Most business leaders today understand that office technologies (like email, web sites and e-newsletters) are critically important to everyday business operations. More technology-centric businesses employ their own technical staff to build, deploy and support software that is a unique part of their business. Regardless of which end of the spectrum you reside on the management and support of business infrastructure (servers, network, workstations, firewalls, laptops, mobile devices, office applications) is likely not, and should not be, a core competency. Here are 10 good reasons to think about outsourcing this part of your business.

1. Technology management is not a core competency of your company. You may be great at helping your clients with their go to market strategy, provide them with a wide variety of legal services or even manufacture airplane parts for them. Since planning for and analyzing how best to support your IT infrastructure and managing the people who provide that support is not what generates revenue for you it is time to consider outsourcing those functions. If you already outsource them, are you getting the support you need?
2. You can save 20-30% on overall costs to support your IT infrastructure. Most companies are not accounting for all the costs associated with employing good technical resources and tools to support their infrastructure. An investment for hiring internal IT staff typically includes salaries, costs of vacation and or sick time, software for help desk management, upkeep on technical training and certifications, and general business overheads. These costs also do not include hiring specialized IT resources when more complex issues arise – a service usually provided as part of an overall service agreement with an IT outsourcing company.
3. Experienced IT services companies provide you with the control over the work that gets done so you always know what you’re paying for. The best IT outsourcing companies provide you with the right kind of tools so you can monitor work being done real-time and have visibility into how workload to support your infrastructure is being assigned and scored for quality.
4. You can supplement the abilities of technical resources you employ to improve overall performance and efficiencies. A fixed schedule maintenance and support agreement that covers specified areas of technical support needs can still be an hourly-fee service, but it is a step toward a more proactive approach to supporting your IT infrastructure.
5. If you feel like the only way to support your IT infrastructure is by hiring employees you should explore your options. There are several options for IT outsourcing that most business leaders do not realize they have. There are free and easy ways to explore your needs, potential costs and qualified IT services firms with no obligation to buy and keeping your name private so you won’t be solicited.
6. Your business might be growing or changing and your existing IT resources may not be adequate to keep up. If your IT support is having trouble keeping up with the pace of change they often are not fulfilling requests on time or are ‘learning on the job’ to try to support your business – it’s time for a change.
7. Your business has a frequent need for specialized technical expertise so you hire them as needed. If you find yourself needing to bring in technical expertise on a regular basis this might be a signal that your existing IT resources are not adequate. You might be able to contract with an IT service company on a fixed-fee arrangement to handle your specialized needs and reduce spikes in expenses due to hiring a specialist.
8. You are experiencing more systems outages or down-time than you would like. This may be an indication there is no one monitoring your machines to warn you before outages occur. The best IT outsourcing companies have monitoring options for a fixed monthly fee that helps you be more proactive about system stability to reduce outages.
9. You are looking for more ways to make your business competitive and feel your existing IT resources ‘just don’t get it’. Sometimes the best technical resources are exceptional at fixing things that go wrong, but don’t seem to understand where you are trying to take your business
10. You have someone in your company that should have a non-technical role, but to save money they have been given the responsibility to manage the IT resources. Sometimes a Controller or a person with additional responsibilities is handed the responsibility of managing IT. Companies think they are saving money by doing this, but in reality performance in both job functions suffers and you spend more to support your infrastructure due to inefficient use of that person’s time.

There are three fundamental areas of infrastructure support that you should consider outsourcing if you don’t already.

1. IT Planning and Project Management
2. End-User Support Desk and Maintenance
3. Systems Monitoring and Configuration (includes patches, asset management and security).

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CoreConnex provides the Corelytics(tm) Financial Dashboard and specializes in professional services automation (PSA) software for VARs, MSPs, channel distribution partners, IT service providers and other professional service companies. We encourage you to share experiences and perspectives as players in this professional community. This blog is moderated. Comments that are unprofessional or derogatory will not be posted.