Outsourcing IT: A Strategic Shift, Not Just a Cost-Cut
You are wrong if you are still of the outdated view that outsourced IT services are just a cost-cutting tactic for businesses. There’s a significant difference between outsourcing IT support services for savings and outsourcing these services for strategic growth. Especially after Covid, businesses have moved towards hybrid models for conducting business operations, maintenance and compliance. Outsourcing has moved from being ‘cheap support’ to specialised and expert services. More and more businesses are opting to outsource IT services. Read further in the blog to understand why top companies are opting for outsourced IT services and other aspects related to outsourced IT services.
ROI of Outsourced IT Services: Beyond Headcount Reduction
Outsourced IT services serve numerous benefits and quantifiable results that are measurable. These benefits include:
- Enhanced Uptime: Outsourced IT services ensure that your IT infrastructure and systems are running efficiently and all any issues that occur are proactively addressed and resolved. It also prevents any significant downtime and enhances operational efficiency and uptime.
- Better Compliance: With the alarming increase in cyberattacks, regulatory authorities have made it compulsory for businesses to have proper IT maintenance in place. IT support services help businesses maintain better regulatory compliance with laws and regulations, including GDPR and data protection laws.
- Improved Cloud Security: With everything going online, businesses are adopting cloud platforms for hosting applications, storing sensitive data and business information, etc. Outsourced IT services include cloud services and robust security for cloud platforms, and ensuring that sensitive data is accessible to authorised users only.
- Improved Staff Productivity: With significantly low downtime and proactive IT support and early redressal of technical issues, staff stay motivated, and businesses experience significant improvement in staff productivity.
- SLA-backed Accountability: These outsourced IT services are covered in service-level agreements (SLAs), and hence, providers of these services are bound by these agreements to keep business systems running efficiently.
- 24/7 Monitoring: Unlike traditional IT support services that run in a fixed 9 5 schedule, outsourced IT services are provided round-the-clock with continuous monitoring.
- Faster Scaling: Having and maintaining an in-house team for maintaining IT systems is very costly and time-consuming in terms of costs involved for staff training, salaries, etc. On the other hand, outsourcing IT support services provides better scaling with changes in the size of business operations without much hassle.
Proactive IT Support: Risk Mitigation as a Service
Mostly in-house teams are focused on firefighting rather than predictive issue management.
Outsourced IT service providers generally are more proactive, and their support includes:
- Vulnerable patching, which means they identify vulnerabilities in advance and tackle them before any unethical means can take advantage of them.
- Ransomware defence and not letting any sensitive business information get stolen, lost or leaked.
- System health automation, which essentially includes continuously monitoring system health and catching any issues before they cause any major problems.
- Security audits at regular intervals. These security audits help in identifying areas of improvement and gaps in the implementation of security measures.
Every business needs robust IT management, but there are certain industries like healthcare and legal that can not afford a lack of security or any lapses in security or compliance. Businesses in these industries should take the help of expert outsourced IT service providers that can proactively manage their IT systems, find vulnerabilities in advance and take corrective action. These outsourced IT service providers also ensure that these businesses stay compliant with the applicable laws and regulations.
Cloud Services Integration & Futureproofing Infrastructure
Technology is advancing by leaps and bounds, and cloud computing is one of the major areas that has become the backbone of modern IT infrastructure. Robust cloud capabilities provide businesses with real-time flexibility, lower CapEx, and better uptime.
Experienced and reliable IT service and support providers can help businesses with designing and implementing private, hybrid or public cloud plans depending upon the business’s requirements.
A well-managed cloud infrastructure bundled with IT support can provide the power of seamless business operations with significantly reduced downtime. A robust IT service provider always stays proactive and prevents any cyber threat or attack that may impact the normal functioning of the business operations.
While cloud computing offers endless capabilities, it is also essential to strategically align it with DevOps and remote working environments of the business.
