With a limited budget, how can increasing service demands be managed effectively?

Labor still makes up the largest component of the help desk budget. It is time to offset continual hiring of help desk analysts with the implementation of self-help tools to meet increasing demands for customer support. Cost containment is possible, if you consider deploying service methods that allow your customers to communicate with the help desk through multiple channels.

The use of self-help, knowledge-based technologies can reduce the number of calls and the length of calls that are handled by an analyst on the telephone.

Take a look at your costs for "answering the telephone" today:

(Each company has a unique formula for calculating staffing expenses; therefore, the following table should be used only as a guideline. For assistance, you may want to contact someone in your accounting or finance department. They should be able to help you determine the direct and indirect expenses needed in order to calculate your fully burdened hourly rate.)

Considerations	Costing Estimation
Help desk volume of work Total number of incidents: Telephone Email Live Chat	Determine: Number of incidents per day Number of hours analysts are available for customer support work Average time per incident Incident volume per analyst Incident volume for the team Calculate: Number of analysts required to meet the demand. (To determine the rate of demand, use our staffing calculator.)
Direct cost: Permanent salaries of the help desk staff (including tax and benefits) Contract salaries Capital equipment depreciation Supplies Other direct expenses	Assume: Direct cost + indirect or overhead cost = fully burdened rate Calculate: Daily number of incidents / available hours = calls per hour. Cost per call = fully burdened rate / number of calls per hour
Indirect or overhead cost: Permanent salaries of the management staff Facilities expenses Telecom expenses Other indirect expenses

To understand the cost per call for your help desk, use the calculator here

Self-help knowledge systems are used more and more in the help desk and call center industries to offset continual hiring.