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Tier 1 Help Desk
Launch Plan
Tier 1 help desk is an initial point of contact between users and tech support that handles basic issues, e.g., hardware or software setup, login and access problems. In IT help desk since 2007, ScienceSoft is ready to take on the L1 support function and ensure fast issue resolution and increased user satisfaction.
Tier 1 Help Desk: the Summary
Tier 1 support is the first line of technical support that solves basic issues and requests reported by users. L1 support agents should ensure fast response and resolution time to minimize the disruption in users' work routine.
Lineup of a help desk tier 1 team: a team lead, L1 support agents, a system administrator.
Outsourcing cost: $8 - $18 per ticket based on the scope of activities covered and the complexity of supported IT infrastructure. Use our free online calculator to get a ballpark estimate for your case.
ScienceSoft helps both IT and non-IT companies handle T1 help desk requests in line with mature ITSM processes and ITIL principles.
Typical L1 Help Desk Tasks
User account and license management
- Granting and revoking access to folders, services, and data.
- Resetting expired and forgotten passwords.
- Managing software licenses and addressing activation errors.
Digital workplace management
- Digital workplace setup and user onboarding.
- Installing and configuring user applications.
- User offboarding.
Network and application support
- Monitoring the performance of applications and networks.
- Acting to restore failed services as quickly as possible.
- Troubleshooting common user issues with applications and networks (e.g., VPN connectivity, known software bugs).
Peripheral support
- Assisting users with connecting and setting up printers, scanners, and other equipment.
- Installing and updating drivers.
Ticket management
- Registering, triaging, and responding to incidents reported by users or raised by monitoring tools.
- Collecting information about an incident to analyze the root cause.
- Escalating complex issues to L2 and L3 teams or third-party software vendors.
- Offering improvement suggestions for processes, digital workplaces, and more.
Knowledge management
- Creating and upkeeping a knowledge base of internal and public user support articles and FAQs.
Level 1 Help Desk Setup Plan
When establishing tier one of IT help desk support for employees, we factor in the maturity of your company’s IT infrastructure and IT landscape complexity. When setting up the support for customers, we take into account the complexity of products or services the help desk will deal with.
ScienceSoft outlines the following general setup stages for both options:
Stage 1.
Scoping
The basis of an efficient help desk is a thorough analysis of your specific requirements. You need to determine:
- Types of users (employees, customers, or both) to support.
- Types of issues (e.g., software or device usage issues, user administration, requests for information) and the expected volume, priority, and complexity of requests.
- Time coverage (e.g., 24/7, 12/5, 12/7, 8/5).
- The size of the support team.
- Goals your help desk needs to reach (increasing user support cost-effectiveness, improving customer satisfaction score and user adoption rate, increasing employee productivity, etc.).
Other key steps at the planning stage include:
- Estimating the help desk budget.
- Choosing a sourcing model (in-house vs. outsourced vs. partially outsourced)
If you decide to look for a vendor to manage your help desk processes, search for:
- Certified partners of providers of platforms and software you use (e.g., Microsoft, AWS, IBM, Oracle, ServiceNow).
- Help desk outsourcing companies that adhere to ITIL standards.
- Companies whose help desk specialists have high fluency in the languages you require.
Stage 2.
Planning
At this stage, ScienceSoft usually takes the following steps:
- Drawing up standard operating procedures (SOPs) for ticket resolution, ticket triaging or escalation, reporting, and other processes.
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Creating a risk management plan (e.g., defining actions to take if the number of tickets exceeds the expected volume, if hardware or software fails).
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Listing communication and support channels (e.g., phone, email, messengers, service desk).
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Selecting fitting help desk tools.
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Defining KPIs to track, for example:
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First response time (FRT) is the period between the user sending a request and the support agent responding to it. A marker optimal in most situations: ≤30 min FRT.
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User satisfaction rate (USAT) measures the users' satisfaction with the support provided, usually based on surveys after ticket resolution. A marker optimal in most situations: ≥90% USAT.
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Resolution rate (RR) is the number of tickets resolved during a given time out of all the received tickets. A marker optimal in most situations: ≥70% RR (other 30% are typically escalated to Tier 2 or higher levels of support).
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Depending on the help desk specifics, you may also track other metrics like average time to resolution and call abandonment rate.
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Stage 3.
Launch and management
- Draw up an SLA describing the task scope, KPIs, reporting frequency, and other key service aspects that were defined during the scoping and planning stage.
- Conduct onboarding and knowledge-sharing sessions for the help desk team to equip them with all the required details about your IT infrastructure, software, and communication and security protocols.
