Businesses that want to win in the 21st century must have a commanding online presence. In previous years, that meant recruiting an IT department.
As obvious as that sounds, though, hiring IT talent is expensive. On top of that, managing IT infrastructure consumes loads of time. As a consequence, these obligations take many employees away from value-added tasks, slowing the growth of their company.
Fortunately, as the IT industry has grown, it has also specialized. Recently, outsourced IT services has become a rapidly growing niche. For a reasonable monthly fee, these firms offer a diverse range of IT functions.
Here’s what you need to know about these outsourcing companies.
The Bigger Your City, The Better The Selection
There’s strength in numbers. Startups choose to locate in bigger centers so they can network with businesses that complement their mission. For this reason, these enterprises have been headquartered in regions and cities like Silicon Valley, Austin, and Chicago.
Consequently, in cities like Chicago, it’s easier to find outsourced IT firms with a good reputation. In tech nodes and heavily populated areas, these companies can confer with their peers to find the best possible service.
However, companies founded in second-tier cities like Kansas City, Louisville, and Boise can still access quality IT outsourcing. While they may have to rely on local firms for some on-site services, quality firms can offer many capabilities remotely.
You’ll Spend Far Less on IT-Related Expenses
As we mentioned before, tech employees don’t come cheap. In many cities, tech support staff are the cheapest – and even then, you need to pay them 50k per year. But, the people who unjam printers and reset passwords can’t really run an IT department. At a minimum, startups needing tech talent will need to take on an IT generalist.
In Chicago, for example, these professionals can cost a business about $60,000 annually. This expense is manageable, but it ties up a lot of capital. But, companies that bring in a managed IT services firm can free up most of this sum.
For instance, many IT outsourcers charge an average of $100 per user/month. For firms that employ 20 people, that adds up to an annual bill of $24,000. That’s a savings of 60% over a one-person, in-house solution.
It’ll Allow Your Team To Focus On Their Core Competencies
Bringing in an IT outsourcer won’t just save cash – it’ll also free up mental bandwidth. In startups, employees often have to wear multiple hats. Even the “IT guy” (usually, an IT generalist) can’t do it all. In these cases, other tech-savvy staff may fill roles like tech support.
So, one of the programmers may have to help with simple tasks, like tech support. Here’s the problem with that – every time they’re pulled away from coding, they’re not adding value. From a productivity perspective, it makes no sense to have a firm’s coders troubleshooting computer troubles.
Instead, these firms could bring in a managed IT services firm. Once an outsourcer takes over tech support (and other functions), it lessens the overwhelm felt by busy staff members. Even if they have mental bandwidth to spare, not having to switch tasks frequently will lessen setup time for each task.
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It’ll Provide Your Business With Round-The-Clock Coverage
We live in a 24/7, always-on world. Companies that sell products/services online do so around the clock. Additionally, firms are relying more on remote teams. When their American employees stop working, their Asian staff is just getting started.
However, if their servers go down, everything stops. When this happens, whether at 3 pm or 3 am, someone needs to be working on the problem immediately. For many small businesses and startups, though, around-the-clock functionality can be pricey. To attract on-call network administrators, they’ll have to offer 80-90k per year or more.
IT outsourcing eliminates this problem. These firms make use of distributed teams – when one network administrator clocks out, others clock in. So, when an enterprise makes use of managed services IT firm, they’ll have access to this coverage 24/7.
The Security of Your Servers Will Improve Significantly
Most businesses in America have inadequate cyber defences. Every year, 20% (or one in five) of businesses experience a digital break-in. Hacker target small companies not just because it’s easy, but because it’s where the money is.
With around $200,000 in damages resulting from these intrusions, more than half of affected businesses close within six months. However, like other highly-specialized IT niches, cybersecurity can be prohibitively expensive. So, many companies make-do with whatever solution their in-house team can cook up.
But, by hiring an IT outsourcer, firms can access better solutions. For a fraction of what they’d spend on a cybersecurity engineer, a company can get defences that repel all but the most sophisticated attacks.
Focus More on the Core Mission
The less time spent focused on meta tasks, the better off a company is. For many firms, IT takes up considerable amounts of capital and time. By bringing an IT outsourcer into the fold, these companies can focus more intently on what they do.