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Czech companies downsize their IT teams and replace them by outsourcing of external specialists

Local companies step by step fire their employees supporting their IT. For still increasing number of organisations is now more worthwhile to hire an external team of IT outsourcing specialists. They then solve problems with computers remotely via a support center called Helpdesk. "It is possible to solve almost any problem remotely; a technician maintains the client computer using a secure connection via Internet. Usually, the problem may be solved already within 15 minutes after its reporting. A physical intervention is mostly needed for hardware problems only, "says Petr Chmelar, S&T CZ HelpDesk Manager.


Up to 50 percent of domestic firms let now an external company to maintain their IT. In Western countries, even 60 percent of companies use this form of IT support already. "Most often they are companies with 50 employees or more. But outsourcing is beneficial also for smaller companies,” explains Petr Chmelar. Although money paid for external support is similar to wage costs of internal IT staff, many other cost items are eliminated, e.g. office lease, electricity, computer equipment or engineer training. In total, companies can save up to one third of real costs.

Especially high operating costs associated with employees, their training, education and certification, make possession of an own IT team more expensive. “For example just getting the first basic certification for Windows 7 costs some two and a half thousand crowns. There may be six exams in total in this case,” says Petr Chmelar. On the other hand, a company specialised in helpdesk services can spread this high cost of training over multiple clients. "Such support center can provide the services to dozens of customers," explains Petr Chmelar.

Speed and efficiency of problem solving is the key

The most significant factor influencing customer satisfaction is a speed of service request processing and time to its solution. "By default, the Helpdesk must process the request within 30 minutes, but in most cases is this time shorter than 15 minutes," says Petr Chmelar. (see Chart 1).


The support centre usually solves the problem within 24 hours since its entry to the system. "IT professionals are often able to solve the problem during their conversation with the customer. They can profit from working in rotation shifts and so meet problems of clients from different sectors and industries," explains Petr Chmelar (see Chart 2).


Continuous IT support guaranteed under all circumstances led also Renault CR to an outsourcing company. "S&T is our helpdesk solutions supplier since 2007. During the tender, we put emphasis on ensuring of sufficient number of operators, so that the service continuity would not be disturbed if one of them goes out. Rotation of operators guarantees us that they all remain up to date and efficiency of the incident solutions increases, "says Jan Kafka, IT Manager of Renault CR, which uses the support services from S&T the fifth year now.

Staff incompetence discourages customers

External companies have long experience from different branches and different customers. So they keep a high level of expertise of their employees. "People working on the Helpdesk must be competent, otherwise they lose the trust of users. If a company set up its Helpdesk by an external provider, it has a guarantee that its clients are served by experts with long-term experience in the client service as well as in the given industry, "says Petr Chmelar.

Depending on the specific industry in which the company operates, the processing of each call is being monitored to ensure the necessary service quality. All request records are monitored and saved. "Many companies have not own tools and resources needed for the high quality of Helpdesk services but without the leading technology in call centre, allowing call monitoring and forwarding to a given expert it is impossible to survive in today’s hard competition" says Peter Chmelar, HelpDesk Manager in S&T CZ.