Marlow, UK, 07 March 2013 – Softcat’s customers now have access to a 24/7, 365 days-a-year managed service support desk, from which trained Softcat engineers supply high quality, out-of-hours monitoring and support on customer infrastructure and platforms, as well as assisting end-users with a range of technical issues. The support desk, based at Softcat’s headquarters in Marlow, is manned by 40 trained engineers and managed by Simon Walker, Softcat’s managed services director.

Simon commented: “We can’t predict when an end-user is going to require technical support, but we can ensure that there is always someone there to assist them when they do – whatever the time, wherever they are.” Acknowledging the growing demand for managed services that many customers face, he added: “Not every company is able to offer round-the-clock in-house support, and some end-users will invariably experience IT problems out of hours. Many of Softcat’s customers have global operations, and with offices as far away as Hong Kong, America, and Thailand, they want their end-users around the world to be able to talk to friendly, knowledgeable people outside of UK working hours. Other Softcat customers have recently rolled out bring your own device (BYOD) policies and require out of hours support for their devices. So we’re delighted to offer them this all-encompassing managed service support system, which complements and enhances the services we currently offer.”

Softcat has historically provided round-the-clock proactive remote monitoring of customers’ infrastructures and third-line support, but the new enhanced support offering acts as an extension of their customers’ help desks. Softcat is now in a position to assess calls out of hours and direct them accordingly, enabling issues to be resolved before the customer’s working day has even begun.

The Softcat helpdesk provides a high quality alternative to third-party out-of-hours service providers. Trained technicians provide a consistently excellent service, building up relationships with customers and providing continuity when addressing their issues. Customers will always reach a knowledgeable, friendly engineer with full access to their account history – so they’ll never have to repeat issues they’ve been experiencing previously. 

Softcat’s managing director, Colin Brown, said: “We know how frustrating it is calling out of hours with a technical issue and having to run through your entire account history with a new engineer. We can provide our customers with quality, consistent support for their customers, at any time, anywhere. This can be either to facilitate existing on-site service desks or to offer total service support; either way, many customers are finding that our support as a managed service is more cost-effective than implementing their own 24/7 customer support in-house.” 

Like everything else about the IT reseller, Softcat’s managed services support desk stands out from the crowd. The support desk engineers have been through a rigorous two-year training programme to industry standard certifications. Staff are specialists in storage, virtualisation, Microsoft applications, security and networking, which enables them to assist customers with both broad and specific product and technology queries. Highly experienced third- and fourth-line senior engineers support the front-line engineers as escalation points.

“Of course, what really sets our engineers apart is the ‘Softcat factor’ – a fun and friendly personality which, combined with our expertise, enables us to deliver outstanding customer service,” commented Simon Walker.

About Softcat
Softcat (www.softcat.com) is a leading provider of software licensing, hardware, security and related IT services. Softcat, founded in 1993 by Peter Kelly, remains privately owned and currently employs more than 500 people. It achieved a turnover in excess of £307 million in its last financial year and has been profitable since inception, resulting in a strong balance sheet and very firm financial foundations. 

The company sells and supports products and solutions from all the world's leading IT companies. On all its portfolio products and solutions it offers a full range of services, including advice and guidance, technical design, product sourcing, implementation, support and project management. It enjoys a trading relationship with over 5,000 longstanding customers, predominantly from the UK corporate sector but also including large enterprises, small businesses and public sector organisations.

As an organisation Softcat cares passionately about two things – outstanding employee satisfaction and world-class customer service. It believes the former drives the latter.