as much as you can.

If you’re a starter and budget is an issue, I would suggest you to outsource.

I'm not a big fan of this outsourcing mentality..

You can just as good support from someone in your area who also needs the money. You don't have to employ them, just doing on a contract/freelance basis.

This worked extreamly well for us and we ended up hiring them full-time, they've been with us for over a year now and its worked out great for both me and them..

You can just as good support from someone in your area who also needs the money. You don't have to employ them, just doing on a contract/freelance basis.



That's actually illegal, if they are reporting to work everyday and working a steady job with you.

--Tina

I would choose Staff over Outsourcing any day. The main thing that puts me off the idea of outsourcing is that it may be different people rather than a single individual who you can train up and farmilizarise with your policies and setup. Whereas with outsourcing a single person may be supporting multiple companies = It's easy to make mistakes.

Not mentioning any names but one of the providers I have services with clearly outsource their level 1 support, and they do nothing other than state that the ticket will be checked. Even simple tasks like RDNS can get escalated higher up. Correct me if I am wrong but, doesnt the email auto response say "Thanks for your message?"

That's actually illegal, if they are reporting to work everyday and working a steady job with you.

--Tina
No it's not.. They would be self-employeed. They give you an invoice and you pay them. It only because a problem for them if they do not declare what they earn.

I have no idea how it works in the states but in the UK it is common, especially for IT people.

I spent many years as a contractor working for many companies, a few ISP's, a major bank and in defence. All of which I was not an employee or on payrol..

No it's not.. They would be self-employeed. They give you an invoice and you pay them. It only because a problem for them if they do not declare what they earn.

I have no idea how it works in the states but in the UK it is common, especially for IT people.

I spent many years as a contractor working for many companies, a few ISP's, a major bank and in defence. All of which I was not an employee or on payrol..

In the US, you can have contracted people do tasks for you on a limited basis. You cannot have them report to you for work each day or on a regular on-going basis and not hire them. If the person acts as an employee (takes directions, orders, etc. from you and has to be there at a certain time on a regular basis) - you have to hire them.

--Tina

If you're a small company and you can either afford 1 staff member or semi decent outsourcing you need to weigh what you need. Adding someone as staff is not going to instantly turn you into 24/7 support. With outsourcing it can turn it into 24/7 support, however people do complain about quality. This is why you need to find a company who provides some quality with their outsourcing.

Of course once you're of a decent size you could have enough staff to do 24/7 without having an out source company do it who will have a different tech each time respond to tickets.

Hmm, the way to avoid that is to constantly renew the contract, with mandatory layoffs between contracts.

if you are just forming your company ... and if your thing is sales

are there companies that will allow you to white label their hosting and take care of support for you while you build a client base ...

and if so would you build on such a model

This can be a dangerous game.

If you pick the wrong provider and they go belly up, you can lose the money you already paid them, plus have to provide a refund to your clients.

When i started i hired staff and hard around the clock cover giving my customers the best support they pay for.

I have always belived that having in house support is best as we have more control over what staff do and if they are doing their job right.

Giving control to a 3rd party was a big no to us as we offered personal level support and as we have a shop in our local area doing computer repairs having our customers able to come in and talk to our support team was our best choice so our customers knew our support staff.

That was back in 2005 and we still run the same.

In the US, you can have contracted people do tasks for you on a limited basis. You cannot have them report to you for work each day or on a regular on-going basis and not hire them. If the person acts as an employee (takes directions, orders, etc. from you and has to be there at a certain time on a regular basis) - you have to hire them.

--Tina
Can you not work for yourself and charge the host for providing a service?
This sounds very restrictive.. What if you were supporting several (maybe small) hosting companies at the same time, would they all have to hire you...?
This sounds like one of those silly rules that are only in play to stop companies hiring illegals.

In the UK, if a contractor works for a company full-time for more then 2years, he/she is entitled to the same/equivalent company benefits as a regular employee, for example, holiday, flexytime/overtime, but still as a contractor.. Many companies will end a contract and start a new one, or just replace the contractor to get around this, but contractors get paid usually atleast double a regular employee does so it makes no difference anyway.

I would recommend you keep your support in-house as long as possible. Don't ever compromise on quality to save a few bucks

Shortlist few outsourcing company and go for test drive to check how their support is? Unless you find quality outsourcing support providers keep the support in-house.