Disadvantages of outsourced support

One of the most important aspects of the web hosting business is customer/technical support. In fact, it’s one of the main considerations many customers have when choosing their hosts. But with increasing customer demand, do hosting companies, especially small to mid-sized ones, actually have the resources to provide quality support, much less offer it 24/7? One solution to this is of course, outsourcing.

Outsourced web hosting support is support for web hosts' clients provided by an outside company or to other countries. Companies providing outsourced technical support for web hosts offer support via helpdesk/email , phone and/or chat . The outsourced support may be part-time with the web hosting provider providing support in-house the rest of the time, or the web host might outsource full-time support with the outside company providing all of the technical support.

Factors to consider when choosing an outsourced web hosting support provider

1. Proper tools and access to server administration
2. SLAs, confidentiality agreements and/or customer agreements
3. Techs need to be knowledgeable in every control panel and system configuration
4. Different levels of support needs should be addressed
5. Client records for each call
6. Performance stipulations in the contract
7. Quality of service provided by outsourcing companies
8. Need to set up a system where people can get taken care of in reasonable time with right amount of support You get what you pay for