The more entrepreneurial a business, the greater the reluctance for outsourcing. Many entrepreneurs develop many skill sets as they grow their business. This comprehensive expertise often gives them the impression that they can do it all.
This type of thinking is actually a huge mistake. It’s an error even if the entrepreneur can run the entire business with a skilled team. It’s a strategic blunder because it is stalling the growth of the business.
Small businesses profit when they leverage the power of technology. Since a good IT infrastructure is necessary, outsourcing IT management makes good business sense even if your founder is a coder themself.
Technology Levels the Playing Field
Outsourcing is a strategy useful for all sizes of businesses. Even a small business needs robust technology to run their business. By outsourcing, a small business, can play fast and furious in its industry. With the right technology a small business will experience some major benefits. It will grow faster, improve productivity, slash costs, and increase profits.
What are IT Managed Services?
Once hired, an IT outsourcing company will do three things. First, it will assess what a business needs. Second, it will maintain the existing infrastructure. Third, it will add and improve the technology.
While working for the business, they will do things like:
- Track and maintain core functionality
- Manage IT administration
- Solves any technical glitches, issues, or setbacks.
Advantages of A Dedicated IT Team
A dedicated IT support team can offer a client a wide range of benefits.
They can manages the server and system administration. They can update desktops. And they can set up firewalls and anti-spam services.
A dedicated IT Support team can do some of the following things:
- Provide a complete IT solution to meet the client’s needs.
- Provide server management services like monitoring, hardware or software installation, backup, or disaster recovery.
- Provide desktop services to keep the current operating systems up-to-date. For instance, adding Microsoft patches when necessary.
- Monitor network usage to optimize performance.
- Secure both the data and the network when accessing the Internet.
Why IT Infrastructure Is Essential
Without enough IT infrastructure, a business can fall behind in its industry.
Also, without maintenance of that structure, many problems may arise:
- A business may not keep up with upgrades, patches, and backups.
- A business may fall behind in the security it needs to protect its network.
- A business interruptions can result in loss of productivity and income. A problem with the email server or a network failure can happen without warning.
An outsourced provider will be able to assess your business needs. It will be able to assign the people you need to grow your business. Firewall Technical, a company who provide Ottawa managed services point out: “Smaller organizations operate more efficiently when internal resources are devoted to core business activities, without a technical support team, core business operations will undoubtedly be interrupted by IT operations. As such, it is important for small businesses to consider outsourcing IT operations to a professional managed service provider…”
When Should You Outsource?
There are three times when it is a good idea to outsource IT Management.
- When your company needs more people to manage the IT infrastructure.
- When you need more time to build your business.
- When you need expert help to improve your business.
Let us take a closer look at each of these ideas:
Outsource When You Need More People
As your business grows, you will need more people to meet customer demand. The more specialized a business, the more difficult it is to find the right people.
You may need more people if your current IT team has their hands full. You may also need more people if your business requires more IT infrastructure to meet its business strategy.
A good time to outsource is when you need the technology to reach a wider audience.
Outsource When You Need More Time
Sometimes you may have enough people, but not enough time. Your key people may need more time to do all the important things to grow your business.
Hiring a few more full time IT employees may be time consuming. You may have to invest time in training them, as well as give them time to learn how to do the work well.
Outsourcing might give you the immediate help that you need. It may free up your time to focus on other things that need your attention.
Outsource When You Need More Expertise
The faster your business grows, the less time you have to keep up with technology. You will need experts on board to navigate through uncharted waters.
While you can always hire IT people, it may be more efficient to hire a team of outside experts. And, if you’re not an expert in technology, you may not even know what type of people to hire.
In summary, you should outsource your IT needs is when you need more people, when you need more time, and when you need more expertise.