- Once the support agents have access and the necessary permissions to help desk software accounts and functions, your help desk is ready to be launched.
- After the launch, the support team continually processes requests and issues, analyzes and eliminates incidents’ root causes, and suggests improvements to prevent repeat issues. A simple example of a frequently reported issue is slow system performance. It’s often a result of outdated software and insufficient RAM. In this case, our team may suggest updating software and upgrading hardware.
- The team regularly reviews processes and monitors KPIs to improve the help desk effectiveness.
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Stage 4.
Optimization
Continually improve help desk workflows by:
- Monitoring KPIs.
- Reviewing and adjusting help desk processes.
- Gathering and analyzing user feedback.
- Continuously updating the knowledge base.
ScienceSoft
See first-hand how L1 help desk processes are organized.
Consider Professional Level 1 Help Desk Services
ScienceSoft's services are backed up with 35-year experience in IT and 17-year experience in application support.
Tier 1 help desk consulting
- Designing Tier 1 help desk and drawing up a launch plan.
- Composing a help desk team.
- Defining an optimal sourcing model.
- Selecting ticket management software.
- Defining the process and team KPIs (first response time, resolution rate, etc.).
Outsourced Tier 1 help desk
- Defining a number of tickets per a required period.
- Calculating price per ticket.
- Defining KPIs and service provision protocols.
- Performing knowledge transfer from your company to our help desk team.
- Delivering the first level of help desk tech support according to SLA.
- Providing comprehensive reporting
Our Selected Projects
33 results for:
Case Study
L1 Support for ScribeAmerica
ScienceSoft delivers 12/5 L1 support for ScribeAmerica, one of the largest medical scribe companies in the United States with over 25,000 employees. Our team handles around 500 average monthly tickets with a 7-minute first response time.
Case Study
24/7 White-Label L1 Support for Delap LLP
For nine months, ScienceSoft provided white-label L1 help desk services to Delap LLP, an established US financial services firm and MSP. By promptly resolving 60% of all the tickets from five of Delap's clients with a 7-minute FTR, we freed up its in-house L2 and L3 support teams.
Case Study
L1 Support for Qventive Healthcare with 90%+ Resolution Rate and Significant Cost Savings
For nine months, ScienceSoft has been providing 24/7 L1 support to Qventive Healthcare’s clients. Our team efficiently handled an average of 100 tickets per month, ensuring a 30-minute FRT for email requests and a 20-second FRT for calls, with an average TTR of 20 minutes.
Case Study
L1-L3 Support for System One, a 9,000-Employee Company
For over three years, ScienceSoft has delivered L1–L3 support to System One, an international provider of outsourced services and workforce solutions.
Case Study
L2–L3 Infrastructure Support for BPC
ScienceSoft provided L2–L3 infrastructure support for BPC, a fintech company delivering digital banking, payment, and ecommerce software products. BPC managed to cut IT support expenses by 10%+ while ensuring the fail-safe performance of its network and IT systems.
What Our Clients Say
John Dritsas
Chief Technology Officer
Our clients in healthcare rely on Qventive for the support and administration of essential software solutions such as EHR and practice management systems. Timely assistance and resolution are imperative in this field, so when we were faced with a large influx of support requests, having ScienceSoft step in for 24/7 help desk was a lifesaver. Their team quickly adapted to our processes and understood our clients’ expectations from the start.
We appreciate their proactive communication and commitment to quality.
We went with ScienceSoft as our help desk partner and didn’t regret it. ScienceSoft’s team demonstrates high technical competence, a proactive and responsible approach to IT support services, and full compliance with HVG’s SLA. After a year of working together, we requested a ticket package twice as large as the initial one, and now they reliably handle Tier 1 support for many of our clients.
ScienceSoft took over our helpdesk operations. Not only were they able to add immediate value but they also helped build out our helpdesk knowledge base, resulting in faster time to resolution and fewer repeat issues. They support a wide range of applications for our team including store surveillance, POS hardware and software, and network monitoring all while maintaining our 30-minute FRT mark. Their dedication to resolving issues has led to a 100% satisfaction rate from Lolli & Pops employees and allows our IT organization to focus on larger digital transformation initiatives.
Why Choose ScienceSoft for Help Desk Services
- 35 years of entire experience in IT.
- 17 years of experience in help desk services.
- 16 years in IT service management (ITSM).
- Strategic partnerships with Microsoft, Amazon, ServiceNow.
- Serving worldwide 24/7: North and South America, Europe, the Gulf, Asia, Australia.
- 750+ IT professionals on board.
