Should We Outsource IT?

Is It Time to Outsource?

In our last post, we explored why you might want to continue to resource IT internally when faced with the departure of your primary IT manager or go-to person. Your internal IT people know your business best, are on-site all the time and, on the surface, look like they cost less. These rationales, however, raise questions about expertise, capacity and capability. Let’s look a little closer at these and explore why it might be time to outsource IT.

Expertise - Internal IT Has Limits

One person, or even two or three, can’t carry expertise in every aspect of technology, especially in a world where technology changes frequently and quickly and is becoming more complex. Additionally, people gravitate towards the things that they like or are good at and where they know they will experience success. This sets up a scenario where some critical pieces of IT might get neglected.

With an outsourced IT department, all the roles needed for comprehensive IT are covered. You have people to take care of day-to-day issues: some to work on building and improving systems and others to keep servers up-to-date and secure. You have people who oversee the network's health, experts who specialize in software and a main planner to help you budget and strategize how the business will use technology to grow. These folks don’t work in silos, either. They form a collaborative team that is effective at creating and implementing innovative projects as they scaffold their ideas on the experience and skills of others.

Capacity - Peaks and Valleys

When you resource IT staff internally, you undergo peaks and valleys of capacity as the business grows or experiences turnover. Life in the valley is pretty difficult for internal IT staff. They are being stretched in many directions simultaneously and encounter stress that comes from always being behind and having people with immediate needs. Life on the peak might provide time to get to those projects that always get pushed to the back burner, but IT won’t have a chance to improve if the projects for improvement can only happen when IT isn’t busy with something else. An outsourced IT company will be able to allocate the people you need when you need them, resulting in the ability to easily scale up without adding the cost of another full-time employee.

Capability - Finding and Retaining the Right Person

Getting the right person for the job is the goal for every position, but it’s especially challenging with IT. Technology professionals have different skill sets and experience, and finding someone with the exact mix you desire is difficult. In addition to being good tech staff, the best candidates must have the attributes that will make them good employees and team players that fit into your culture. With internal IT staff retention at only 2.5 years, you should get good at searching for IT staff who want to make a career move because you will have to do it again down the road.

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Companies that provide managed IT services take care of staffing for you. They're experts at finding the kind of technical skills that are needed to provide comprehensive IT support. Training and education for employees to keep up with technology trends and best practices benefits clients and means that clients can focus on what they do best.

What's the Best IT Solution?

The question is more than whether we should resource IT internally or go with an outsourced partner. The real question is what kind of IT support experience do you want, and what arrangement will provide it? Schedule a meeting to explore how you can get IT strategy and management to help your company thrive.