For SMB’S of any size, it’s always difficult to understand when you should take something on yourself by hiring more staff, or outsourcing it. The true answer is, it all depends on your circumstances. At every stage of growth, however, whether you are a startup or rapidly growing up-and-comer, there are tasks to outsource and tasks to do on your own.
Follow these guidelines to make decisions at your small business:
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- Microbusinesses: If your company is just you, or it’s you and a couple of employees or contractors, it makes sense to outsource just about all of your managed IT services. Unless you have exceptional troubleshooting and technological skills, or someone on your team who already does, you’ll spend too much time maintaining your technology and not enough growing your business.
- Startups: It depends on what kind of startup you are. Do you have a decent amount of funding backing you? Then you can probably outsource more of your IT services than many firms of a similar size. Is your startup you and some business associates pooling your time and money? You may have to take care of some of the basics yourself (printer repair and maintenance), while leaving the more complex tasks to experienced professionals.
- Established small business: SMB’s firmly entrenched in any market can vary widely in size. You could have a few hundred employees, or maybe just 10-20. At your business, you have to consider whether you’d like to build or grow your existing IT department significantly, or if it makes sense to sign a contract and instantly access previously unavailable resources.
- Corporations: In most cases, IT outsourcing results in a significant cost savings. Many corporations outsource their marketing operations to US agencies, and see dramatic results. The same idea applies if you are a corporation outsourcing your IT support services. You’ll get a great ROI, but you have to make sure you hire a reliable managed network services provider to do the job first.
Always Carefully Consider Outsourcing…
When you begin to outsource, that’s where real growth begins. The primary consideration at all stages of business growth, whether you are self-employed or a billion-dollar corporation, is to think, “What can we be the best in the world at?” Then, just hire out the rest.
Learn more about the author Bob Martin