- Quality-first approach based on a mature ISO 9001-certified quality management system.
- ISO 27001-certified security management based on comprehensive policies and processes, advanced security technology, and skilled professionals.
What makes ScienceSoft different
Proactive Help Desk: Fewer Issues, Lower Costs
Proactivity is at the core of our approach to help desk delivery. We not only maintain IT stability but also recommend improvements leading to fewer tickets reported, higher user satisfaction, and optimized help desk costs.
Typical Roles and Responsibilities in a Tier 1 Help Desk Team
Project manager
- Plans and manages the budget.
- Decides on staffing and/or outsourcing needs according to the number and types of issues the help desk deals with.
- Defines KPIs and oversees their achievement.
- Designs or approves support processes (e.g., escalation, reporting procedures) and ensures their constant improvement.
Team lead
- Establishes goals and KPIs for the help desk team, analyzes the team's work, and manages their achievement.
- Plans agents’ work schedules to ensure sufficient support coverage during operating hours.
- Arranges and oversees team's professional development.
- Monitors help desk channels to collect performance data.
- Based on the nature of issues and their root cause analysis, suggests improvements to the client.
L1 support agent
- Processes incoming user requests via phone, SMS, email, messengers, etc.
- Creates tickets for all reported issues and collects as much information about incidents as possible.
- Handles common user support cases (e.g., password reset, product usage guidance), and basic technical tasks (basic software troubleshooting, reinstalling software applications, etc.).
- Escalates complex tech issues to a higher-tier support team.
System administrator
- Installs, configures, and monitors all necessary help desk software and hardware.
- Resolves arising software and hardware issues to ensure stable help desk operations.
- Provides timely software updates.
Sourcing Models of Help Desk Level 1
All in-house
Pros:
- Complete control over the help desk infrastructure and resources.
- A support team has a deep understanding of your internal structure and processes, products and services you provide.
Cons:
- High setup and management risks.
- Longer establishment period due to staff hiring and training, and software selection and customization.
- A high turnover of L1 agents.
- Risk of underloaded agents (e.g., an agent can handle 400-500 tickets per month, so two agents are needed to cover 12/5. If an organization has less than 800 tickets, agents will be underloaded).
L1 help desk resources are partially outsourced
Pros:
- In-house support team augmented with experienced third-party L1 agents to quickly handle the increased number of support requests.
- Optimized level 1 support costs by easily scaling up and down the number of first line support agents according to the volume of incoming inquiries.
Cons:
- May be challenging to synchronize in-house and outsourced teams’ work.
The entire L1 help desk is outsourced to a third-party vendor
Pros:
- Optimal L1 help desk costs.
- On-demand team scalability.
- Pre-vetted support team.
- Up to 24/7 service coverage, including after-hours support.
Cons:
- Possible cooperation challenges with other departments of your company (e.g., data exchange between the help desk and a sales department) that can be mitigated by data integration.
- Challenging communication with in-house L2 help desk should be well-established and carefully managed.
Need High-Performing and Cost-Efficient L1 Help Desk?
Benefits of Tier 1 Help Desk with ScienceSoft
Mature ITSM processes
Rely on our 14 years of experience with ITSM.
Self-management and service transparency
We deliver our services based on KPIs and SLOs set in the SLA.
Multiple communication languages
Our support team speaks 7+ languages.
Service coverage options
8/5, 12/5, 24/5, 24/7 – choose what’s best-suited to your business.
Proactive approach
We don’t just resolve issues, we perform root cause analysis to prevent them.
Ticket Management Software Recommended by ScienceSoft
As L1 help desk provision usually requires dealing with a large number of user inquiries, you will need reliable ticket automation software. Here are ticketing management tools ScienceSoft’s professionals typically implement to streamline our L1 help desk services.
Jira Service Management
Description
Strong performer in The Forrester Wave: Enterprise Service Management, Q4 2019.
- Prioritizing, tracking, and assigning incoming requests from various sources (including Slack and Microsoft Teams) to suitable L1 agents.
- Issue root cause analysis to quickly document the root cause of an issue and optimize resolution guidance.
- Knowledge base for users’ self-service.
Best for:
Collaboration-focused IT help desk for small and medium-sized companies.
ServiceNow® ITSM Platform
Description
A 7-time Leader in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for ITSM Tools.
- Incident management functionality to classify tickets by impact and urgency and assign them to agents.
- Employee service center serves as a single source of information for your employees.
- Virtual Agent for personalized conversations with employees or customers to help resolve L1 issues automatically.
BEST FOR:
IT help desk for companies with 1000+ employees.
