Why Outsourcing Your IT May Be Better Than Hiring an Internal IT Team.

Aug 15

4 min read

For many businesses, having reliable IT support is no longer optional. Computers, cloud applications, cybersecurity, networks, phones and other business systems are essential to keep operations running.

The question that business owners face is "Should we hire our own internal IT employee, or should we outsource our IT to a managed IT provider?"

There are pros and cons for either direction. While an internal IT department can make sense for some organizations, here we are laying out the pros for outsourcing - which includes getting more coverage, flexibility and expertise at a lower cost.

Coverage

One of the biggest challenges with hiring internal IT is relying heavily on a single employee. What happens when they go on vacation, call in sick, or leave the company?

Your employees deserve time off - and your IT team is no different.

But, technology problems do not happen only between the hours of 9am-5pm, or when convenient. No, Networks can go down. An employee could get locked out of their account. Security issues occur and critical systems could stop working at any given moment, day, night, weekend or holiday.

When your IT team consists of one or two people, the coverage can become difficult.

With an outsourced IT provider, you are not hiring a single person. You are gaining access to a team. An outsourced IT partner can provide your business structured support and escalation processes so you are not completely dependent on whether one particular employee happens to be available or not.

Flexibility

Your businesses IT needs today may look very different from your IT needs five years from now. Maybe you have 15 employees now, and plan to grow to 100.

Hiring an Internal IT employee may solve today's problem, but eventually you will require additional help.

With and outsourced model, your IT support can grow along side your business without requiring you to immediately build an entire internal department.

As your organization grows, your IT strategy can grow with it.

Outsourcing your IT allows more flexibility on costs as well. When you hire internally you have to consider that you're not just allocating costs for their salary, but also payroll taxes, benefits, training, certifications, extra hardware, software, security tools, monitoring tools, recruiting costs, and more.

The true cost of an internal IT department quickly can become higher than the employees salary.

With a managed IT provider, businesses have the flexibility of different support options that fit their budgeting and needs at that time, with the ability to upgrade as needed. This making it easier for you to budget for IT and avoid unexpected staffing and technology expenses.

Expertise

One of the most overlooked costs of poor IT support, is lost productivity.

If employees are constantly troubleshooting computer problems, dealing with network issues, waiting for someone to fix a printer, or trying to figure out why applications aren't working, they are spending time on technology instead of their actual job.

Outsourcing IT allows your team to focus on what they were hired to do.

Sales team focuses on sales.

Accounting team focuses on finances.

Operations team focuses on operations.

Your IT provider focuses on keeping the technology running and your businesses ability to keep moving forward.

Technology is constantly changing, your employees shouldn't have to be the ones who keep up with the ever-evolving tech world. IT should be the ones keeping up with this, and all the cybersecurity threats that come along with it.

An outsourced IT provider works with technology every day and can bring knowledge across multiple areas, including:

Cybersecurity
Microsoft 365
Cloud services
Networking
Backup and disaster recovery
Hardware and software
Endpoint management
User support
IT strategy
Compliance and security

That broader experience can be especially valuable for small and midsize businesses that may not have the resources to hire specialist internally in each of these areas.

A single internal IT employee may not have the time or resources to continuously monitor security, manage updates, review alerts, maintain backups, and stay current on emerging threats.

IT's goal isn't to just fix problems, but to prevent problems before they become business-impacting events. Making sure you have the right team to do this is crucial.

Is outsourcing always better?

Circling back to the question that business owners face of "Should we hire our own internal IT employee, or should we outsource our IT to a managed IT provider?"

There isn't a straight forward model for if you're this size, you should do this IT method. However, What you should be asking yourself instead is, "What IT model gives our business the expertise, reliability and support we need?" Both now, and with our growing goals in mind.

For many small and midsize businesses, outsourcing your IT can be extremely effective to get access to an experienced IT Team without the cost of building one from scratch.

Larger organizations with more complex technology environments may benefit from having their own internal IT department or even a hybrid model where they maintain their internal IT leadership, while outsourcing specialized services.

If you're currently relying on one employee for all your IT needs, or if you are considering hiring your first internal IT employee, it may be worth comparing the true cost of building an internal IT department with the cost and capabilities of outsourcing your IT.

The right IT partner can help you understand your options, and help you build an IT strategy that fits your business, your budget, and your goals.

Your IT team should keep your technology operational, allowing your business to move forward. Not become another problem and headache to manage.