In this article, we will discuss the benefits and opportunities of outsourced IT support & how to choose the right managed service provider.
Article Contents
We’re going to cover the following topics; feel free to skip ahead if you want to;
What is Outsourced IT Support?
Outsourcing is an agreement in which one company hires another company to be responsible for a planned or existing activity that is or could be done internally.
In the context of outsourced IT support:
Company A hands over some or all of its IT activities, including but not limited to maintenance, troubleshooting & IT security, to company B under a short or long-term agreement.
Outsourced IT support is usually handled by a managed service provider supplying managed IT services that comprise a support team of dedicated IT professionals.
Companies that utilize a managed service provider can expect to receive some or all of the following services:
- On-demand Onsite or Remote IT Support
- 24 / 7 Help Desk Support
- 24 / 7 Active Network & Device Monitoring
- Security Reviewed & Managed System Updates
- Service Level Agreements (Guaranteed Business Uptime)
- E-Mail Setup, Management & Support
- IT Normalization & Digital Transformation
- New Device Procurement & Setup
- Cyber Security Assessment, Planning & Audit
- Zero Trust Networking w/Advanced Block & Allow Listing and Content filtering
- Managed Secure WiFi & VPN
- Encrypted Cloud or Onsite Backup & Recovery
- Device Hardening & Endpoint Protection
- Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) Implementation & Training
- Security Awareness Training (SAT)
- Post-Breach Remediation & Disaster Recovery
Why would a business use outsourced IT support services?
Businesses typically outsource any part of their business for either efficiency or cost-related reasons. IT outsourcing provides companies with many benefits but has one distinct drawback that can deter some business owners and executives from the services.
Outsourced IT support is the most cost-effective way to manage your IT with a flat monthly fee
This is the main reason business owners and executives switch to an outsourced IT support provider.
In our recent article, Small Business Tech Support – Ever wondered how the nerds do it? I provided an operating costs-benefit analysis on Should I hire an in-house IT person?
The moral of the story is that outsourced IT support can have an 85% reduction in operational costs by the hour compared to hiring an individual person in the USA.
Eliminate the skill gap associated with a traditional workforce
I’m sure you’ve all heard the saying it’s hard to find good help; unless you’re hiring a diverse team, this is very true in IT.
IT as an industry is absolutely massive and encompasses everything from repairing a broken computer to high-level software-as-a-service (SaaS) development. Hiring a single person or small team with all the specific skills your business needs would be virtually impossible.
When hiring an IT technician, businesses typically focus on a system or network administrator for uptime. But while they may be able to keep your servers running, it’s unlikely they’ll also have the skillset to protect your workforce from a cyber attack and the ever-evolving modern cyber threats.
You’ll get a team of dedicated IT professionals.
Using an established outsourced IT support provider will give you a competitive edge. The IT services usually come with the professional expertise of a dedicated IT team that can handle everything your business needs.
Reduce required business operations and improve overall efficiency
This would be the second most common reason for switching from managing IT in-house.
At Nerds On Site, we specialize in providing Business IT Solutions to small-and-medium enterprises (SMEs).
When talking to potential Clients, I always ask, why are you considering IT outsourcing services or why are you leaving your current provider, and it’s not uncommon to hear, “I am tired of dealing with or chasing tech support issues.”
If you choose a reliable IT MSP that provides active monitoring & has a long history of providing quality service, you can avoid any inefficiencies in your business operations related to IT.
IT just works! (Novel, huh?).
Ongoing normalization & IT consulting.
As with anything your business does, you must dedicate resources to show results.
Knowing what technology is right for your business and when and where to implement it can be a challenge. Moreover, having the wrong or insufficient technology can be an operational hindrance.
On our Nerds On Site South Africa site, I recently posted an article titled IT Solutions To Business Problems, where I covered the potential cost impact of lost productivity due to insufficient technology.
To summarize the article, if you have ten employees who lose 5 minutes a day due to slow technology, you will lose over a month’s productivity.
Math:
260 Working days (52*5)
5 Minutes * 10 Employees (50 Minutes per day)
260*50 (13,000 minutes)
13,000/60 (216 Hours)
216 Hours/8 (27 Days)
27 DAYS. Five minutes a day is 27 days of lost business productivity in a year without even including weekends.
To point out some more math, if you’re paying 40k a year on average to your team, you’re losing over 4k a year to this straightforward inefficiency, and 5 minutes is on the low-end of time wasted due to slow technology.
You can grow your business without increasing your workforce
IT services will grow with you, and you can lower or increase packages depending on your business needs. If you don’t have an IT services provider, you’ll be at the mercy of the labor market and finding the right person, at the right time, with the right skillset.
Why would a business decide not to use outsourced IT support?
Response time.
When you have a dedicated in-house IT support person, your response times during business hours should be better than a service provider.
This can be mitigated by opting for remote monitoring & 24/7/365 phone & remote tech support, as someone will always be available to attend to your business’s needs. Still, It becomes more complicated if you need on-site IT services, which will always provide a slight delay in response in comparison.
Trust
Your IT infrastructure, network management, cloud computing & sensitive data are the most essential part of many businesses. Finding an IT services provider that can not only deliver what’s been said in this article but can also build a long-term relationship can be challenging.
In our article Looking for a reliable IT MSP? 6 Questions to ask a potential Managed Services Provider we go through the best questions to ask a potential IT services provider.
Conclusion
If you are looking for an outsourced IT support solution that specializes in supporting small business & larger companies alike, can reduce costs, provide a wide array of effective solutions and allow you to stay up to date with technology, check out our Business IT Solutions.
