Information technology (IT) functions necessary for business operations increase as IT advances. This advancement makes IT even more complex than before. Thus, it can pose a significant challenge considering it might not be your core business operation. You can keep your IT tasks internal or opt to outsource to a managed IT services company.
Even though some businesses prefer using an internal IT team, most others may outsource. The choice can depend on various factors. However, outsourcing your IT functions can come with the below benefits:
Reduction In IT Costs
Capital expenditures and operational costs are a big concern for every business operation. Your system’s efficiency can heavily rely on your spending on the latest IT infrastructure. You must buy and install various devices and software to complete your IT infrastructure. In addition, you also need to get the relevant expertise. Thus, you have to hire the best in the IT field.
If you’re using an internal team for all your IT needs, these expenses can significantly reduce your profit margins. Furthermore, IT operational costs can change from time to time. Therefore, you might find them hard to manage and allot budgets for. This can affect your cash flows significantly as IT equipment can be expensive to repair and maintain.
Additionally, hiring a complete, internal IT team can be challenging. The reason is that there are various fields in the IT industry, and you won’t get an all-in-one individual. Therefore, you must hire several team members proficient in their respective fields. Such a team’s salaries, benefits, and wages can rack up your labor costs. You’ll also need space, power, and lighting for a fully operational IT center. These are more expenses on electricity and rent.
Comparatively, managed IT services costs can be significantly lower than that of an in-house team. To start, an IT outsourcing company can give you contractual packages for you to choose from depending on your IT needs. The package cost will stay constant throughout the contract period. Thus, it gives you a definite figure you can budget for periodically. Outsourcing also reduces the IT functions for your in-house team. Therefore, you won’t need to keep a large IT unit. This reduces your labor costs by a significant margin.
One more point is that a managed IT services company is responsible for hosting infrastructure. Thus, you won’t need to set aside space for servers and a data center. This, in turn, takes the burden of operational expenses like lighting and rent off your budget. Overall, outsourcing your IT functions can significantly reduce your IT costs, hence increasing your profit margins.
Access To Expertise
You can hire the best personnel for an internal IT team. However, their exposure to new trends might become outdated over time. And because the IT field is expansive, you may not get all the necessary expertise for your IT operations. This means some IT areas may not get the relevant attention they need.
For instance, everyone on your team might have basic cybersecurity knowledge. However, they may not be expert enough to carry out cybersecurity risk assessment exercises. Because of this, your network can still be vulnerable to cyber threats.
Managed service providers (MSPs) serve various businesses with varying IT needs requiring different expertise. Thus, the MSPs must ensure they have a team covering all the relevant IT fields. This allows them to tap into their expert resources if your system has a significant problem. The vast field of expertise also allows them to quickly resolve IT issues you may encounter, unlike an internal IT team that might take time to locate a problem and find ways to solve it.
More Time To Focus On Core Business Operations
Your business’s success can considerably rely on the time you dedicate to your core operation. On the one hand, keeping your IT functions in-house means you have complete control of your IT infrastructure. However, it can mean splitting your focus between core operations and IT functions. Thus, your core business operations might not get the necessary effort and time. This can reduce efficiency and productivity in your organization.
Outsourcing your IT functions lets you have time for your business’s core mission and vision. Hence, you can focus on improving your core business’s operations and leave complex IT tasks to the experts. Your team members can also have reduced workloads. Therefore, they’ll have minimal distractions and more time to produce quality output. This can help boost their overall efficiency, productivity, and morale.
Continuous Monitoring
Cyber threats, system updates, and crashes mean that IT infrastructure requires constant monitoring. You can still use your in-house IT team for this purpose. However, sometimes they might need to attend to other business functions. This can leave your system vulnerable. If the team doesn’t detect an anomaly on time, it can lead to significant downtime.
But with MSPs, your system gets round-the-clock proactive monitoring. They can detect and resolve issues before they become significant problems. Therefore, they can help you maintain efficiency by preventing downtime issues from affecting your operations.
Access To The Latest Technology
The technology industry constantly has something new coming out almost every day. And because of this, you might frequently need to find out if there are new hardware and software updates or upgrades that affect your operations. These updates might escape your in-house team as they have other operational tasks to perform. Thus, you might lag behind your competitors in efficiency and service delivery.
For MSPs, IT service and support are their core operations. Thus, they ensure they’re updated on current technology developments and advances. As such, it allows them to be aware of such new areas as cybersecurity measures, software patches, and hardware versions. Hence, you can significantly benefit from such new technologies as the MSPs pass them down to their clients.
Assistance With Data Compliance
Due to cyber threats, various regulations and standards businesses need to meet exist. The health insurance portability and accountability act (HIPAA) regulations are an example. You may also need to satisfy the payment card industry data security standards (PCI DSS), especially if you accept client payments online. These regulations can often change. Therefore, you need to constantly monitor if there are updates or new measures you need to implement.
Even though your in-house team can perform this task, they might not do so in time. Such a delay can cause penalties and fines from the relevant regulatory body. MSPs, on the other hand, are aware of these compliance requirements for businesses. Thus, they stay abreast of updates and implement them on your systems on time.
Conclusion
Outsourcing your IT functions can open your business to various benefits. But sometimes, the final decision can depend on other factors like business size, location, and industry of operation. Whichever your situation is, the above benefits can help you decide whether or not to outsource your IT functions.
