“Technology is a useful servant but a dangerous master.” - Christian Lous Lange

Is IT Outsourcing right for us?

While not for every business, IT Outsourcing can give some strong benefits compared to hiring an internal IT team. This is especially clear for small business where making IT hires just doesn't make sense.

This week we take a look at 5 pros and cons of outsourcing your IT support needs.

Lets' get started.

The Pros:

1. Cost Saving

Not needing to hire your own in-house expertise can be a great cost saver. Not having to worry about hiring, firing, sickness, training, equipment and other costs can lead to a big saving. Hiring enough skilled IT staff to replicate an outsourced service is rarely cost-efficient for small business.

2. Expertise at Hand

By outsourcing your IT support and cyber security needs your technology will instantly be in the hands of experienced professionals. Your business will benefit from knowledge, experience and best practices which would have required multiple costly staff hires if handled internally.

3. Scalability

Outsourcing will give you the ability to add or remove IT services as your business needs, allowing you to size your IT service to your exact business requirements. Scale confidently with predictable, known costs and at speeds hard to match with internal resources.

4. Focus on your core business

IT Outsourcing frees you up to focus on your core business operations and goals. Avoid the stress of managing IT tasks yourself by handing them over to your trusted provider, freeing you to work on the things that matter in your business.

5. Competitive Edge

Outsourcing your IT services can help your business achieve a faster speed to market rate and gain a competitive edge over its rivals.

Adopting the cutting edge tools and services delivered by your outsourced IT provider can give your business a step up in efficiency and productivity which can allow you to differentiate your service in the market.

The Cons:

1. Shared resource

Outsourcing means sharing. You are using a shared and limited resource, which means you may need to wait for help at times. A good outsourced IT provider will have enough resource available for your business needs 99% of the time.

2. Limited in-house knowledge of IT

By outsourcing your IT service you leave your business lacking IT knowledge internally. This may not be an issue for you if you wish to continue outsourcing indefinitely. A good outsourced provider will always contain documentation on your systems, and share it with you upon request. This documentation will allow new in-house IT staff to understand your technical infrastructure and to start managing tasks in-house if you ever wanted to reduce your outsourcing.

3. Deskside IT support usually not possible

Walking up to and grabbing some help from IT resource in the office is usually not possible when outsourcing. There are exceptions to this though, and site visits or permanent/semi-permanent on-site staff can be arranged. These resources will usually be more expensive than an internal hire, but are backed by the full knowledge and escalation paths within the outsourced provider.

4. Hidden costs

As with any agreement, outsourcing can carry onboarding and termination costs (especially if agreement termination is premature). Ensure your outsourced IT provider has transparent pricing and legal agreements so you know exactly where you stand at all times. Be sure to ask what possible variations you may see on your month to month charges (if any).

5. Security Issues

Outsourcing your IT means trusting your provider completely. Your IT provider will have access to all of your critical systems and data, so it is essential you are sure your provider has strong cyber security measures in place within their own business to ensure your business is not put at risk.

How Does Bitwise-IT Stack Up?

By outsourcing your IT to Bitwise-IT you can be sure you are in good hands. Not only do we provide you all of the above pros, we mitigate the cons!

Our 24/7 helpdesk and 24/7 cyber security teams pride themselves on their super fast response and resolution times, so you know we are resourced correctly. All processes and procedures are documented and available to you upon request, so you never need to worry about lacking knowledge internally.

Regular site visits or on-site staff can be arranged, and all of our pricing is completely transparent on this very site (check out our pricing page for more info).

With security standards well above the already high Cyber Essentials Plus standard, you know your systems are protected with Bitwise-IT.

Speak to our live chat agents to find out more, or to arrange a free consultation call.