Before you outsource that help desk, think about its potential as a customer relationship management tool.

Years ago, a salesperson gave me some advice about my IT help desk. He thought it made sense for me to outsource this low-value function so my IT staff could concentrate on high-value activities like application development and project management. Since business alignment was a top priority, I toyed with the idea.

At the time, I was defining the requirements and design for a new customer relationship management (CRM) system. So I got to thinking about how best to manage interactions with my IT customers. I too needed to track customer history, analyze problems with products and services, and gather customer feedback. I then realized that my help desk is my IT CRM system. Rather than a low-value function, my help desk is the face of IT for customers and a means to gather critical customer information. So I told the outsourcing provider I had changed my mind and would keep my help desk in-house. By elevating the importance of the help desk, I turned this IT function into the high-value, customer-facing tool that it can be.