ServiceNow® CSM Platform
Description
Leader in the 2020 Gartner Magic Quadrant for the CRM Customer Engagement Center
- Automatically assigning tickets to L1 agents based on their availability.
- Predictive intelligence for analyzing case descriptions to automatically categorize tickets and recommend solutions to agents to resolve issues faster.
- AI-powered chatbots to resolve common customer issues without an L1 agent’s involvement. The interaction context can be transferred to an L1 agent when human help is needed.
- Self-service portal for customers with a knowledge base.
BEST FOR:
Proactive support of 1000+ customers.
Dynamics 365 Customer Service
Description
Leader in the 2020 Magic Quadrant for the CRM Customer Engagement Center.
- Automated ticket management functionality (creation, routing, escalation, etc.)
- Multiple communication channels (phone, email, web, chats, social networks, SMS).
- AI-driven recommendations of knowledge articles for agents.
- Customizable templates for user surveys to get feedback on the help desk agents’ work.
BEST FOR:
Ticket management requiring multiple integrations with business applications.
Salesforce Service Cloud
Description
Leader in Gartner CRM Customer Engagement Center Magic Quadrant for 12 consecutive years.
- An agent console with integrated telephony, digital channels, and a 360-degree customer view to resolve user issues faster.
- Trailhead (free online learning platform to increase help desk agent productivity and grow skills).
- AI-powered contextual recommendations for L1 agents to follow and provide a better customer experience.
- Einstein chatbots to handle routine requests and optimize your L1 agents’ workload.
BEST FOR:
Customer-oriented ticket management requiring extensive AI capabilities.
SharePoint
Description
Gartner Peer Insights Customers’ Choice 2020 in Digital Experience Platforms.
Can serve as a ticketing system due to its customization and integration friendliness.
- Creating, prioritizing, and organizing L1 tickets into groups (new, important, etc.).
- Color-marking to highlight top priority tickets.
- Tools for building a knowledge base with articles and FAQ for users to handle simple and repetitive questions.
BEST FOR:
Cost-effective solution with basic ticketing capabilities.
Level 1 Help Desk Costs
ScienceSoft’s consultants note that help desk costs vary greatly from project to project. The average cost of tier 1 help desk services ranges from $3,200/month to $7,200+/month. The main factors that determine the actual cost of your help desk setup are:
General cost factors
- The number of L1 tickets (per month).
- Service time coverage - 24/7, 12/5, 8/5, etc.
- IT landscape complexity or product/service type (higher complexity implies more skilled staff or a higher price per ticket).
- Whether a knowledge base is to be maintained (although the maintenance incurs cost, the knowledge base may reduce the number of tickets).
Outsourced model cost factors
- SLA - response time, first contact resolution, etc. (a higher service level may cause a higher price per ticket).
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Note: Additional costs include ticketing software customization and licenses (usually charged per user) and maintenance of the ticketing software. |
ScienceSoft typically binds prices per L1 help desk ticket to the number of tickets per month. Here are sample dependencies to get the picture:
$8 per ticket
- Time coverage: 24/7
- 900+ L1 tickets per month
$12 per ticket
- Time coverage: 24/7
- 215-899 L1 tickets per month
$18 per ticket
- Time coverage: 24/7
- 75-214 L1 tickets per month
Let Us Calculate a Help Desk Price for Your Case
Please answer a few simple questions about your help desk needs. This will help our team estimate the cost for your unique case much quicker.
Thank you for your request!
We will analyze your case and get back to you within a business day to share a ballpark estimate.
In the meantime, would you like to learn more about ScienceSoft?
- 17 years in IT support: check what we do.
- 4,000 successful projects: explore our portfolio.
- 1,300+ incredible clients: read what they say.
Learn More About Help Desk Practices
How to Launch L2 Help Desk
We describe the process of setting up the second tier of technical support and provide experience-based tips and details. Our guide will be useful for those who want a help desk in-house and those who outsource.
Guide to L3 Help Desk
In our guide, you will find answers to important questions: What budget to plan for advanced technical support? What source model to choose? How to draw up a launch plan?
Real Cost of Help Desk Outsourcing
We provide average price ranges of L1–L3 help desk and offer a simple calculator to estimate an individual cost based on your requirements.
About ScienceSoft
ScienceSoft is a global IT consulting and IT services company headquartered in McKinney, TX, US. Since 2007, we provide help desk outsourcing services and application support services to help reduce our clients’ support costs and increase the user satisfaction score. Being ISO 9001 and ISO 27001-certified, we rely on a mature quality management system and guarantee cooperation with us does not pose any risks to our clients' data security.