Interplay – Your Virtual IT Help Desk

If you have more than 20 computers and devices at your organization, your exhausted IT staff (or IT person) is spending all their time putting out fires, or you find yourself putting off important patches or upgrades because you’re not sure what steps to take first – well, obviously, you need additional IT support. You should probably contact an outsourced IT support company.

These can also be signs that you need round-the-clock virtual IT help desk support. Let’s talk about that.

TL;DR: A virtual help desk is the team you call when anyone on your staff needs IT help, at any time of the day or night. You can pair an outsourced help desk with your in-house IT team or you can include help desk support as part of your package with outsourced IT support companies. Got questions? Ask Interplay.

What a Virtual IT Help Desk Does

A good virtual help desk support company will be the people you contact when things go wrong with your technology, any time of the day or night. They’ll help you solve your problem as quickly as possible, so you can stay on track with your work.

If your email won’t send at 12:00 PM, you accidentally delete a PowerPoint presentation at 2:00 AM, or your newest employee needs more tech handholding than you expected during their first few months, your virtual IT support team is there to help.

Remember, that’s a good help desk. If you’re working with a great help desk, you’ll get a dedicated team of support specialists who develop relationships with you and your staff, and who really understand your organization’s IT setup and goals.

The absolute best virtual IT help desk teams will be the ones who aren’t afraid to step beyond that “virtual” barrier. They’ll be the team that not only answers the phone or email at any time of the day or night and helps you remotely, but that will also roll up their sleeves and get to work at your offices when you need them to.

After all, some problems take hands-on solutions. They simply can’t be solved with a phone call or remote support.

Comparing Outsourced IT Support vs. In-House

Many companies are unsure as to whether they should invest in an outsourced IT team or an in-house IT team. Any good IT professional will let you know that you certainly don’t have to choose between the two options; you can have an in-house IT expert and an outsourced virtual IT help desk support team or Managed Services Provider (MSP).

If you choose to go with both, you can have the outsourced team provide after-hours support, so your IT person can get some sleep and enjoy weekends and vacation, or you can have the outsourced team come in for time-sensitive (or really time-consuming) stuff, like new software rollouts or IT asset management.

Managed IT service companies can also help you save money on new hardware or software because they often have volume pricing deals with vendors that your in-house team or person won’t have access to.

In addition, the best teams will have their own in-house experts on a massive range of IT topics, which helps when you’re interested in taking advantage of a new solution or service (like a cloud service or a Business Continuity solution), but you need more information first.

Ready to Explore Virtual IT Help Desk Support in Your Area?

Whether you choose to pair your IT help desk with your in-house team, or you choose virtual help desk support as part of your all-inclusive Managed Services Provider (MSP) package, you’ll want to make sure you’re working with the best IT team for your needs.

That’s going to take some interview skills on your part, but don’t worry. We have you covered with the guide you need to make sure those interviews go well.

 

Get the Guide to Learn How to Interview an MSP

 

For 20 years, the friendly and knowledgeable IT team at Interplay has helped business leaders across a range of industries get more out of their tech, stress-free. Not only are we always (and we mean always) happy to offer the best managed IT services, support, and advice, we’re also the team you can trust for the best cocktail recommendations here in Seattle or in Disney World – we’re versatile! All humor aside though, we’d love to help you get your IT running smoothly and securely, around the clock.