There were times when the standard practice for businesses was to keep everything in-house; the idea was that this was more cost effective and reliable. This was true once, but as certain technologies matured, outsourcing become a viable solution – nowadays, it can be more effective than doing everything in-house.
A great example of this is with IT support. In London, for instance, there are many businesses who have decided that IT support would be best executed by a third-party. The outsourced IT support London businesses may help them become more agile and productive, enable them to increase profit margins, and stay ahead of the game when it comes to the competition.
What is Outsourced IT Support?
With outsourced IT support, a business will partner with an IT company that has their own support helpdesk service, meaning the client can contact them whenever they experience technical difficulties and receive the support they need. IT support providers usually offer other services too. For instance, they might assume all responsibility for an organisation’s technological operations – this is known as managed IT services. The IT support companies London businesses often use offer managed IT services, and other technical services, as well as pure support.
Why Should a Business Outsourced their IT?
- Streamline & Consolidate Costs
With in-house IT support, a business is paying the salary of their IT manager, and possible support engineers, too. On top of that, there are recruitment costs, on-going training costs, technology investments, etc.
On the other hand, IT support providers benefit from economies of scale – meaning larger organisations are able to sell their goods and services at a lower price point. An IT support provider can offer all the services that an in-house IT department could offer, but at a comparatively nominal monthly fee. Not does the client get their IT for less money, their IT overheads are consolidated by virtue of paying a monthly subscription model.
- Tap Into Industry Expertise
Technology changes and evolves rapidly, which can make it hard to keep up if it’s not your business to do so. In a business with a small IT department, the risk is that the expertise you have access to may become out-of-date, unless you invest in frequent and consistent training (which can be costly).
An outsourced IT provider needs to remain up-to-date and have extensive knowledge of contemporary business technologies. On top of this, their larger workforce – which will undoubtedly comprise of specialists as well as standard support engineers – means that clients can tap into a wider and deeper pool of expertise.
- Eliminate the Burden of Recruitment
Recruitment is often a pain to get done. Finding the right person for the job involves asking lots of questions, and knowing where to look. All of this, plus the fact that IT is not your area of expertise, can make the process particularly difficult and time-consuming; and all the while, you’re effectively losing money by not having someone to fill the empty role.
If you could pass the responsibility for recruiting IT staff to someone more qualified, would you not take that opportunity in an instant? This is precisely what outsourced IT support does. You will always be able to reach someone with the expertise you need when partnering with an IT provider.
- Direct Your Attention to Core Business Goals
It can be assumed that if you’re looking for outsourced IT support, your business is not in the IT industry. This means that putting time and energy into that field will be pulling your focus away from core business goals aimed at generating profit and growing the company.
The peace of mind businesses get from outsourcing their IT to a professional provider can have many positive effects on their ability to grow and succeed in their sector.
- Get Better Productivity & Business Continuity
It might be tempting to want to save money by keeping responsibility for IT in-house. However, the risk is that employees will be pulled away from their core responsibilities when dealing with IT issues, and your IT manager will be stretched too thin. This will have a major effect on business productivity; whereas, reducing the workload of your core staff will mean they’re in a better position to work productively.
In addition to this, an outsourced IT provider can help a business improve their business continuity. A really good provider will use methodologies to reduce the frequency with which technical issues occur, and work to identify how workloads can be optimized – all of this is in aid of ensuring that business operations run more smoothly, with fewer roadblocks and obstacles.
- Tap Into the Latest Business Technologies
With IT providers working hard to remain ahead of the curve when it comes to the changing landscape of business technology, you will have a much better chance of accessing new technologies sooner. Rather than waiting for new technologies, and the expertise, to trickle down to the point where you can access it, you could access cutting edge solutions from providers who partner with industry vendors.
