Most small and medium-sized businesses outsource some or all IT services. This is not a new trend nor one that is losing momentum. Not to many years ago, I would have confidently stated that companies between 5 and 30 employees rarely have enough demand for IT services to justify a full time employee. Though that is still somewhat true today, and the number of companies forgoing internal IT staff is increasing. Microsoft is still, and will continue to be for some time, the majority holder when it comes to desktop and server real estate. Windows 7 is far more reliable and requires less support, hardware and software, than Windows XP. Windows 10, which Microsoft states will be release the mid of 2015, promises that Windows 10 will be more intuitive and reliable than Windows 8. Joe Belfiore, a corporate vice president with the OS group, states “It will be compatible with “all traditional management systems in use today.” Customers are increasingly using “mobile device management” tools to manage phones and tablets. “Windows phones and tablets support MDM today, but with Windows 10, customers will be able to use MDM to manage all their Windows devices” including PCs, laptops and even Internet enabled things devices.” he said. Developers will get “one application platform,” Belfiore promised. “Whether it’s building a game or a line-of-business application, there will be one way to write a universal application that targets the entire product family,” he said.
If you use Hosted Exchange for your email, you eliminated a few hours a month of work and a difficult skill set requirements in your IT staff. Cloud technologies are decreasing the amount of time and skills required for IT support in many organizations. That means less money for technology support and more revenue for your business.
So when is it the time for your business to outsource?
If your business is simply not set up to perform a specific business function, it’s often more cost-effective to pay someone else than to set up your own system or gain the essential knowledge yourself. It depends on a lot of factors, of course. How often you’ll have to complete this task; how expensive set up is; how easy (or difficult) it is to outsource this task.
Here are a couple of general principles:
- If your business is not logistically set up to accomplish a particular business function, which must be done on a semi-regular basis but is very costly to do yourself, then you will probably save money by outsourcing.
- If there is no one in your business with expertise on a particular business function or need, you’ll get better quality by outsourcing and most likely save money over hiring a full-time employee to meet the need.
- If there is some business function/need which your business cannot perform quickly/easily and or professionally, you’ll often save money and improve quality by outsourcing.
- You need less than about 30 hours per week of support and maintenance services.
- You have industry standard applications and systems bought off-the-shelf.
- You need specific skill sets around technologies such as virtualization, VoIP, Cloud migration, etc. that your current staff lacks.
- You need surplus coverage your IT staff for vacations, sick days, training, etc.
So what is does this mean to your bottom line? If you find the right people who are trustworthy, do excellent work and deliver on time, you’ll save more money in the long-term by using them for your outsourcing, even if you have to pay a little more initially. Quality work deserves fair pay, and as you build relationships and establish ongoing work, you’ll be able to get high-quality work, and you’ll be saving time, effort, and money at the same time.
At the end of the day, that’s not just smart outsourcing. That’s smart business.
