Outsourcing IT is common, but is it right for everyone? As we discussed in a prior post, outsourcing your technology needs to an IT Managed Services Provider (MSP) often makes sense when one or more of the following apply:
- Growth threatens to overwhelm internal capabilities and knowledge
- Employees spend more time troubleshooting technology problems than performing their core roles
- The complexity inherent to compliance, data security, and/or integrations becomes unmanageable
However, if your business is not yet facing any of these challenges or has unique technology needs better served in-house, outsourcing may not make sense for you.
When Outsourcing IT Doesn’t Make Sense
Keeping IT management in-house may be a better fit for your company if any of the following scenarios apply:
Your existing IT resources are a good fit for your needs.
If your existing infrastructure meets your needs, and you have designated IT staff in place, outsourcing IT may not make sense. Of course, anything involving internal IT staff is likely to be more expensive than outsourcing for most small firms; however, if your staff understands your systems well, and everything is working smoothly, change creates risk that is likely not worth it — especially if your business is growing and everything is built well to scale.
Your business is resource-constrained.
For businesses that are new and/or operating on very limited budgets, it is often unnecessary or impossible to invest heavily in anything unrelated to sales and marketing. To save money, you can try to handle IT needs yourself or with the help of a tech savvy employee (who likely has other responsibilities), leverage BYOD, and cut corners on the software front; though problematic in many ways, these solutions minimize costs and maximize the likelihood of surviving long enough for your business to begin to prosper. At some point, growth should necessitate a change in approach; however, if you are struggling to make payroll, you’re probably better off keeping IT support in-house.
Your business requires substantial specialization.
In certain cases, a firm’s IT needs are highly specialized. Imagine a finance firm, for instance, engaged in low-latency trading, or a software development company that automates anything and everything for scalability. For firms with unique needs such as these, internal IT staff is going to be crucial for maintaining and further building out such nuanced and complex environments.
You need immediate troubleshooting and remediation for problems.
Outsourced IT departments are designed to react quickly, but because they serve many clients, their responsiveness isn’t always going to be comparable to someone in the office next-door. For companies that absolutely cannot have downtime, in-house employees are the only way to go. No outsourced firm can prioritize your operation quite like a fully-dedicated internal team.
Conclusion
While outsourcing IT often makes sense for growing businesses, there are certain scenarios that warrant keeping IT solutions in-house. If you have questions about your IT infrastructure or would like to know more about the services that Qnectus has to offer, please reach out today.