Tech support costing companies

The nationwide survey, sponsored by technology services company Siemens Business Services, found that another 20 percent of white-collar workers spend an hour or more on the phone with tech support each week. Five percent report being on the phone with the help desk for five hours or more each week.

Siemens estimated that a company of 5,000 white-collar employees is losing about $4.1m (£2.3m) annually on lost "direct-productivity" hours, as workers stop what they're doing to get tech help. The estimate is based on a US Department of Labor estimate that it costs an average private company $24.95 per hour to employ a white-collar worker, Siemens said.

The survey also found that 26 percent of employees admit they rely on their company's technical support for help with personal technology devices, further driving up demand for technical support services.

"Of all leading indicators, help desk calls represent the clearest view into the health of an IT environment," said a statement from John McKenna, chief executive of Siemens Business Services of North America. "By addressing the entire IT infrastructure, CIOs solve the help-desk symptoms and, more importantly, maximise overall IT performance and deliver cost savings."

According to a report earlier this year from research company Meta Group, the idea of farming out support services to low-cost providers is gaining attention in the market. But outsourcing isn't a no-brainer, Meta Group warned.

"The promise of significant cost savings is the alluring attraction for many organisations investigating alternative services to costly insourced IT resources," Meta Group said. "However, quick-hitting resource cost reductions at the service desk must be carefully weighed against the long-term cost management of IT service delivery."