You might be a small business that already has the right IT support and advice? Or are might be a larger Company with your own internal IT team? Either way it might be worth considering and external IT support Company
Technology underpins every aspect of modern business, accelerated especially by the pandemic, meaning that businesses can no longer rely on substandard IT support. Without a proactive, reliable, and experienced team of IT experts supporting your systems, you’re at risk of productivity loss and serious security breaches that could damage your reputation and lead to significant financial loss.
Whether outsourced IT services are right for you or not will depend wholly on the specific goals, needs, and challenges of your business. But, in this article, we’ve collated the main pros and cons of outsourced IT services, compared to having your own internal IT team. This should help inform decision-making regarding your IT setup and ensure you’re prepared for a successful future .
Plus, remember that outsourced IT doesn’t have to mean fully managed IT support! Some businesses have their own internal IT team whilst also taking advantage of external IT providers, opting for a collaborative co – managed IT setup. This also offers a host of unique benefits, which will be covered in this article.
Outsourced IT services: The pros
Expertise
Due to the size and scope of most IT companies, they will likely have a host of experienced IT engineers who are accustomed to managing complex IT issues. Plus, they’ll hold their own technical certifications as well as adhering to best practices like ISO, Cyber Essentials, and CREST. They, therefore, may have the exact expertise you need to achieve your goals, or fill in knowledge gaps in your current team.
Reduced risk
Taking advantage of outsourced IT services not only gives you greater capabilities, but it also reduces financial risk for your business. Your IT support partner will likely offer you a contract to be paid monthly for a certain period, with no capital investment required from you. Additionally, there is no commitment for you to employ full time staff, who in turn require holiday pay, sick pay, office space, and equipment.
Project support
IT support providers will be skilled in delivering complex technical projects for a variety of businesses and industries. They will, therefore, have the experience to deliver projects that an internal team may not have. This can include anything from office moves to cloud migrations. Ultimately, you need to be confident that you have the best team in place to mitigate risk, prevent disruption, and ensure a seamless customer experience.
Scalability
An IT support provider will have the resources and manpower to immediately support your business as you scale up or down. On the other hand, if you were to grow quickly, it would be time-consuming and expensive to recruit more quality internal IT engineers to adequately support your increasing needs. The recruitment process and potential notice periods could delay your ability to hire a large enough team, meaning your IT infrastructure and cyber security could suffer.
Outsourced IT services: The cons
Cultural fit
If you’re taking advantage of outsourced IT services, you may have external IT engineers based permanently in your office to offer support and advice. In turn, these employees will integrate into your team, contributing to your company culture, So, it’s important that your culture is aligned to the culture of your IT partner. You can check this by looking at their client testimonials Do they receive positive customer feedback? Are they friendly, helpful, and quick to solve issues? You can also view their “ About us “ page, do your business values align? And does their team work collaboratively to solve problems and achieve success?
Onsite vs remote
If you have an internal IT department, they will likely be onsite permanently, meaning they’re always on hand if something goes wrong. But this is not always the case with outsourced IT services, who may instead support you remotely. If you need IT engineers to be on call whenever you need them, we recommend opting for a Local IT Provider with the resources to attend your office if/when needed. Alternatively, you can choose an IT partner that offers co-managed IT options, thereby experiencing the benefits of having an internal IT team as well as taking advantage of outsourced IT support.
Co-managed IT support and fully managed IT support
If you can’t decide whether you’re best suited to an internal IT team or outsourced IT services, you should consider Co- managed IT Support . Co-managed IT enables you to take advantage of the benefits of outsourced and internal support, whereby external IT specialists will work alongside your team to help them solve IT issues, deliver projects, and achieve your goals.
At GP Computers we offer flexible co-managed IT support solutions tailored to the needs of your business. We also offer fully managed IT support options for those that want to alleviate the stress of managing IT and cyber security, giving them more time and resource to focus on key business objectives.
If you’d like to learn more about our co-managed or fully managed outsourced IT services, feel free to contact us.
