Why outsource your IT? There are 3 major benefits to consider:
- You gain access to a wider variety of in-depth IT expertise and world-class tools.
- With that expertise and technology comes advanced planning, prioritizing, and preventative capabilities.
- You can pay a fixed cost that delivers better return on investment.
But outsourcing IT isn’t the right choice for every organization. For some businesses, it makes more sense to hire in-house IT staff, especially if the company has specialized software or equipment. For others, the best approach involves a combination of in-house IT staff and outsourcing for specific needs, such as monitoring and network security.
So how do you decide what’s best for your business?
As a company that has provided outsourced IT support from New Orleans to clients around the country since 1996, we are familiar with the many factors that weigh into this important decision. And we’re here to help! Keep reading to learn more about why you might outsource your IT and see if it’s the right fit for your organization.
3 Reasons Why You Should Outsource Your IT
1. You gain access to a wider variety of in-depth IT expertise and world-class tools.
What sorts of skills and expertise are required to maintain your IT? You probably need one or more people to handle installing, maintaining, and updating your hardware and software. You also need someone to configure and manage your network, so you consistently have fast, reliable internet.
These days, no organization is immune from the threat of cyberattacks. It is critical that you invest in cybersecurity across your IT infrastructure, including your hardware, software, and network.
Even with strong cybersecurity, it’s a good idea to back up your data. User error, physical damage, or technology failures could all result in data loss, either temporarily or permanently. Not only do you need IT support to regularly and properly back up your data, but also to quickly and correctly restore it.
Chances are, you won’t find one person with experience in everything you need—and certainly not at the depth of knowledge and skills you require. Rather than hiring a full IT team to cover all your needs, it may make more sense to outsource your IT.
Oftentimes, IT companies can also devote more time and resources to their employees’ continued IT education than a smaller in-house team can. The tech industry is always changing, and businesses whose sole focus is IT can be better equipped to stay informed about the latest trends, technologies, and threats.
In the same way that it might not be practical for you to hire as robust an IT team as an IT company would, it may not be cost effective for you to purchase the specialized tools and software they have, either. One reason why you might outsource your IT is to reap the benefits of these world-class tools without having to pay for them yourself.
2. With that expertise and technology comes advanced planning, prioritizing, and preventative capabilities.
Just because you outsource your IT doesn’t mean you can’t receive personal service. In fact, one of the benefits of outsourcing your IT to a managed service provider is the customized, sophisticated, comprehensive planning it can facilitate.
With a more experienced and skilled IT team working on your behalf, along with more specialized and advanced tools at their disposal, you can better prepare for your future in a variety of ways:
- Budgeting: Without proper foresight, you might decide to spend your annual IT budget on new computers, only to realize later that your firewalls are at end-of-life and need to be replaced. By monitoring and planning for your entire IT infrastructure, you can better predict your technology needs and prioritize your budget accordingly.
- Cybersecurity: Hackers and cyberterrorists are constantly improving their techniques and developing new threats. The majority of small businesses that experience a cyberattack close within 6 months, and even major corporations struggle to recover once attacked. Investing in thorough, active monitoring and proactive cybersecurity measures can keep your organization from ever facing the devastating consequences of an attack.
- Regulatory Compliance: Violating HIPAA or other laws or regulations is another costly mistake many organizations cannot afford to make. Lifespan ACE, a Rhode Island nonprofit health organization, recently agreed to pay $1,040,000 over a potential HIPAA violation involving an unencrypted laptop that was stolen, for example.
- Downtime Prevention: According to Gartner, the average cost of network downtime for businesses is $5,600 per minute, though this can vary greatly from one company to another. If you lack the resources to supply in-house server and network monitoring, preventative maintenance, upgrades, and support, you can outsource your IT to take advantage of these downtime prevention measures.
Managed service providers make and execute these kinds of plans every day. This gives them far more practice and proficiency with this type of work than most in-house teams, whose day-to-day experience is limited to one organization.
3. You can pay a fixed cost that delivers better return on investment.
There are a number of costs associated with hiring in-house employees that you don’t pay when you outsource your IT. For every in-house IT worker you hire, you have to purchase the hardware, software, office supplies, and office space they need to do their job. You have to pay their salary and benefits. If they ever require additional training or certifications, their time and financial costs will come out of your company’s pocket as well.
To limit these costs, you could hire fewer people or hire less qualified candidates. But this puts your organization in the hands of a less experienced workforce. Meanwhile, your company is not providing these workers with valuable tools, career paths, or mentorship, giving them little reason to stay and invest in your success.
By contrast, many IT providers offer a fixed cost for their fully managed IT services, so you never have to worry about the time or resources required to perform your IT work. No matter if a task takes them 5 minutes or 5 days, you know upfront exactly what you will pay. For many businesses, this means better IT support at a lower cost.
Have More Questions About Outsourcing Your IT?
Our experts love talking about IT and the unique challenges it presents! Still wondering if you should outsource your IT? Contact us today to discuss your needs.
