Outsourcing is a business strategy in which a company contracts out certain functions to an external provider. A business may choose to outsource for various reasons, including:
- Reduced operating costs
- Shared risk with the service provider
- Access to industry experts, better skills and better software
- Streamlining the company focus
- Freeing up internal resources
Accounts and payroll, human resources and increasingly, IT functions, are all business functions that are commonly outsourced. There are, of course, both pros and cons to outsourcing your IT, and whether outsourcing would be beneficial to your business depends on many factors.
If you're contemplating outsourcing some or all of your IT, consider these pros and cons before reaching a decision...
Pros of outsourcing your IT
Cost-effective
Outsourcing elements of your IT to a third-party is often a more cost-effective way to operate compared to paying an IT specialist a yearly salary or employing a full service desk team. Using a Managed Services Provider for your IT means your monthly outgoings are reduced and consolidated, with one predictable monthly cost. It also removes the potential cost of recruitment and training, should a key member of your IT team leave.
Shared and minimised risk
With a third-party providing IT support and monitoring, you share the risk of downtime, outage and data breach with someone else. Multiple backup servers and a disaster recovery plan will help ensure business continuity in the event of a disaster. This professional support should give you the freedom to be more flexible and agile as a business, and concentrate on providing the best service or product to your customers.
Easy scalability
If you need to scale up quickly, having outsourced your IT allows this to happen easily. Conversely, you can also scale back just as easily should you need to,
Access to expert knowledge
While all businesses strive to attract the most capable people, using a professional Managed Services Provider could give you access to a pool of people with expert skills and knowledge which may not have been attainable if hiring in-house.
Keep competitive
As well as giving you access to the most skilled individuals, outsourcing IT certain functions should also give you access to the very best technology, software and resources. Software will be updated on a rolling basis, so you will always be using the very latest versions, which is also more cost effective given how quickly software evolves.
24/7 support and monitoring
Using an MSP for your IT support means your systems can be monitored 24/7/365, which is not possible if your in-house IT team is only available during office hours. It also means that any system errors, failures or data breaches will be spotted and can be resolved quickly.
Free to focus
Outsourcing elements of your IT means that you are free to focus on what you do best: providing a service or product to your customers. You can relax knowing that support is always available, and the technology and procedures are in place to make sure your business won't be affected by downtime or disasters.
Cons of outsourcing your IT
Communication issues
Where is your MSP located? Is English their first language? Do they prefer to communicate by phone or email? These are all things to consider when choosing a provider. Sometimes, face to face contact is the most effective way of sorting out an issue, but this is something you may have to forego when certain IT functions are performed off-site. Outsourcing won't work if you aren't able to communicate with your provider when you want to, how you want to.
Less control
While there are many benefits to outsourcing your IT, businesses do relinquish a certain amount of control in doing so. While requests can be made -and met- businesses may feel they do not have the level of control over activity that they would if certain roles or their IT support were still in-house.
Less than expected service
Sometimes, reality fails to live up to expectation. Your chosen MSP may deliver a service that is not up to the standard you were expecting. This can be mitigated by ensuring a Service Level Agreement is in place, and that both parties are clear on the terms.
Data security
Outsourcing your IT to a third-party immediately gives more people access to your data, which poses more of a data security risk. However, outsourcing should also mean that your data is more secure and robustly protected than ever, ultimately minimising the risk of a data breach.
Next steps
The advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing your IT are largely dependent on the needs and nature of your business. Most of the downsides of outsourcing can be avoided by choosing your provider carefully and doing research to make sure they are the right fit for you.
Core provide IT support to businesses across a range of sectors, including financial services, legal, retail, government and membership bodies. To discuss your IT needs further, contact us today and we will guide you through the options available.
Looking for more ways to outsource administrative tasks so that you can concentrate on growing your business? Check out this article about outsourcing your property management to a virtual assistant.
