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As a business owner, you’ve certainly considered outsourcing some of your business functions because you simply don’t have bandwidth to handle them all. This is a simple call for things like accounting and contracts. But, your IT management can always be a little intimidating to release control over. Here are seven reasons you should consider IT outsourcing and a few reasons not to.
- Reduce operating costs. When you outsource, you are not responsible for all the costs associated with hiring an employee in house, like benefits and insurance.
- Gaining expertise without training. By hiring an experienced professional you get the benefit of having an expert without funding their ongoing education.
- More time to take on forward thinking projects. By giving IT management to an outside vendor, the team members that were previously tasked with it are freed up to work on growth projects instead of putting out fires.
- Increased productivity. If you have to stop midday to fix the printer or replace the toner, your work flow is interrupted. By limiting these maintenance tasks, you get to stay focused on your core competencies.
- You don’t have an IT expert. If your operation is small enough that you can’t have an in house IT person and are managing it yourself, you are putting your business at risk. Today’s network environment is a risky one, and your software and hardware needs to be updated regularly. Hiring a managed service provider ensures someone is paying attention to your IT needs and knows the current best practices.
- Reduced risk. As noted in the previous point, the risks today are not to be ignored. If your data is not secure, you are putting your livelihood in jeopardy. There are risks from all angles – cybersecurity, man made and natural disasters, hardware failures. An MSP will ensure your threat defenses are up-to-date, your data is backed up, and your hardware stays online.
- Maximize resources. Regular maintenance and monitoring extends the life of your IT hardware, but it’s a task that often gets overlooked by employees who aren’t specifically assigned to it. In the case of Managed Print services, your printer use is analyzed and optimized to ensure you’re not paying for supplies you don’t need and your printers are working at their capacity.
As promised, here are three risks of outsourcing:
- Employee morale might be affected. If you’re looking to outsource to eliminate an in house position, there is clearly going to be some friction with your team.
- You may get stuck in a bad situation. There are plenty of IT service providers that, while technically capable, are severely lacking in customer service. Many lock you into contracts and you feel you have no options so you tolerate it.
- You have to give up some control. In order for outsourcing to be effective, you need to loosen the reigns on controlling that particular business function and allow the expert to do what they are best at. That can feel risky, although is ultimately probably best for your operations.
The key to outsourcing is finding a provider you trust that has the expertise suited to your particular needs. Great Lakes Computer Corporation has been providing IT managed services for over 30 years. We offer a range of services and pricing packages to ensure you get the services you want at a price you can afford. We emphasize customer service above all else. Our expert technicians are highly trained and personable on top of it. Our service makes the difference.
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