Why Small to Mid-Sized UK Firms Are Leading the Shift
It is not debatable whether large-sized companies are capable of maintaining an in-house team for IT support. Interestingly, it is the small and mid-sized UK firms and companies that are leading the shift towards outsourced IT services.
Smaller and mid-sized firms are more agile and innovation-focused, and the following are the reasons behind it:
- Outsourced IT services offer faster implementation cycles with MSPs.
- Small businesses are not capable of creating and maintaining an in-house team for IT maintenance. Outsourcing IT services helps these businesses gain the advantage of security and compliance without the need to hire an in-house team.
- There are multiple providers of small business IT support in London. Multiple players provide businesses with the advantage of negotiating and expert services.
When to Rethink Your IT Support Provider
It is essential for businesses to evaluate their current setup for IT services against market benchmarks. The following points can help businesses asses the quality of their IT support provider:
- Is your current IT service provider truly proactive or mostly reactive? If they are more reactive than being proactive, it is time to look for a better IT service provider. It is important to prevent cyberattacks, and being proactive can save your business from disaster-like situations.
- Does your IT support provider offer modern cloud capability? With ongoing technical advancements in cloud computing, it is important for businesses to hire IT support professionals who are well-versed in these cloud technologies and provide modern cloud capabilities.
- Is your IT support provider transparent? It is important to document everything to avoid any confusion and be aware if the promised services are being provided as per the settled and agreed service level agreement.
- Is your business at risk of vendor lock-in? If yes, it’s time to rethink your current IT service provider.
If your existing IT service provider is not proactive, not experienced or skilled, or is not transparent, it is time to change your service provider. Look for a reliable and expert outsourced IT service provider that understands your business requirements and is capable of providing customised solutions aligned with your business requirements.
Final Thoughts: IT as a Business Growth Enabler
By now, you should have a clear understanding of how strategic IT partnerships drive scale and not just stability. The IT infrastructure of any business is its backbone, and the business’s operations and continuity largely depend on how smoothly and efficiently these systems run. Hence, IT support service is o longer just a back-office function. It can be costly for small and medium-sized businesses to have and maintain an in-house IT team, but outsourcing IT services provides instant access to specialists, tools and better compliance. It is advisable for business to associate with a service provider of IT support in London/UK that understands your business and industry. Tristar Tech Solutions can be your perfect solution for small business IT support in London. Their expert team provides the best outsourced IT services in UK/London. Contact today!
FAQs
- What are outsourced IT services?
Outsourced IT services typically mean handing over maintenance services of your business infrastructure to an external company. It allows businesses to hire expert services without investing in and maintaining an in-house team.
- Why do companies choose to outsource IT services?
Companies choose to outsource IT services due to multiple reasons, including enhanced cybersecurity, reduced downtime, improved staff productivity, cost-effectiveness, etc.
- What IT services are commonly outsourced?
IT services that are commonly outsourced include helpdesk support, cloud services, IT systems maintenance, data backups, disaster recovery, software and hardware maintenance, etc.
- How does outsourcing IT services benefit small businesses?
When small businesses outsource IT services, they are saved from incurring costs in creating and maintaining an in-house team to take care of the IT systems of the business.
- Are there risks associated with outsourcing IT services?
There are certain risks associated with outsourcing IT services, like a lack of transparency, failure to deliver on-time support, inadequate support, etc.
- How do companies select the right IT outsourcing partner?
There are multiple factors that should be considered while selecting the right outsourcing partner for your business. These factors include response time, range of services offered, scalability, flexibility, expertise, etc.
- Can outsourced IT services be customised to specific business needs?
Yes, an ideal IT service provider can customise IT services based on your business needs and requirements.
- What is the cost structure of outsourced IT services?
Cost structure of outsourced IT services varies depending on multiple factors like complexity of business, number of systems and users, services included, etc.
- How does outsourcing IT services impact data security?
Partnering with a reliable and experienced IT service provider can enhance data security by following security protocols, complying with rules and regulations, etc.
