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Modern Biz Myths On Outsourcing IT

No matter what your business may be, technology is crucial to keeping it alive. So how do you keep technology running smoothly while also running the day to day business operations?

You can either hire an in-house IT professional, which many small businesses choose to do, or you can outsource your IT by having someone else do it for you. Although keeping IT in-house may seem like the cheaper, easier option, it can actually end up costing more financially.

Here are four reasons that may make you consider outsourcing your IT to a Managed Service Provider.

1. The better the IT, the higher their salary – and all their other costs

Many people think in-house IT is an inexpensive option. Let’s bust this myth: Companies can save up to 75% of their IT costs by outsourcing, while also receiving better service.

Even though it sounds cheaper to hire an employee to work IT than to hire an outside company, it is not. At all. The starting salary for a pretty inexperienced local-IT administrator is $35,000 per year. Need something better than that? A mid-grade IT-administrator typically has a salary between $50,000 and $75,000 a year. And if you have more complicated technology with complex and frequent problems, you’ll end up paying at least $80,000 a year to hire an expert IT-administrator.

Not only do the salaries put a hole in your pocket, but you will also have to pay for benefits, such as health care, a 401k, and a retirement plan. And don’t forget about the cost of equipment, like new cell phones, computers, and even office space.

So by now you have to pay almost double the salary for an in-house IT professional.

However, if you choose to outsource your IT to a Managed Service Provider, there are no social benefits, no office space needs, and not always equipment needed. You pay for your users per month.

Myth: Busted.

2. They aren’t your mom: they might not always be there when you need them.

If you hire someone in-house, you are only hiring one person. Which means if that person is not there, or is not doing their job well, your company can suffer. Anybody who has worked with technology knows that you can run into a problem at any moment. When that moment strikes, it is important to have more than one person to call to help you.

So naturally, your in-house IT person is in Bora Bora for the week, on paid time-off, and you have nobody to help you. You are now paying money to have a technical problem that you cannot get fixed at your business.

With an outside Managed Service Provider, you could pick up the phone and have access to number of different IT experts who want to help you. (Yes, it is that easy). So even if one of their IT experts is on vacation in Bora Bora, coincidentally with your in-house IT-administrator, the rest of the department will still be there to rescue you. Most of the time, they’re more reliable than your significant other – now that is good service.

3. You can’t always do it all on your own – neither can they

Technology, while an amazing asset to any business, is complex and has many different fields. For one IT-administrator to be responsible for every aspect of your business’s technology is hardly realistic. An in-house IT-administrator may run into a problem he/she does not know how to solve, but they have nobody else to ask.

It is nearly impossible for one person to be an expert in every field of technological support. So how do you avoid putting all your eggs in one basket? Outsource your IT to a Managed Service Provider or use a blended IT workforce. They will offer you a whole team of IT professionals, each with expertise in a variety of fields. This means if one of their team members cannot help you, somebody else in the office certainly can.

And there won’t be any guessing whether or not they know what they are doing. All these IT professionals are experts in specific fields, meaning you are getting the best of the best answers and help you can.

4. Do you need them or do they need you?

So you’ve hired a full-time IT-administrator to fix all your IT problems. Now your new problem is that you don’t have any problems for them to fix at the moment. But they still want/need a job (and a salary).

In order to keep their jobs, and keep working, sometimes an in-house IT professional will create more complex systems that nobody else can operate besides them. This means you have to keep them around, even when you don’t necessarily need to.

A Managed Service Provider doesn't always want to replace your in-house IT professional, they just want to ensure you have the least complex and inexpensive systems.

A good Managed Service Provider can partner with in-house IT staff or act as a full IT support team. At the end of the day, outsourced IT should be used to make your business operations run smoother and support strategic business outcomes.

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