TO OUTSOURCE YOUR IT OR NOT

Mark Williams from Pensar talks about your organisation’s IT function and whether or not to outsource it

Most organisations make use of a variety of outsourced services. Long gone are the days when everything was done internally by employed people.

Businesses generally prefer to focus on their core products and services that they offer to their clients. Invariably this means having production (whatever ‘production’ may entail for the business), a sales team to go out and sell what’s been produced and the smallest admin function that makes sense for the organisation.

This means that functions such as HR, marketing, accounting, customer service (depending on the product), logistics and others are all ripe for being outsourced. As is a business’s IT function.

Many organisations have outsourced their IT function for years. And many more are now doing so as offices are scaled back or let go completely due to Covid. Additionally, the truth is that most businesses’ IT can very easily transition to being fully ‘in the cloud’ so negating the need for expensive in-house infrastructure to be maintained.

Still, the right way of handling IT will depend on several factors particular to your organisation. There can be appropriate occasions for both in-house IT and outsourced IT.

When In-House IT Makes Sense

1. If your business would benefit from IT staff being physically in the office - In-house IT is always a short walk away, ideally in a nearby room. If your business relies on complex internal hardware infrastructure, you may need an IT professional to physically attend to an emergency quickly.

2. If your business has its ‘own way of working’ - Similarly, there may be nuances to tasks that only internal people are able to grasp quickly. Your business may be in a particularly complex sector, and you may need to spend months training a new recruit how to handle your data or manage certain tasks.

3. If your business has a culture that you need your team IT to be a part of - Company culture is important to many businesses and there may be a need for the IT professional to attend regular meetings and to remain aware of essential company information.

When Outsourcing Your IT Makes Sense

1. If you need to keep costs down - In-house IT staff will require a salary, pension, sick pay and holidays. They also need to be paid regardless of how much, or how little work they have. With outsourced IT support, there are no such issues. You simply pay per month or per project.

2. If you need to remain agile and adaptable - Business needs and challenges can be in flux, especially in the current climate. A start up may be scaling rapidly or a business may be restructuring. Hiring, training, or letting go of IT staff is not an efficient way to meet these challenges. It makes more sense - both financially and operationally - to have an outsourced IT team that can scale as you do.

3. If you require 24/7 assistance (or think you might) - Keeping within a 9 to 5 workday is getting less common. Can you afford to be without IT support when your in-house IT staff clock off at the end of a working day? What if someone’s hard drive fails them during some last minute, late night presentation tweaks?

What if someone needs to find a deleted file over the weekend? What if someone is not able to access their emails? 24/7 support from an outsourced IT provider will assist with problems that may arise at any time of the day or night.

4. If you require specialist knowledge - Say you wanted to undertake a large, complex, and risky task, like a cloud migration. You’d want an expert, well versed in cloud migration challenges. Hiring one is tricky. A true expert in such a matter will be both expensive and rare.Team up with an outsourced IT provider though, and you’ll get access to a pool of specialists in any field you need.

Do bear in mind that getting into any long-term partnership with an outsourced IT provider will require careful thought beforehand. You need to do proper due diligence to ensure that any prospective partner is going to be reliable and financially sound, as well as having the right technical skills and experience.

THERE’S ALWAYS THE HYBRID APPROACH TOO

This can be the sweet spot for many organisations.

• In-house IT for any jobs that require in-house knowledge.

• Outsourced IT provider for expert advice and a wider variety of benefits.

If you can’t decide which approach is appropriate, why not get the best of both?

TO OUTSOURCE YOUR IT OR NOT