Large enterprises and small businesses often opt to outsource their IT operations and services. As the owner of a business, you too must have pondered over the thought of outsourcing your own IT systems to another service provider.
When a business is in its nascent stage, the first few years are time and management sensitive, so does outsourcing even stand a chance? In other words, there are so many things to consider on a startup level that outsourcing doesn’t seem like a viable option to many.
However, just when you think that outsourcing won’t do your business any good, IT service providers continue to prove you wrong by taking care of every outsourced task with excellence. In fact, 89 per cent respondents of a survey expressed satisfaction with their outsourcing contracts. They were of the opinion that by using managed IT services, they have more time to focus on things that matter, like customer experience or product enhancement and research.
You Can’t Do it All
Business owners and entrepreneurs usually think they can do it all by themselves. While this is a good way to make the best use of opportunities that can come along while establishing a business, this attitude can soon begin to stall the growth of a company.
Growth is a periodic process which takes time, effort and resources. But when you are spending most of your time on mundane, day-to-day tasks that could be completed by an employee, freelancer or a consultant, you will soon realize that there’s no time left for things that are most important such as launching a new product, getting more sales, creating a loyal customer base and generally improving the overall experience your service or product provides.
Many businesses aren’t able to afford a full-time IT person, and, therefore, contracting an IT support company with all the right skills may be the best choice for business itself.
You Get Timely Service
When you outsource your IT services to a company, they are invested in the success and well-being of your business. This way, you get timely service and frequent tips to make your IT operations even better.
An ideal IT provider should be responsible for delivering optimum service when required and if they don’t, you must look for the one who does. You opt to employ a service provider to deliver the services you need and then pay them according to a contract, depending on the quality you need.
You receive proactive, expert attention to your systems around the clock and ongoing monthly IT support and service for 100% of your technology. (Spectrum)
This establishes a shared ownership where your IT provider’s responsibility is to make your business successful.
You Can Focus on Core Issues
This is the most common trap of being an entrepreneur – you are the master of your own business and you can steer it as you wish. After a while, you realize that you aren’t doing what you were passionate about, and your day is spent in dealing with logistics, IT, HR to the point where you are exhausted and fail to pay attention to important tasks.
You are torn between your passion and administrative issues which have to be dealt with, in any case. In order to do a good job with both, you need some help from a company/person you can trust.
When a managed IT services provider takes charge of your operations, you win back most of the lost time while the IT Company handles PC issues, software license, updates and vendors. This precious time can be invested in making your business achieve more.
A Price waterhouse Cooper survey showed that small business owners who outsource their IT operations grow faster, larger and more profitable than those who don’t.
An estimate by Forrester Research sees global business and government spending for IT outsourcing and hardware maintenance at more than 440 billion U.S. dollars in 2016. This estimate includes spending on networks, application outsourcing, infrastructure outsourcing, hosting, computer hardware support services, application management, and infrastructure cloud services.
You Can Save Money
Outsourcing can save your money. Employing an IT support company means that you get expert services at a fraction of the cost. Firstly, your organization wouldn’t need to pay fat salaries to experienced IT professionals and you will also save the cost of hardware and software upgrades.
A managed IT service provider has it all covered. It is also easier to scale your business this way, because there is no lengthy recruitment process or any resource management involved.
The right IT service provider will scale up to fit your business’s IT needs. Whether you need more support or want to cut down on costs, an IT company will assist you.
Alternatively, in-sourcing IT services also requires resources like office space, payroll for the employees even when their help isn’t required and benefits for the employees. When you compare that to the ongoing outsourcing costs, you will breathe a sigh of relief because outsourcing is definitely more cost-effective.
You Can Start New Projects Quickly
If your company is working on starting a new project, an outsourced IT provider will make sure that all the resources are in place so you can hit the ground running. In-sourcing the same task can take weeks or even months as it will require hiring and/or training employees. A survey by Deloitte showed that more companies are now outsourcing as a way to remain nimble in the changing regulatory and technological requirements.
Well-known consumer products giant Unilever Europe, over the years, had expanded by country and division. As a result, different business groups and geographies operating across 24 countries were all using multiple ERP systems. In 2005 its leadership team made a strategic decision to integrate the company’s multiple business units into a single, and create one ERP system across Europe. Not being a specialist in IT solutions, the company outsourced the development of ERP system to external party. As a result, these improvements have directly contributed to the €700 million annual savings on operational activities.
Last Word
Outsourcing your IT services to a company has its advantages. It provides you with instant professional support and the company can adjust to the pace of your business.
Today’s market is very competitive, and outsourcing your IT service is a great way to gain an edge in the market. At the same time, you get to pay attention to core business issues while a trusted solutions provider handles your IT, payroll, marketing or customer service operations.
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