Outsourcing IT: Pros and Cons

Pros of Outsourcing IT

Outsourced IT services are becoming attractive for businesses because of the following benefits:

Access to Advanced Talent and Expertise

It is no secret that professional Managed IT service providers specialize in their field and are really good at what they do. MSP’s will most likely have more knowledge, and access to proper IT knowledge, than business owners who are trying to run and manage their own IT systems themselves. Even in-house IT teams are often uncapable of performing difficult, highly-sophisticated IT network tasks. More times than not companies who hire in-house IT employees are really just hiring tier-one or tier-two engineers who can perform no more than basic IT troubleshooting.

When you outsource your IT to professionals, you can rest assured that your IT systems will be significantly better managed and maintained and your company operations will run much more smoothly.

Access to Broad Communication and Technologies

Professional Managed IT service providers can work remotely from anywhere in the world. When considering the option to outsource your IT, remember that you are not bound to hire someone local. Our Northwest IT team has developed a reputation for excellent performance even outside of state boundaries. We have been servicing clients from various states including Oregon, Washington and Idaho.

Cost Reduction

Cost reduction is one of the biggest advantages of outsourcing. Companies who have in-house IT departments must deal with the extra work load of having the IT employees – training them, paying them regular salaries or wages, paying their employee benefits, etc. In addition, having IT employees does not guarantee that they will be up to their game on the ever-changing technology. Many times companies who have in-house IT departments still end up reaching out to professional Managed IT service providers for help with more complex situations. This may result in having to pay twice for the same work.

When companies outsource their IT department, they turn their focus solely on growing their business which typically results in exponential increases in revenue over a short period of time. That is because business owners usually get a lot more free time to focus on their business instead of dealing with technological problems and their in-house IT department.

It is also important to note that our team at Northwest IT Company takes time to really learn and understand our clients’ IT needs. After completing a thorough investigation, we move forward with a proposed contract agreement based on customized items for each, individual client. This saves companies a lot of money on useless services and machines that they pay for but never utilize.

Greater Uptime and Faster Delivery

Outsourced teams are not bound by the set working hours in your company. They operate at more flexible hours, sometimes fixing issues or updating and performing maintenance work in the evenings or over the weekend. Since these tasks are performed outside your usual business hours, your company will experience little-to-no downtime. Northwest IT Company often completes important client IT tasks outside of normal business hours, making IT operations seem facile and business operations untroubled.

Cons of Outsourcing IT

Supposed Lack of Control

As a business owner, you might find it uncomfortable to give up control over your IT operations, especially when first meeting a Managed IT Service provider. Many business owners who hire in-house IT operators do it for a sake of controlling their company environment. However, professional MSP’s constantly stay in close, transparent communication with their clients; it is in their best interest to be likeable and approachable by their client.

At Northwest IT Company, we strongly believe that a good, loyal business relationship is the key to success. We take our time to listen to our clients and try to develop a trusting, business relationship from the get-go. It is not uncommon for our clients to renew their contracts with us after a prolonged period of Managed IT Services. We care for our clients and put in all our efforts to help our clients succeed.

Communication and Culture Gap

Each company has a culture which is shared by the employees within the organization. When outsourcing, you may be afraid that the outside talent will not match your company culture which could lead to issues with communication and collaboration.

There are things you can do to efficiently and effectively work with outside talent that does not share the same culture as your company. From holding video meetings, to fostering non-verbal communication, to agreeing on specific timelines and deliverables, you can maintain a good sense of alignment with your outsourced IT team.

Here at Northwest IT Company, we strive not to only provide means of communication for our clients’ sake and comfort, but also for us to better understand you and meet your regular IT needs. Communication goes both ways and we take great pride in our ability to provide excellent IT services that are built on proper communication.

Data Sharing

A common concern among business owners, when considering outsourcing their IT, is the security of their company data. You may be worried that sharing your data with another company, especially remotely, may cause privacy concerns, data exposure to third parties, or even data breach. However, MSP’s are bind by a legal contract to keep your data safe and secure. When composing your service legal agreement you may choose to allow your MSP to access your data on a permission-basis or by immediately notifying you when your data is being accessed and/or maintained.

Our Northwest IT engineers understand these concerns from business owners. The security and privacy of our clients and their data is preeminent and taken very seriously.

Investing in Outside Talent

Hiring outside talent may seem like a loss for your company’s overall internal skill and competence, as if you are investing into something of which you will never reap the benefits. It may seem that you are exclusively purchasing the solution and not the top-tier candidate which could have been a great asset to your company. However, since MSP’s are so heavily involved with their prospects’ internal operations that they become part of the companies’ backbones and even take on roles of managerial executives.

Our engineers at Northwest IT Company come with a lot more than just an IT solution. They are more than willing to share their solutions, strategies, and tools with you so that you can maintain the IT infrastructure they have helped you build, moving forward.

Should You Outsource Your IT?

While there are both pros and cons to outsourcing your IT, it is clear that the benefits outweigh the drawbacks. As long as you properly communicate and coordinate with your outsourced providers, outsourcing your IT brings forth significant advantages to your business.