Back in 2005, our most common request from customers was for an on-premise helpdesk that they could host on their own servers. It was an immense responsibility, with customers taking on the full cost of installation, backups, costly maintenance, upgrades and all the other heavy lifting. But there was no way around it. Businesses either picked up the costs or did without.
Now looking back, those were the easy days.
Hosted vs self hosted help desk software
Today, the increased threat from malicious users makes it nearly impossible for SMBs to host their own helpdesk. If it was expensive to maintain a helpdesk ten years ago, it takes more manpower and expertise than ever to do so with the level of security compliance customers expect today.
Self-hosting is cumbersome, expensive and it’s no longer necessary. There’s a more cost-effective way to run a secure helpdesk.
Why you should go SaaS
The upfront savings of going with a SaaS helpdesk is alone the most powerful bullet point in favor of it. Shifting the cost of ownership to a third party vendor makes a an easy choice.
Aside from that, many SaaS helpdesks invest heavily in security, a must-have for companies whose customers process a variety of sensitive customer data daily. If security is a top concern for your small-to-medium sized business (and it should be), it makes more sense to go with a SaaS helpdesk.
Airtight security
Consider the security needs of your helpdesk in two layers: your customers, and the security factors that would be valuable to their customers:
- High quality data centers
- Backup and multi-site replication for application and data resiliency
- Managed firewall
- Intrusion detection
- OS management
- Patching
- Antivirus and 3rd party monitoring
- 3rd party vulnerability scanning and integrity
- Capacity and utilization monitoring
You should be aware of your customers’ security needs, but you shouldn’t have to focus your own resources on them.
This is why SaaS works so much better, as this laundry list of requirements is taken off your hands and then buffered with extra layers of security and resilience.
It’s more valuable to put your resources towards a competitive advantage unique to your company. Spend time and resources improving the customer experience instead of spending endless resources reinventing the wheel. As far as security goes, SaaS helpdesks are doing it better and more cost-effectively than most SMBs can.
No server/software maintenance
Here’s what it takes to host your own servers:
Connection to the world:
- Internet Connection ( Hardware updates / Monitoring / Load )
- Firewall ( Hardware updates / DMZ / Monitoring / Load )
Server itself:
- Hardware Maintenance ( Firmware updates / Monitoring / Load )
- Installed OS Maintenance ( Security updates / Clean up / Monitoring / Load )
- Installed webserver Maintenance ( Security updates / Clean up / Monitoring / Load )
- Installed MySQL Database Maintenance ( Updates / Clean up / Monitoring / Load )
- Helpdesk Itself ( Updates / Monitoring / Load )
- OS Backups
- Webserver Configuration backups
- Database Backups
The above is already an exhaustive list of things to look after, and this doesn’t include any fall over or backup systems in the event of failures. It also has no scaling to grow with your company’s customer base.
As you can see, it’s tough to keep on top of it all, unless you’re using a SaaS helpdesk.
The best helpdesk platforms have an availability of at least 99.98% – and they’re able to achieve that number because again, they’re doing it at a much larger scale which allows them to establish preventative measures that an SMB would be hard-pressed to match.
Easy start, easy exit
Consider the cost vs. value of taking ownership of your IT. The direct of costs of hardware and software are typically less than 50% of your total direct costs. The real cost is indirect – hiring skilled backend engineers, pulling your resources off other projects and supporting your server maintenance.
Typically with a SaaS helpdesk, the barrier to entry is little to none. With no infrastructure to deal with, you can set your teams up along with basic processes for a fully functional helpdesk within a few hours. But more importantly, you don’t need to involve an entire engineering team to proceed with your customer support agenda.
Just as easy it is to get started, you can cancel your service anytime. For you as the customer, it’s risk-free.
(Hint: Check to see whether your SaaS helpdesk company gives a discount or a bonus month when you subscribe annually.)
Who should self-host?
The case for self-hosted has narrowed considerably over the past decade. Self-hosted is still a good choice for highly regulated or data-sensitive industries, such as medical and banking institutions as well as government.
if you work in one of these fields, you probably already know whether you need to seek out a self-hosted solution. But if not, these are the questions to ask when you’re considering self-hosting:
Are you ready (or expected) to be fully responsible for security compliance?
The healthcare industry requires HIPAA-compliant platforms. German and Dutch banks, which support the highest standards in the world, also have mandatory self-hosted software. Generally, government agencies also fall under that umbrella.
Is it worth the larger upfront cost?
Think about whether self-hosted will be relevant, required or reliable in the long-term. Although factor in the potential costs of upgrading or migrating in the future.
Do you have the resources to maintain your own servers?
For some enterprise-level businesses, the answer will be yes.
Are you able to offer round-the-clock availability compared to best in class?
Take a long hard look in the mirror. Do you have the resources and manpower to surpass top helpdesk companies? If not, both you and your customers suffer the consequences.
The takeaway
In your internal SaaS vs. self-hosted discussions, keep your focus on what’s best for your customers and their customers. If maintaining your own helpdesk infrastructure is pulling resources away from the rest of your customer service organization – that is, if you’re going down the path towards a decision that won’t add value to your company or its customer service, SaaS is the way to go.
