Should your small business be outsourcing IT support?
The decision over whether or not to outsource your IT support can be a difficult one, particularly if you’re a small business, but it can prove to be more cost-effective and safer to have outsourced professionals taking care of your IT operations. If you’re a business that has been thinking about the benefits that could potentially come with outsourced support, it could be worth your while to read our key points on how your organisation can save money simply by outsourcing IT support.
Reduces cost
The annual average salary of an IT manager who works in-house is somewhere between £30,000 and £40,000. What most people don’t factor in is that there are additional costs involved when having an in-house consultant such as the outlay for the initial recruitment, having to pay for your IT manager to go on training so that their skills are up to date and added company benefits.
If you’re a small business, you may want to think about whether or not an in-house IT consultant or manager is a luxury you can afford. With outsourced support, however, you will find that your costs decrease simply by the fact they are consolidated into one fixed monthly payment, which will help you when it comes to budgeting for the weeks, months and years ahead.
Lack of expertise
With most small businesses, the need for IT expertise goes up and down. If you need every computer in your office updated with new software, an IT expert will be very busy. If everything is up to date, they may not have a lot to do. With that in mind, it’s unlikely that as a small business you will be able to justify having an IT manager on the books full time. If their training is not up to date and your company comes under attack from a sophisticated security threat, it’s highly unlikely that they will be able to fix the problem and you could end up paying out for costly emergency support anyway.
Access to additional services
With in-house support, it’s pretty much certain that you won’t have plans in place if the worst happens and you need disaster recovery. Additionally, if you’re thinking about reducing your telecommunication costs, there’s going to be little that an IT manager can help you with. Outsourced IT support, however, comes with plenty of advantages and one of them is that your provider will have extensive knowledge along with the experience that comes from working in a wide range of IT roles and within different businesses. With an outsourced expert, you’ll be getting someone who already understands what needs your business has, meaning they’ll be in a unique position to provide you with any additional services you may require, along with advice tailored to your business.
