Should I Outsource My IT Department?
What are the pros and cons of outsourcing IT for your DC-area business? Is it better to have in-house IT staff? As your business grows and changes, your IT needs grow and change with it. For many businesses, hiring a dedicated IT technician or team is simply not economical. Furthermore, the IT space is constantly changing–you need an IT team that is always a step ahead of changes in the industry. Keeping up with the latest technologies required to meet marketplace demands can require a significant time and financial investment.
Deciding whether to outsource your IT needs or keep them in-house is a major consideration with many pros and some potential cons that must be weighed before ultimately making a decision. It can be difficult to say with certainty whether IT outsourcing is right for your business without knowing the specific needs of your business, so the best place to begin is to simply review the pros and cons of outsourcing IT vs keeping it in house.
Pros and Cons of IT Outsourcing
Pros
- Cost reduction – If you are a small business, it can be very costly to hire and train IT staff, especially when you don’t have enough demand to keep them busy with IT specific tasks at all times. Contracting small business IT support allows you to pay for IT technicians only when you need them.
- Increased productivity – Some businesses have employees (or business owners themselves) that may fill an IT void as a side role when necessary, but not as their primary job. This can detract from their productivity in areas that provide greater benefit to the company. Outsourcing your IT services allows you to get the IT support you need without compromising the productivity of your employees doing what they do best.
- Greater range of expertise – Outsourcing your IT needs to a firm that specializes in IT services ensures that you are getting a wider range of expertise than you would otherwise get from a single IT technician or a small team of IT professionals. Outsourced IT providers have teams with a diverse range of skills that can handle a more varied spectrum of tasks. This ensures all of your requirements are met without the expense and delays that can be associated with relying on one or a few staff members with a limited skillset.
Cons
- Longer turnaround times – For minor issues, turnaround time could be slower with outsourced IT services versus having someone on staff. However, Solvere One minimizes turnaround times with our 24/7 help desk services that allow us to diagnose and even fix many issues remotely.
- Decreased work quality – If you have very specific needs or very strict guidelines that must be met, you may find that the quality of work is less than satisfactory. With Solvere One, our IT professionals work with you every step of the way, ensuring the job is completed exactly to your specifications.
- Language differences – If you outsource to a foreign firm, you may find that there are linguistic challenges that make some tasks more difficult than they should be. At Solvere One, our outsourced IT experts are located here in America, not in an office overseas. If you are planning to outsource your IT services, we recommend going with a company that is based in the same country in which you operate. Although there are extremely skilled and talented IT professionals across the world, there are linguistic as well as logistical advantages to working with a company that shares your native tongue–and business hours!
IT Outsourcing for Small-to-Medium Sized Businesses
Just like with any business decision, the decision to outsource your IT services can vary greatly depending on the size of your company. If you are a large enterprise, maintaining in-house IT resources can help you realize significant cost advantages. Enterprise level organizations typically have large budgets necessary to implement advanced IT infrastructures and the cost and offset by the increased productivity their work brings to the business.
At small and medium sized companies, however, IT departments may cost the company more than they save through productivity increases. Small companies typically have a very basic local infrastructure that do not require enough maintenance or support to justify a full time position. In these situations, costs of an in-house IT department can easily exceed product output. Outsourcing IT services can save small to medium sized businesses a considerable amount of money and make it possible for them to level the playing field and better compete with their larger competitors.
IT Outsourcing in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, DC
If you want to learn more about IT outsourcing, or see how it can directly benefit your business, contact one of our IT professionals today! Solvere One is a premier provider of white-glove, 24/7/365 IT support services with flat fee pricing. We have expertise in a wide variety of subjects, such as network security, web design and development, and Apple product support, so we can meet whatever needs you have when it comes to your information technology. Contact us to learn more about business IT outsourcing in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, DC today!
Call Solvere One at (202) 905-2722 to get IT expertise for your business!