ScienceSoft Global
Help Desk Services for Investment Firms
In investment IT and help desk services since 2007, ScienceSoft delivers software support, IT infrastructure maintenance, and employee help desk services to investment companies worldwide. As a strategic vendor, we go beyond break-fix support, anticipating and preventing recurring and potential issues.
Help desk for investment companies is characterized by the support engineers’ expertise in trading platforms, portfolio management tools, and compliance systems. The help desk’s goal is to ensure rapid resolution of user and system issues to maintain uninterrupted investment operations.
Maintaining World-Class Help Desk Benchmarks
Recognized by IAOP and Channel Partners, ScienceSoft is a managed IT services provider specializing in the financial sector. As a quality-driven, ISO 9001-certified vendor, we combine tailored SLA terms with proactive ITIL-based ITSM practices to consistently meet and exceed industry benchmarks for help desk.
Read on to learn more about how we maintain this performance level.
Help Desk Processes We Cover for Our Investment Clients
Tier 1 (L1): Workstation setup, access management, and first-line troubleshooting
User onboarding and account management
Our L1 help desk agents support employees throughout the user lifecycle.
During onboarding, they handle:
- User account creation.
- Assigning permissions.
- Digital workplace setup.
- Provisioning new users in trading platforms or portfolio systems using role-based templates.
- Software license management.
During offboarding, agents manage:
- Account deactivation.
- Mailbox archiving.
- Data transfer.
- Revoking access to databases or distribution lists.
Investment system support
L1 help desk sets up and manages mission-critical investment systems and devices, covering tasks such as:
- Configuring and troubleshooting trade terminal access on laptops, tablets, and mobile apps.
- Configuring multi-monitor setups, keyboards, and shortcut keys for trading desks.
- Assisting with virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) session issues, especially for remote analysts and portfolio managers.
Enterprise application support
Our agents provide first-line support for Microsoft 365 apps (e.g., Teams, Outlook, OneDrive), Slack, Zoom, and other business tools and handle tasks such as:
- Resolving generic errors in Excel (e.g., Bloomberg, FactSet, and other plugin crashes, internal macros conflicts).
- Assisting users with secure file-sharing platforms such as Intralinks, Firmex, or other Virtual Data Rooms (VDRs).
First-line security assistance
Our L1 agents help employees follow company security protocols such as multi-factor authentication (MFA), password resets, and reporting phishing attempts. They also handle email-related issues, such as investigating spam false positives or blocking malicious websites.
Need a help desk for your clients?
In addition to internal tech support for employees, ScienceSoft offers white-label help desk services to provide customer support to investors and other end clients of investment firms.
Tier 2 (L2): Complex application troubleshooting and infrastructure support
Investment system support
Our L2 engineers troubleshoot trading and portfolio systems by:
- Resolving data flow errors in Bloomberg, Refinitiv, and other investment system integrations used in Excel templates.
- Investigating failures in order routing or execution blotters, such as dropped FIX messages in execution management systems.
- Correcting missing or delayed portfolio dashboard updates caused by feed errors or NAV delays.
- Working with Legal and Compliance to ensure pre-trade rules execute correctly and do not block legitimate trades.
Enterprise application support
At this level, the help desk resolves advanced problems in everyday business applications. Typical tasks include:
- Troubleshooting email delivery failures, email client misconfigurations, and cross-device synchronization issues.
- Resolving licensing and complex activation errors.
- Handling compatibility issues across operating systems.
Access and connectivity management
ScienceSoft’s L2 team investigates and resolves user access problems, such as account lockouts, that cannot be solved at L1.
This may involve log analysis, cross-system checks, and coordination with the L3 infrastructure support team. They also troubleshoot endpoint access, resolve internet connectivity problems, and verify network settings.
Infrastructure maintenance
L2 engineers assist with maintaining core IT systems. This includes supporting major OS upgrades, deploying patches, applying system updates, monitoring infrastructure, and managing backup jobs (verifying successful completion, resolving failures).
Tier 3 (L3): Performance tuning and stability management
Application support
At L3, our engineers provide code-level troubleshooting and configuration fixes for both investment platforms (e.g., trading systems, market data integrations) and enterprise applications (e.g., Microsoft 365, Slack, Zoom). Typical tasks include:
- Diagnosing reconciliation errors between internal systems (e.g., investment accounting, portfolio systems) and custodians.
- Analyzing FIX log traffic between Order Management Systems (OMS) and prime brokers; resolving trade reject codes.
- Debugging latency in trade dashboards caused by memory leaks or market data query bottlenecks.
- Resolving broken API connections that affect reporting tools pulling portfolio exposure and P&L data.
- Troubleshooting Python scripts used by quantitative analysts for strategy backtesting.
Infrastructure support
Our L3 engineers tackle complex infrastructure challenges to ensure a stable, secure, and scalable IT environment. Typical tasks include:
- (Re)designing and implementing IT infrastructure components.
