Is external IT support worthwhile?
10 reasons for IT outsourcing
Efficiently managed and professionally secured IT is indispensable for companies, because without smoothly functioning IT the entire business comes to a standstill. IT officers therefore bear a high level of responsibility every day, especially in view of the volatile and increasingly complex IT security standards.
Many business owners are no longer able to support their IT independently and manage it professionally. They are therefore faced with the far-reaching decision of either outsourcing IT support to a managed service provider externally or building up their own IT department internally.
We show you the advantages of external IT support and when it can make sense to have your own IT department.
Table of contents
What is a managed service provider?
The term “managed service provider (MSP)” has become increasingly important in IT, as it describes the provision of IT services by an external IT partner.
There are various forms of IT outsourcing.
You have the option of outsourcing only specific sub-areas, which can relieve and support your IT department. For example, an MSP takes over ongoing, comprehensive IT security monitoring to identify vulnerabilities and potential risks. The actual securing of the systems is then carried out by your internal IT department. In this way, you use the services of the managed service provider for an independent security review and quality control.
In most cases, however, the MSP acts as a full-service agency, taking over the management and monitoring of the entire IT infrastructure, which is also recommended for reasons of IT security. The tasks of these full-service agencies include proactive IT support, IT support, the purchase of hardware and software, and managed services. The latter include ongoing IT security measures that protect against external as well as internal attacks, data backups and the regular maintenance, updating and care of the IT systems.
10 reasons for external IT support
There are good reasons in favour of outsourcing IT to an external IT service provider. We have compiled a small selection for you below.
This is intended to support you in your individual decision-making.
1) Calculable IT costs
Managed service providers offer their IT services on a time basis and at a fixed price. As a result, the IT costs in companies, which can sometimes be subject to strong fluctuations, become plannable and budgetable for decision-makers.
You also save on investments in IT staff, their training and on costs for the required IT infrastructure such as monitoring and management tools, for example a remote monitoring and management system (RMM).
2) Concentration on the core business
Through IT outsourcing, you can use your already limited resources to strengthen your own business area. There is no longer any need to tie up employees with tasks that are not part of your core competencies.
Instead, make use of the expertise of IT service providers who concentrate fully on building and maintaining your IT infrastructure.
3) Expert and specialist knowledge of an entire team
By outsourcing IT to a managed service provider, you generally benefit from the expertise of an entire team of specialists. If, on the other hand, you hire a single IT specialist for your company, only the limited expertise of that one specialist is available to you.
Since the range of tasks and the problems are often very tricky and multi-layered, it is a great advantage if several specialists can contribute to finding a sustainable solution.
4) Expertise from a multitude of solved problems
Since IT service providers are confronted with problems from a wide variety of companies, they usually have a broad wealth of experience in successful problem solving. Often, certain approaches can be ruled out from the outset or targeted steps can be initiated, which saves time and therefore money.
IT service providers are very well networked with each other and also use these contacts to solve special problems.
5) Customer-specific IT know-how is retained
Managed service providers maintain an extensive documentation structure for each individual customer. This often takes the form of a ticket system, password manager, customer wiki and other documentation systems. This is helpful because several contacts frequently work for one customer or their employees. The written recording of all relevant data forms the basis for sharing knowledge, avoiding duplicated work and, above all, preserving the know-how about the customer-specific IT network.
By contrast, it can be problematic if you rely on just one person. This is the case when you commission self-employed IT specialists or a single internal IT employee. Here there is always the risk that when this person leaves, the knowledge about the IT infrastructure is lost as well.
6) Staff absences do not affect you
Something often happens precisely when your IT employee is unavailable.
As a customer of an IT service provider, you have one decisive advantage: skills shortages and staff absences due to illness, holiday or resignation do not affect you at all, at least in the first instance. You simply outsource this risk. Since you only pay for services actually rendered, you are independent of changes in the IT service provider’s staff scheduling.
7) Minimising the risk of fraud and faulty measures
It requires great trust in the abilities of your IT employee. If you do not come from an IT background yourself, choosing the right staff is challenging. In addition, there is a strong dependency on this IT employee, and technical leadership and quality control are almost impossible for a layperson. Whether this person always does everything the way you would want can only be hoped for, because they often work without any supervision.
When outsourcing your IT to an external service provider, the situation is somewhat different. Here, as a rule, several people are responsible for you and your IT infrastructure. In addition, the IT systems are permanently monitored by real-time monitoring. Errors and potential risks are thus more easily detected and countermeasures initiated as quickly as possible. A regular IT check also helps to ensure that your IT systems are properly maintained and managed and that possible attempts at fraud are prevented. Furthermore, the reputation of the IT service provider is always important, because for them too, independent customer reviews are regarded as “hard currency” these days.
8) Third-party software: benefit from contacts with IT support
In addition to standard software, companies also use a wide variety of third-party software. External IT service providers often have very good contacts with the respective IT support teams. These contacts can be genuinely helpful when solving technical problems.
In addition, comprehensive knowledge of third-party software is also crucial for upcoming digitalisation projects. An external IT service provider brings this know-how with them and can thus contribute significantly to the success of such projects, which are usually associated with high costs.
9) Scalability as required
Requirements within a company can fluctuate: new employees join, others leave and the demands on the IT infrastructure change. With time-based contracts with external IT service providers, billed at fixed flat rates, you can scale your requirements much more easily and thus have better cost control.
10) Increase IT security
Let us say this up front: nobody can guarantee you 100% protection! However, there are certainly IT security measures that significantly raise the level of security in your company.
High risks arise above all from IT employees who are heavily overloaded and are repeatedly told by their management that IT “just has to work”. But IT security must never merely run on the side, as this carries the risk that something will be forgotten or overlooked.
Rather, IT security is a continuous improvement process that must be firmly integrated into everyday working life. IT service providers often not only have the staffing advantage on their side, but in many cases also have modern and extensive security technology for continuous monitoring and reporting.
When does it make sense to have your own IT department?
Looking at this question from a staffing perspective, an in-house IT department can make sense once you employ at least two administrators. After all, you also need to be able to cover for absences such as holidays, illness etc.
This brings us to the financial aspect. In addition to salaries, workplaces have to be created, an IT infrastructure with adequate technology has to be set up and regular training has to be financed. Of course, every decision-maker has to calculate this precisely for themselves, but as a rough guide one can say that such a calculation can certainly be pursued from around 100 to 200 PCs in the company.
Conclusion
There are a great many reasons in favour of external IT support. IT administrators also bear an enormous responsibility in companies. These tasks cannot be carried out by employees on the side and in addition to other activities. Furthermore, it can be said with certainty that an employee without qualified IT training cannot administer IT adequately.
IT outsourcing makes sense above all for small and medium-sized enterprises, because above a certain company size the establishment of your own IT department becomes logical simply from a financial point of view. One thing must always be clear here, however: as managing director you not only have to set the strategy of such a department, but also find ways of quality control. Here too, you can make use of the consulting services and independent security audits of an external IT support provider.