That’s why we are here to inform you on some of the pros & cons of each choice, before you come to a decision.
Namely, we are going to talk about:
– What IT outsourcing is,
– The benefits of outsourcing your IT,
– What in-house IT is,
– The benefits of in-house IT, and lastly
– The cons of in-house IT.
Starting, let’s define what IT outsourcing is.
What is IT Outsourcing?
Generally, outsourcing is a model of subcontracting some of your business functions by using external human resources.
In the case of IT outsourcing, the above subcontracting results from the delegation of your IT services to an external IT company. The IT company of your choice can either provide its services on a constant and standard basis or simply intervene when an issue has occurred.
At this point, it is important to keep in mind that there are four kinds of IT outsourcing:
– Offshore, meaning you have outsourced your IT services to a company in a foreign country,
– Nearshore, meaning you have outsourced your IT services to a company in a neighboring country
– Onshore, meaning you have outsourced your IT services to a company in your country, and
– Cloud computing, meaning you have outsourced your IT services to a cloud provider via the use of internet data storage.
Having seen the above, we can now examine the possible benefits of IT outsourcing for your company.
The Benefits of Outsourcing Your IT
Therefore, we are mentioning 3 main benefits of IT outsourcing.
Benefit #1: It’s cost-effective
The first benefit of IT outsourcing would be the reduction of costs allocated to human resources.
In particular, hiring an external IT team allows you to make use of IT services only on an annual and monthly basis or when a specific task has to be executed. That means that the payments provided to the above team cover solely the timeframe or task for which the IT services were provided.
This has proven to be cost-effective since your company may avoid additional expenses for the hiring of full-time IT employees.
Benefit #2: Higher expertise
At the same time, outsourcing to an external IT team can guarantee a higher level of expertise concerning the services provided.
Even if your company is able to hire more than one IT employees, a company who specializes exclusively in IT services is more willing to invest in an extended group of IT employees from different disciplines in order to attract more clients.
Therefore, IT outsourcing automatically “equips” your company with an expertised IT team that can live up to a wider range of your needs.
Benefit #3: More focus
Lastly, IT outsourcing may bring more focus on your company’s core activities.
As we mentioned, outsourcing your IT services helps you avoid costs that can later on be allocated for the staffing of other core departments or functions of your company.
Additionally, it can lift all responsibilities concerning IT-related tasks from your sphere of daily activities making room for the management of the above core departments timewise.
However, a parallel overview of what in-house IT is seems necessary for you to make a fully informed decision between the two choices given.
What is In-House IT?
In general, in-house may refer to a department hosted within the margins of the same company without its outsourcing to external affiliates.
More specifically, in-house IT constitutes the building of an internal IT department specialized in providing constant IT support to the rest of your company’s departments.
Because the creation of such a department changes the structure of your company, it is of utmost importance to weigh the pros and cons that come along with it.
The Benefits of In-House IT
Therefore, let’s start with the benefits that in-house IT can bring to your business.
Benefit #1: Steady costs
It is true that an in-house IT support team guarantees steady and predictable costs.
In particular, the cost of IT services provision will have already been calculated as a part of your business budget. In that way, no additional “surprise” costs will occur when IT services are needed.
Benefit #2: Direct access
On that note, an in-house IT team offers direct access to its services. Often it may come easier for an employer at your company to address a colleague when an IT issue is to be solved rather than communicating with external IT teams.
Having seen the above benefits, it is important to bear in mind some of the disadvantages that the creation of an in-house IT may have.
The Disadvantages of In-House IT
Practically, these disadvantages stand on the opposite side of IT services outsourcing.
Con #1: Less expertise
As we mentioned earlier, if your business’s core activity is other than the provision of IT services it is likely that you seem more reluctant to invest in an extended team of IT experts.
As a result, it is possible that you build a team of a limited number of IT employees which may not cover the range of disciplinary expertise that an outsourced team of IT experts can provide.
Con #2: Higher costs
Continuing, sustaining an in-house IT department comes with a higher cost.
Although it is true that the provision of IT services from an internal department comes with no “surprise” costs, the total expenses of its function put a higher burden
on your business budget contrary to the option of IT outsourcing – whose costs occur on a task or short time basis.
The Bottom Line
Although both options bear their pros and cons, in the case of IT outsourcing the pros outweigh the cons and, thus, can better subserve your business performance.
Therefore, if you are interested in learning more on how IT outsourcing works and what we do as an outsourced IT services provider, don’t hesitate to contact us to get all the information you may need!