As a business owner, you will soon realize that running a business on your own is near impossible. Sure you might have a great product, service or idea to sell to people, but when your business starts taking off, you’re going to need some help. Even if you only have a few people at your company, you will notice that there are not enough hours in the day to keep up with your business. IT problems, if not managed effectively, do tend to occur quite frequently, and if you try to solve these issues yourself, you’ll stop focusing on growing your business. The best course of action is to enlist the help of experienced IT technicians. But should you hire in-house staff or should you outsource?
For years, business leaders have long debated the benefits of outsourcing their IT versus hiring their own in-house technicians. It’s 2016 now but it feels like there is still no definite answer as to which IT service suits businesses best. Although many have touted the vast capabilities of outsourcing (as we will soon discuss below), there are some that argue that in-house also has its advantages. Let’s take a look.
In-house staff
The biggest benefit of hiring IT staff is that you can control the time, activity, and quality of the employees. Since the IT staff is also within the office, they are more likely to understand your business goals and install new technologies that will align with them. Plus, if you feel that core operations are best done by your company then hiring in-house staff may be better. For instance, if your company excels at website design, then you may want to bring those design skills in-house rather than outsourcing to a service provider who may not deliver on the idea you had in mind. Some also argue that keeping staff in-house streamlines operations as a technician is available in your company during office hours.
IT Outsourcing
However, there are several reasons why IT outsourcing has become a popular alternative for many businesses. For one, it is less expensive than hiring a full-time IT professional. Without a service provider you will have to purchase new hardware for employees, manage your network, create business continuity plans, and hire in-house staff as well as provide training for them. Your pockets are probably not deep enough to cover all these costs. But with an outsourced service provider you only have to pay fixed monthly fees to get access to highly qualified IT consultants that can assess your company’s needs and immediately come up with a solution that will address these pain points accordingly. Interestingly, an MIS Quarterly study in 2013 found that a $96.4 million increase in IT outsourcing investment resulted in $121.14 million drop in operating costs.
Managing IT infrastructures, networks, and software requires a lot of technical expertise. For small businesses, especially those with little to no IT experience this can be a problem because they don’t know what solution they need. That’s why outsourced consultants can supplement a company’s limited IT knowledge with their years of experience and install, monitor, and manage services that align with the organization’s goals. What’s more, managed service providers (MSP) can monitor and provide your business with round-the-clock support so that you’ll always have someone at the end of the line when you receive some unexpected downtime at 11 pm. Additionally, service providers are constantly informed about the latest technologies, eliminating the need to hire and train staff every time new software is released.
As previously mentioned, it’s in your best interest to delegate IT related tasks to professionals while you focus only on the core components of your company. Partnering with an MSP grants you the ability to scale your technology as needed. Suppose you are looking to aggressively expand but you lack the storage space necessary to accommodate your new employees. With an MSP you can simply request more storage space in your cloud solution so that there’s enough virtual room for your business to grow.
The right choice for your business
The reality is, modern technologies are complex and increasingly difficult to manage. Traditionally, we relied on in-house IT technicians to help solve our IT problems, but their service and expertise now pale in comparison to the productivity, security, and better bottom line that a trustworthy outsourced IT service provider offers.
By working with a MSP you grant your business access to the best technology vendors and to a wealth of highly experienced IT consultants that are sure to help your company grow at an unprecedented rate.
Managing and installing new technologies is an extremely daunting task, especially for a company that doesn’t specialize in IT - but we do. The team at Onsite Computing will offer your business all the benefits that you can expect from an outsourced service provider, and more. Give us a call today, to learn more about the benefits of working with outsourced IT providers and the services they offer.
