The Growing Importance of Your IT Provider
As more offices manage electronic data and teams need to communicate over vast geographic areas, technology has never played a more integral part of the business. Because of this, it has also grown very important to have IT professionals ready to respond to technical issues as they arise. While many companies continue to have on-site IT departments with dedicated IT specialists on the company payroll, several are discovering the benefits of outsourcing their IT departments to a secondary solution. Let's take a look at some of the benefits of outsourcing your IT department.
The Pros of Outsourcing IT
Human Capital Management
While it's always nice to have certain specialists on the payroll, this luxury may come at a great expense. In addition to salaries and benefits, hiring additional employees also includes the price of additional human resources, management, and office accommodations. All of these can add up to be quite expensive.
Third-party companies only charge for plans or services rendered. They require no managers, HR, or expensive salaries paid even when there are no issues to tend to.
Advanced Security Protocol Maintenance
Hiring advanced IT personnel is quite a rigorous process for a few different reasons. While a company needs to find someone with the IT skillset necessary to perform their job, they simultaneously need to find someone who can be trusted with an organization's most sensitive data. Thoroughly vetting candidates can be taxing for smaller companies, especially when those performing the hiring may not understand the systems they're hiring what is essentially a stranger to manage.
Outsourcing IT duties means selecting an IT company with a proven track record, thorough vetting, and insurance against any possible mishaps. Because they serve a variety of customers, top-tier security protocols are standard.
Potential for Turnover
If your entire IT system is in the hands of one or two individuals, what happens when they leave? Did they properly document everything along the way? Will their successor be able to pick up where they left off? Outsourcing IT duties to a third-party solution typically require advanced documentation of all activities performed and services rendered.
Even if a company decides to switch Managed Network Services providers, a new MNS team will be able to pick up where the other one left off.
Departmental Complacency
Most of us know of a company IT department head whose certifications are collecting dust. Sometimes a one-person department, this could be an IT professional counting the days till retirement who gauges their success the number of things currently not on fire. While their maintenance for adequately maintaining the status quo is tolerated by leadership, that same leadership may be completely ignorant of the vulnerabilities that such a complacent IT department may lead to.
Due to their diverse client base and the perpetually evolving level of IT threats—either to malicious actors or data loss due to system failure—third-party IT service provides have to remain on the cutting edge to remain competitive. Their own need to remain competitive increases the likelihood of your company receiving the latest preventative maintenance and protection against threats to your system.
Possible Disadvantages of Outsourcing IT
Outsourcing IT duties may not be the best fit for every company. Keeping your IT maintenance needs in-house may be advantageous if keeping all solutions under one roof has value for your company. This form of self-sustenance is becoming rarer as technology needs to expand, but some organizations simply prefer to keep all of their solutions in-house—whether for accounting and company morale. These are likely the same companies that keep everyone on their payroll—from the IT professionals to janitorial staff and beyond.
