Response time refers to the time it takes to respond to a customer’s request for assistance. In the context of managed services or IT support, response time refers to the time it takes for a customer support agent to respond to an issue or a request for assistance or resolution.
For example, if you contact a helpdesk support agent, the response time will depend on when they receive your request, acknowledge it, and begin working on a solution.
Similarly, if you’re working with a managed service provider (MSP) and you’re experiencing a technical hitch, the response time would be the time it takes to respond to your service request and diagnose your issue.
Response time is crucial for your MSP business for the following reasons:
1. Employee Happiness
Employees are happy when technical issues are acknowledged and diagnosed faster. Diagnosing quickly and in a time-to-value manner guarantees that your employees can resume their duties without wasting time.
So, a quicker response time equals employee happiness because your employees do not keep worrying whether issues have been reported and whether they’re being resolved. A faster response time equals more employee happiness and better satisfaction.
2. Less Loss of Revenue
During a delay, business costs skyrocket because projects fail to give the desired returns on revenues. As an MSP business, delays can tarnish your reputation, making it hard to retain clients and generate revenues.
Delays incapacitate employees’ ability to carry on their duties, which leads to less satisfied customers, thus affecting your accrued revenues. Therefore, a slow response time affects your revenues because it makes it hard for employees to carry on their duties and impairs the overall project deliverables.
3. Peace of Mind
A faster response time guarantees that your employees have peace of mind. Your top management does not have to worry about troubleshooting issues. They can rest assured that any technical issues are in safe hands and experts are working on them.
However, a slow response time means that technical issues have not been acknowledged. It also creates anxiety because your management doesn’t know when their concerns will be received and addressed.
So, a faster response time is directly proportional to the management’s peace of mind and overall work satisfaction.
4. Productivity in the Office
Faster response time means that systems will be up and running shortly. However, a slow response time affects the time it takes for systems, networks, and infrastructures to perform optimally.
For high-productive settings like MSP businesses, a slow response time means that your overall productivity will be affected because you won’t be able to render services faster and optimally.
A managed service provider is a third-party firm or agency that directly manages and monitors a customer’s information system infrastructure and end-user systems. MSPs deliver services like networking, troubleshooting, and cybersecurity. Additionally, they may offer services such as application, infrastructure, and security on an ongoing basis.
Therefore, considering the complexity of customers’ IT infrastructure, it’s crucial to acknowledge that productivity for your MSP business is critical to your customer’s overall satisfaction.
A faster response time ensures that your IT infrastructure as an MSP is up to the task, thus ensuring and guaranteeing high-level productivity and service efficiency.
5. Snowball Effect
The snowball effect is a theory that stipulates that when one thing is down, the other things are naturally unable to function as desired. In a business setup, a slow response time means that the overall infrastructure will be impaired in meeting their needs.
A slow response time, in the end, will affect task execution, thus impairing critical functions such as customer service, networking, application control, and security functions of companies affiliated with your MSP business.
So, to deal with the long-term effects of poor services, your MSP enterprise must be willing to rectify issues and concerns surrounding a slow response time.
6. Increased Customer Satisfaction
Let’s start with the obvious — when clients and customers receive responses to their requests faster and more quickly, they feel appreciated and valued. Indeed, in a documented survey, 77% of the customers acknowledged that valuing their time is the best thing businesses can do to ensure customer satisfaction.
These statistics reiterate the significance of faster response time for your MSP business. So, to achieve the desired levels of customer satisfaction, you must ensure that your IT infrastructure is up and running. This starts with having a faster response time from all the enterprises that deliver services to your business.
Bastionpoint — Making Strides towards Outsourced IT Services
Bastionpoint offers a wide range of IT support services — an outsourced IT department, helpdesk support, cybersecurity, and compliance. You don’t need to worry about slow response rates — you focus on the bottom line because every IT support-related issue is well taken care of.
Contact us for outsourced services, helpdesk support, and cybersecurity.
Chief Information Officer / vCIO
I provide CIO and IT Support Services alongside a mid-sized technical support team of engineers for business. Bastionpoint Technology is a managed service provider for businesses ranging from 1-500 users! We specialize in Legal, Medical, and Professional services, but support so much more. Retail, Finance, Healthcare, Manufacturing, Non-Profits, and you’ve certainly heard of our clients. We offer unlimited on-demand services, with an on-demand price point to meet every client’s needs. Just call on us – we put your business first!
