

Ask HN: how easy is it to create my own part-time, remote help desk? - binxbolling

I'm currently paying a US-based call center about $55/hr to provide 24/7 frontline tech support via phone, e-mail, and live chat.<p>They're horrible at it, and I'm wondering if I can't just do it better. Switching vendors is tough because our case/incident volume is so low that most companies either won't deal with us OR will deal, but at outrageous prices.<p>So I'm toying with using something like Grasshopper and Zendesk to basically create my own help desk. One of the big unknowns is the staff: are there people willing to be on-call for an 8-hour shift, yet be paid per case? Or paid per minute of support time? Is that even legal? I can't afford to pay for two or three full 8-hour shifts, which is why we have an outsourced vendor now (where agents are shared across multiple clients and we're only billed per minute).<p>Any ideas or suggestions, especially from folks who have done something similar?
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1123581321
If you pay by case or commission, expect someone to stick around only if
they're making as much or more than if you paid hourly.

I think you should look into a service that sells you minutes and takes calls
from several different companies. I recommend CallRuby
(<http://www.callruby.com/pricing.html>).

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binxbolling
CallRuby seems very interesting, I hadn't heard of them before. Thinking of
ways I can utilize them, but for my current situation I need more of a tech
support rep than a receptionist.

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trueneverland
Someone literally just posted this not too long before you did:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4361136>

~~~
binxbolling
Thanks, I'll look into it. However, I guess one of my biggest questions
currently is around staffing— it looks like Supportfu is just a competitor to
Zendesk, Kayako, etc.

