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In a 2003 report, Gartner established the employee-to-IT-staff golden ratio as 70:1[1]. A few years later in 2008, Robert Half Technology conducted a survey which reported an estimated corporate ratio of 82:1. By 2015, however, an informal study done by Samanage revealed that IT support ratio numbers had increased dramatically to an average of 200:1, with some outliers as high as 800:1[2].
Overall, the data trends towards the same conclusion: IT help desks are massively understaffed.
And so is your IT team.
Understaffing is Costing You More Than Money
That inflated ratio creates a harried IT force, which subsequently leads to entire divisions of end-users that can’t function properly. Often, it’s all your IT teams can do to keep your internal tools up and running, and chronic ticket backlogs leave little resources to put toward development. In short, your efficiency suffers along with the morale of your workforce.
You could increase your IT W-2 employee count. But—if you do the math—to fully cover the demand, you would need to hire an average of 1.5 additional IT—staff workers per employee to get to Gartner’s recommended ratio. In an ideal world, yes, that would mitigate your service issues—your efficiency and employee morale would climb, and you could focus on the future more readily. Your teams would no longer suffer, but your budget certainly would.
There’s another option.
Augment Your Lean Teams; Don’t Bloat Them
While you probably could do with a few more consistent IT technical support people, if you hire permanent staff to cover all the labor-heavy work of temporary projects like migrations, user device upgrades, or PTO cover, you’ll end up with smart people just sitting on the bench.
What if you could spin up technical employees when you need them, and then reduce the number when your demand decreases? If you need vetted technical employees to maintain your IT efficiency—there is a smart way to accomplish this.
The CentricsIT SmartHands solution is the answer. By becoming an extension of your existing lean team, we will change your employee-to-IT-workforce ratio through augmentation, not addition.
Here’s how that equation works.
SmartHands: A Powerful Force of Minimalist Efficiency
CentricsIT offers comprehensive and affordable professional services; no matter the location, no matter the complexity or scale of the project.
Our extensive global network of IT partners and affiliates broadens our access to an international pool of quality IT technicians and engineers. No matter your location, we will hand-select a team of the very best local L1 specialists for your specific needs and have them at your data center doorstep in just a matter of hours. Depending on your current needs, we can provide coverage for:
- Data center migrations
- Server rack and stack
- Client device installations and upgrades
- Support desk responses
- *PTO backfill
*If you have a technician planning a long vacation, or an engineer about to take maternity leave, we will assign one of our SmartHands technicians to come and train alongside of your employee for weeks in advance to thoroughly learn your processes. Our goal is always for a seamless transition in and out of your workforce.
No matter how large or small the task, our SmartHands forces act as an extension of your team to get the job done right without wasting precious time.
Pay-As-You-Go
Whether you need technical support for an hour, half a day, or several weeks at a time, CentricsIT will only charge you for what you need, when you need it. Rather than hire full-time engineers to change that inflated ratio to a static unresponsive number, let our SmartHands services fill in the gaps with our affordable, scalable team. As your company’s demand for manpower rises and falls, CentricsIT will bend and flex with you.
SmartHands and Adaptive Ratios
Your current employee-to-IT-technician ratio may be overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to stay that way. It’s simple. Don’t place your already lean teams under unrealistic pressure and don’t pay for bench warmers. Manage technical support the smart way through CentricsIT SmartHands.
Need access to a global workforce that can show up at a moment’s notice? Contact one of our support specialists to see how flexible SmartHands can work for you.
[1] “Rightsizing Your Help Desk Team: Part 3”; http://www.business2community.com/leadership/rightsizing-your-help-desk-team-part-3-0402710#rWypeBgbxctLr2cM.97
[2] “What’s the Average IT Service Desk to Employee Ratio?”; https://blog.samanage.com/it-service-management/whats-the-average-service-desk-to-employee-ratio/
