Do You Want To Create A Request For Proposal For Your Help Desk Service? Here Are Some Smart Tips To Help.

Here are some of the key points in creating the smartest RFP for your unique needs and goals.

1. Let me know where you are standing

"Sellers need to fully understand what they are looking for and be able to deliver it," says Smith. "For us, we wanted to provide our customers and end users with 24/7 help desk support services, so we started outsourcing."

But the first step is to tell potential suppliers clearly and concisely what they want and how they want it. Define the specific business objectives you want to achieve and the expectations you have. 

For example:

1. How much would you like to improve the resolution rate of the first contact?
2. What is the range if you want to reduce the average response speed by a certain percentage?
3. If you want long-term customer satisfaction, what period do you need?

In a nutshell, the RFP should do the following:

Please explain what you need.

Define requirements What are your essential goals and the goals you want to achieve? Specify the budget range.

Tell the provider how to evaluate your proposal. This includes areas that can be scored, such as quality, scalability , and other things you could use in your weight matrix.

"A well-defined scope is an absolutely critical success factor.

2. Sometimes saving changes to pockets can increase costs in the long run

Keeping up-front costs low can be beneficial in the short term, but choosing a proposal based primarily on price can lead to higher costs over time. On-demand service and technology purchases tend to grow unexpectedly, especially when it comes to managing and upgrading heterogeneous systems.

Value finally proves to be a better return on investment, as it is the best guide to identify the most useful suggestions for your organization. As Smith notes in his presentation, "Outstanding external partners work with customers to implement best practices in their organizations and help them deliver value."

To determine the value of an offer, you must first understand the complete cost base of the offered solution. The following are some factors to check when creating an RFP.

• Supplier partner management costs
• training
• Installation and integration.
• Quality control system
• Updates and configuration changes

3. Listen to the opinions of others.

Ultimately, you will be the decision maker of the RFP offers you receive, but it is very helpful to discuss your proposal with your colleagues and potential suppliers. Ideally, this should be done both during the development of the RFP and after the provider responds.

If you have already experienced the RFP process with others in your organization, start by brainstorming. This allows you:

• Clarify the purpose.
• Refining decision criteria.
• Determine if you have effectively communicated your business needs.

Equally important is spending time with potential help desk service providers. This gives you an idea of ​​how they think and how they work, and it goes beyond RFP requirements and ultimately adds value. Some tips to keep in mind:

• Plan small, informal meetings.
• Start this process early. The more contact you have with your provider, the greater their appreciation for your goals and problems.

We provide our suppliers with as much data as possible about their current status. This allows for much better presentations.

Keep the process open and friendly. If everyone calms down, they are more likely to get valuable information and honest advice.

4. Ask lots of questions

Please don't hesitate. The primary purpose of RFP is to collect information so that you can make informed decisions about service partner options. There is no better time to request the information you need than while receiving potential provider care. Smith said, "The last thing I want to do is select vendor partners and let them show immature processes. Or you need to create a new process and test it."

Below are some questions to consider. By no means exhaustive do they provide information on how potential providers think, operate, and ultimately deliver their services.

Ask about the features:

1. Who offers Incident Tracking or Ticket Management Systems?
2. What do they offer regarding technical writing or the knowledge management process? 
3. Who writes the knowledge? 
4. Who approves, who will issue it? 
5. What is the response time for future non-urgent or urgent knowledge?
6. Do they have documentation experience that you can take advantage of?
7. What is the level 1 training process? What is your role What is your role?

5. Finally, be open-minded

If you are looking for new ways to improve your organization's results through help desk services (increasing customer satisfaction, improving response speed, improving support efficiency), the first step is to decide to create an RFP. It's already running. The RFP not only helps gather information to select qualified service partners, but also introduces new ideas and methods to achieve the goals. These new approaches can ultimately change the way we do business, and the solutions we find can bring benefits to organizations you're not even considering.