The concept of outsourcing your IT support overseas is not a new one, it has been done with numerous services with different levels of success.

Your IT support though is directly related to your productivity, there is certainly a cut in costs to be made by moving IT support offshore, but there can also an increase in indirect costs when staff are unproductive due to computer problems that are slow to be resolved.

I have detailed below the top 7 reasons why you should use Melbourne IT support if your business is based in Melbourne

1 Slow resolution to IT support requests

It support requests can often take longer to be resolved. While the IT support technician that answers the phone will provide as much assistance as the can, this is often limited, and the call is escalated to the team of more senior IT support staff. It is when the call is escalated that that the delays can happen. Possibly because the senior IT support staff are all busy and just working their way through a list of tasks, or possibly because the systems they have in place are not efficient. You will never really know, but you will be sitting at your desk for an unknown amount of time unable to work until the IT support technician gets to you.

 2 Who has access to my data?

Handing the support of your Computer network and everything that goes with it over to a third party has an element of risk. The IT support staff has complete access to all of your data, there is no way around that or they couldn’t do their jobs. While contractually the IT support vendor is not allowed to misappropriate your data, and in Melbourne as in all of Australia this is generally not an issue. Overseas ethical standards are not the same, and in some places corruption can be widespread.

3 Do the overseas people understand the level of IT support I need?

The expectations of level of service in Australia can be very different from other countries. While an agreement would be put in place for certain levels of support, the actual staff providing the IT support may not be familiar with what this is, and will default to providing you will the level of IT support they are used to. This can lead to long delays getting computer problems resolved.

4 No personal touch

When your IT support is located overseas, you don’t ever get to meet anyone that is actually helping you with your computer problems. It is just someone on the end of a telephone, and generally the offshore IT support companies will be quite large, so it is likely that when you need computer support, you will rarely get to speak to the same IT support technician.

5 The Internet makes remote IT support slow

Remote IT support is becoming quote common; it makes sense, as why wait for an IT support technician to drive out to you in order to fix your computer problem. However there are some factors that can affect how well this works. The IT support company and your own Internet connection can be the difference between a quick logon, a few clicks and problem solved and wait, wait, wait, while the IT support technician tries to complete his job and a painfully slow pace.

The International Internet connections are always slower than local connections due to latency. Which is the perceivable lag that happens when remote controlling a computer or doing real-time tasks over an international link. Even with good connections this still exists which can make remote IT support painfully slow.

 6 Language issues, accuracy is needed in order to provide effective computer support

Language has always been an issue when using offshore services; it can be frustrating when the person on the phone does not understand you properly. With IT support this can be even worse, you can’t just hang up, as you have a computer problem that you need resolved and can’t do any work until it is. The IT support technician needs to be able to communicate effectively with you.

7 What about when onsite IT support is needed

Remote IT support can be effective most of the time, but there are times when you need an IT support technician onsite. It is also helpful if that IT support technician has some knowledge of your network. With offshore IT support this is often not the case, they will just outsource the onsite component to a local company as and when needed. The onsite IT support technician will just have an address and a task to complete. If anything outside if this scope of works is needed then problems will arise.

These are some of the main reasons against trying to cut costs by moving your IT support overseas, it is generally better if you are based in Melbourne to use IT support in Melbourne. That is where we can help, MSP Blueshift is located in Melbourne and provides IT support, IT managed services and cloud computing to business located in Melbourne. Don’t hesitate to contact us on 1300 501 677 to speak to one of our friendly staff.