PAGODA.COM Pagoda management has put together the following figures, outlining the yearly costs associated with the current sys- tarroduction Pugodacom is an Internet service provider (ISP) that caters to tem and the Indian proposal: idividual consumers and small busineses who require a high Current Online Help Desk herd of service and are willing to pay a premium for it. Specifi- Personnel costs: ally. Pagoda.com offers state-of-the-art e-mail applications and 40 full-time-equivalent (FTE) technical experts @ $40,000 Wob-building software, as weil as plenty of storage space and fast per year (salary and benefits): 3 supervisors @ $70,000 accesv via its high-speed servers. The marketing vice president. each per year (salary and benefits) lany Hunter, puts it this way: "There are a lot of companies out there promising the cheapest Internet access. But what do you get Equipment costs: for your money? Slow- or no-access, a mailbox full of spam, and 4 servers @$2,000 per year in endless stream of prtem crashes. And I wor't even mention 20PCs @ $1,000 per year belack of support if you have a technical question! For a fow dol. Variable costs: Lun more a month, we give our customers the environment they 51.50 per request (office supplies, fax paper, ete.) bed to be productive - without having to think about whether of not the can tetriere their e-mail, or whether their Web site New Delhi Proposal bus cashed lits no surprise, then, that we have the highest cus. Fixed cost: were stifiation and retention rates in the industry." \$1,500,000 per contract year (to cover administrative and The Online Help Deak 1Tcosts) One of Pagoda's serices is its online belp deik. The online help Charge: bek works as follows: Customers who are experiencing tech. 50.50 per request sial problems, or who simply have questions about their acQuestions coutil, enter a one-on-sne chat room, where they can intead lirecely with an expen. Problens are usually resolved within 1. Calculate the total cost of outsourcing the online help to minutes, and cuatnemens have listed it ar one of the top three deak versus staying with the current solution. Which op. trasons they sick with Pagods.com. Presently. Pagoda has tion is cheaper? mengh capacity to handle ip uo 900,000 tequests per year, al. 2. What other factors, other than costs, should Pagoda con- A firm bested o Krer Dehi. India, has apperoached Papode mptem to evaluate the two options? Abur oubouriag ter onlise help deak The ofler is atractive. 3. Should Pagods.com outsource its online help desk Why ot why not? Be sure to consider Table 7.6 and 7.7 when framing your anwer. 4. A tatemient of work typically specifies performance mea. surements that the huying firm can use to determing
