Is outsourcing IT support a profitable business strategy?
outsourcing IT support
Whether to have an in-house IT support or to farm it out is indeed a difficult decision for any business. In this post, we shall enlighten you with some knowledge that will certainly clear off the obscurity around the subject to facilitate decision making.
Maximising profits by reducing costs:
An in-house IT expert will cost a business anything between 30 – 40 thousand pounds per annum, besides expenditure on his recruitment, additional benefits as well as regular trainings for enhancing IT based skills. In addition, smaller businesses cannot afford periods of downtime and precious staff time spent on issues which they do not fully understand, leading to loss of productivity.
Outsourcing IT support helps a business reduce its costs drastically as they need to make only a fixed consolidated monthly payment as per the contract allowing them to operate within a set budget.
Expertise available at all times:
Today, every business is heavily dependent on IT systems. However, the need of expertise in technology may trough and peak. Yours is a small business and you probably do not have enough space to accommodate a staff. Moreover, in case of an IT emergency, if you do not have an expert at hand, you might have to resort to costlier measures for restoring business operations.
In an outsourced model, you can easily reach out to a dedicated technician as often as you like. These experts not only monitor your systems but also fix issues you encounter.
Complement during crisis:
Sure, you have an in-house expert supervising your IT desk on whom you rely for the stability of IT systems and continuity of business operations. Imagine a critical failure occurs and this expert staff member is occupied in another meeting, on a holiday or simply fallen ill? Besides, what if there are multiple crises at the same time?
If you consider sub-contracting your IT support, you always have a team of experts on call that are never off sick or take any holidays. They skillfully resolve your IT related woes and complement your internal team of experts.
Challenges in recruiting experts:
Employing the wrong person is one of the costliest mistakes that could damage a business. If you are not from a technical background, how do you ensure that you are employing the right person for a work as critical as support for IT systems? Recruitment is a complicated, time-consuming and expensive process especially if you are at the risk of getting swindled into incomprehensible technical jargon.
With an external IT support team, you don’t have to worry. You will have a lineup of highly trained IT specialists equipped with the latest industry qualifications, most up-to-date technical knowledge and skill sets to resolve your issues on a simple call.
Core business remains your focus:
The heart of any business is its customers and staff wellbeing. The last thing you would want is to get vexed about IT issues and deal with the anxiety of fixing them. If you think that distributing IT responsibilities among your staff internally is a cost saver for your business, then you need to revisit your decision. Chances are that your employees are constantly distracted with issues they do not completely understand, leading to loss in focus and dramatically reducing their productivity in their primary job role.
Outsourced IT support not only speedens problem resolution, it gives you complete peace of mind, takes away the stress of managing your technology needs and allows you to focus on running your core business.
Keeping up with changing times:
Technology is transforming at an express pace and being in harmony with the changing IT landscape is of paramount importance for any business. How do you find out if there is an advanced IT product in the market, a particular software upgrade or application that may benefit your current business operations?
Using outsourced IT support will give your business, an access to a range of partnerships and accreditations with leading technology providers in the industry. Your sub-contractor can gain advanced intelligence and training on the latest technological developments and solutions that will help perk up your business.
Quick Access to additional services:
Concerned about your business continuity? Require a disaster recovery plan? Wish to support an increasingly mobile workforce? Want to trim down on print and telecommunication expenses? Design the Information Security Policy? Set up a new telephone system?
Your outsourced IT support provider will have answers to all your questions. With extensive knowledge and experience in a large cross-section of IT specialisms, your external support team will assist you with all additional services required to run a business efficiently.
Having an in-house IT desk means your systems are on ‘break-fix’ plan; by the time you know there is a problem, your staff productivity has already diminished and extended periods of system downtime proves costly. Whereas, your IT service provider proactively monitors your systems 24 X 7, all days of the year. Problems can be identified and rectified even before they affect your business almost eliminating any downtime ensuring that your IT systems are on hand whenever you need them.
Now, if you have made up your mind and feel that outsourcing IT support services will be a cost-effective move for your business, contact us immediately. Our subject matter experts will be glad to help you!
