The issue of outsourcing a company’s IT department has been the subject of many an article on the Globality Consulting blog. Today, we will be looking at some of the main ways in which this practice can affect a company, but also at those that most people do not think about that often. There are those, believe us.
Great Expertise
The first and the foremost thing that you get from IT outsourcing is that you get the services of professionals with years, if not decades, of experience in IT. Instead of hiring local talent which can often be lacking, you get the services of someone that would otherwise cost you huge amounts of money, only at a much, much lower price. As a result of this, your IT needs are handled more efficiently and more quickly, which can be a determining factor in the success of your company.
You Scale Easily
Another effect of outsourcing IT is that you can scale up and down your IT department as needed. When you have an in-house department, it is built for the needs of your company at the moment of starting the department. When your company grows, it takes time to grow your IT department as well and you are left with a period of time when you do not have IT people to cover all the bases. Also, if your company hits a rough patch and needs to be smaller, you are often left with a huge IT team that serves no purpose. With an outsourced IT service, you pay for what you need, when you need it.
Top-of-the-Line Tech
Ask any IT professional what they need to do their job the right way and they will all mention two things – a bit of peace and proper equipment. By equipment, they mean all kinds of tech that advances at an incredible pace these days. Most companies cannot afford to upgrade their IT tech every few months and the IT people are left wanting. With an outsourced IT service, you know that you are getting the latest tech and the freshest knowledge. This can often make a difference between being late to the party and being an innovator.
The Matter of Security
When we are talking security, we are talking a double-edged sword here. Intuitively, it feels like an in-house IT department will be safer. They are literally “in house” and they are the direct employees of a company. They also only handle your needs and they do not have additional accounts that might find their way to the same servers and the same data centers. Also, it is much easier to handle the human factor when dealing with people you know.
On the other hand, cyber security is mostly about other employees in the company and not the IT department. Human error is at the core of the vast majority of data breaches and IT department is rarely involved, actually. Furthermore, companies that provide outsourced IT services are often secured up to their necks in order to be able to put their clients at ease.
Bringing Someone Over
There is something that people do not talk about and that is the case when the company is so pleased with the work an outsourced IT company or team does for them that they decide to invite them over. This mostly happens with the largest companies, though.
Perhaps it is best to explain this with an example. Let’s say that there is this large Australian company which outsources their IT to somewhere else, like somewhere in Asia. They are assigned a team and this team stays with them for years, handling their needs and everything. After a while, this Australian company decides to start an in-house IT team. Who do they call? They probably approach the folks from that outsourced company. With a bit of help from a company doing professional immigration services, this large company suddenly has an in-house team made up of their former outsourced partners.
It happens.
Closing Word
There is so much more to the outsourced IT relationship that one would imagine. It is a complicated practice that most often produces incredible results for everyone involved. Sometimes it gets even more unique and exciting.