- Preparing and configuring servers, operating systems, and network security controls (firewalls, intrusion detection and prevention systems).
- Designing and implementing backup strategies (schedules, retention, disaster recovery).
- Integrating with cloud services (e.g., Azure, AWS) and optimizing cloud resources and licenses for maximum cost efficiency.
- Investigating complex performance issues and implementing root-cause fixes.
We can also engage our cybersecurity experts to remediate vulnerabilities, implement and customize SIEM systems, and address regulatory requirements. Our DevOps and development teams, including investment AI experts, can step in to refactor or redevelop software components (e.g., after code audits), implement CI/CD pipelines, and automate infrastructure.
Why Investment Firms Choose ScienceSoft for Help Desk Services
- 36 years in IT services.
- 18 years of experience in help desk services and investment IT.
- 17 years in ITIL-compliant ITSM.
- Dedicated to long-term client success: 62% of our revenue comes from clients who have stayed with us for 2+ years.
- 4,200 projects successfully carried out in 75+ countries across the Americas, Europe, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Asia, and Oceania.
- Flexible time coverage: 24/7, 12/5, 12/7, 8/5, after-hours support.
- Multilingual IT specialists proficient in English, Spanish, German, French, Polish, Turkish, Czech, and other languages.
- Help desk teams trained in FINRA, SEC, FCA, DORA, and EBA compliance requirements.
What Our Clients Say
BPC had to outsource a Tier 2–3 support team. ScienceSoft has been filling this role for over a year, and their work has made all the difference for our IT operations. They are true engineers who think long term and propose strategic decisions instead of micro-fixes, and, what is equally important, they carry them out as planned.
With their assistance, we optimized a significant part of our IT infrastructure and reduced the share of manual work.
Our clients in healthcare rely on Qventive for the support and administration of essential software solutions such as EHR and practice management systems. Timely assistance and resolution are imperative in this field, so when we were faced with a large influx of support requests, having ScienceSoft step in for 24/7 help desk was a lifesaver. Their team quickly adapted to our processes and understood our clients’ expectations from the start.
We appreciate their proactive communication and commitment to quality.
We went with ScienceSoft as our help desk partner and didn’t regret it. ScienceSoft’s team demonstrates high technical competence, a proactive and responsible approach to IT support services, and full compliance with HVG’s SLA. After a year of working together, we requested a ticket package twice as large as the initial one, and now they reliably handle Tier 1 support for many of our clients.
Flexible Cooperation Models for Investment Help Desk
Full Outsourcing: Managed Help Desk
For clients aiming to cut IT costs and scale fast without building in-house capacity, ScienceSoft delivers end-to-end help desk support (L1–L3). We take full ownership of IT processes and outcomes while giving you complete visibility through regular, transparent reporting.
Co-Sourcing: Shared Responsibility
For firms that prefer to keep sensitive functions in-house or need extended coverage across hours and time zones, ScienceSoft is ready to work side by side with your internal IT team to guarantee continuous, seamless support.
How We Deliver Real Value With Help Desk — Beyond Performance KPIs
Our support agents investigate the root causes of recurring issues, gather user feedback, and propose fixes to prevent repeat problems. As self-motivated professionals, they require minimal oversight and take initiative to improve support processes continuously.
Our SLAs provide legal protection, accountability, and clarity for both parties, containing transparent definitions of support levels, request types, and termination clauses to prevent any ambiguity. We can adjust standard SLA terms to align with each client’s specific requirements.
Fast help desk rollout
With skilled agents and engineers who go through regular training, we minimize onboarding time and can begin processing tickets within two weeks of your initial request. Knowledge transfer and tool setup are streamlined, allowing the transition to take as little time as possible.
We analyze how your cloud resources are used, identify areas of overspending, and propose the best savings strategies. By adopting discounted instance types, companies can save as much as 90% of their cloud spend.
Help desk processes at ScienceSoft are built with a solid understanding of security and compliance that we must provide for our clients, especially in regulated sectors such as finance. All our help desk agents are trained in cybersecurity best practices and receive additional support from our SOC and compliance officers whenever needed.
Tools and Technologies We Work With
Ticketing systems
Monitoring tools
Platforms
Remote collaboration
Connection
Communication
DevOps
Containerization
Automation
CI/CD tools
Monitoring
Clouds
Back-end programming languages
Front-end programming languages
Languages
JavaScript frameworks
Mobile
Databases / data storages
SQL
NoSQL
Cloud databases, warehouses, and storage
AWS
Azure
Google Cloud Platform
Other
Help Desk Pricing
Help desk costs may vary depending on each client’s specific requirements, including support levels, the complexity of supported apps and infrastructure, monthly ticket volume, and time coverage. For example, the price per L1 ticket can range from $6 to $14, depending on the ticket package and exact support terms.
Use our online cost calculator to get a non-binding estimate for your help desk needs.
How much will help desk support cost for your case?
