To outsource, or not to outsource?

‘To outsource, or not to outsource?’ 

When Hamlet spoke the words ‘to be or not to be’, he was contemplating life or death, weighing the pain and unfairness of life against the alternative, which might be worse. Pretty dramatic, right? Debating whether to outsource your IT needs can feel just as tormenting when you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place; what if it all goes horrifically wrong? Maybe there’s nothing actually wrong with your current IT set up, but everyone is strained because of ongoing IT headaches, or maybe it isn’t as well managed internally as you might think… 

I’ll use coffee as a metaphorical example (because I love coffee). Every day, you like to get a coffee from your local café. It does the job - tastes alright, it’s a basic yet decent coffee and it gets you through the morning just fine. But you have to wait ages for it to be made even when there’s no queue, it’s not always consistent taste-wise and you have to go and get it yourself. But what if there was a better coffee? This coffee is made from freshly ground beans, it’s to your preferred strength and taste, your choice of milk, made specifically how you like it and it’s even delivered to you presented perfectly in a snazzy cup in a timely manner by Beyoncé / Ryan Reynolds. Do you stick with what you know or try something new and potentially have a much more enjoyable experience every day? 

A third of UK SME businesses actively outsource all or part of their IT. It’s hardly surprising when you think how businesses interactions and operations have had to evolve due to the catalyst that was the pandemic. It really did force businesses to pull the trigger to accelerate their digital transformation in order to survive. In general, the outsourced IT market is set to double in value between 2022 and 2030, however there are still some small businesses that haven’t fully considered the benefits and positive impact of outsourcing their IT.  

So, what are the benefits of outsourcing your IT? Well, there are a lot of benefits if you choose the right partner. These benefits have shifted in terms of priority a fair bit over the last few years, and I will explain why as we explore them together. 

• Reduced overheads. Having a dedicated IT director commands a costly salary overhead and the ongoing training that goes hand in hand with an in-house IT director adds even more costs. Being able to tap into a pool of on-hand outsourced talent who have specialisms for you to leverage; their knowledge and expertise will give you a broader range of coverage.  

• Security and compliance regulations are constantly changing, and they drain resources as a result. Outsourcing allows you to plug in to that talent gap so your company is fully resourced, and whilst it may cost more, it is often handled a lot better when outsourced. It’s important to know that if you already have a compliance team in-house, having it outsourced doesn’t have to mean letting people go – it just adds another vital layer of support. Getting the blended balance right for your organisation takes careful consideration. Outsourcing allows you to access additional security services like data monitoring, protection, and backup. You can monitor and flag unusual network activity, maintain updates to essential software like anti-virus, and maintain good practices for cybersecurity. This is beneficial, as not all businesses have the capital to invest in their cybersecurity infrastructure, creating dangerous gaps in coverage. Those gaps lead to potential intrusions, which cause downtime and a host of other unwanted, expensive, nasty problems. 

• Focus can be firmly set on growth as having your IT outsourced ensures progressive business opportunities don’t fall by the wayside which means your business gains a competitive edge. You also may not need to outsource every element of your IT, but you could patch-up weaker areas which free up time for your in-house staff to focus on their specialities. 

• Superior remote support means that any software issues can generally be diagnosed and repaired remotely since all that is needed is for a technician to connect to the employee’s computer and control it on their own. 

The benefit in overhead reductions used to be viewed as the most important pro, but now the ability to utilise and fill a gap talent-wise is far more attractive and is most definitely the standout benefit that contributes to the increase in companies choosing to outsource. Although, they do interlink very obviously when you think about the overheads saved by being able to tap into that talent pool, like we mentioned. 

Of course, there are always potential cons with everything in life. So, it’s only fair we outline these as well. After all, if you plump for that new coffee, you need to know if there’s going to be any hiccups incurred by switching. 

• Loss of control can be a potential risk, but only if you don’t pick the right partner to outsource to. You need to be sure that the partner you choose has the right tools and people to support your business in the best way. 

• Hardware downtime can take a little longer to be addressed and rectified. Check your partners promises when it comes to hardware downtime issues; what are their timeframes in getting a technician out to you? How far is it from where they are to your office? The good thing is, hardware issues are usually far easier to diagnose, and in a lot of cases don’t need input from an IT professional.  

• Location and communication. It might sound really obvious, but making sure your managed IT provider is located close is really important if something goes awry, you need to be confident that they can be reachable to communicate. And then, if you can communicate with them, can they speak English? Are you able to speak on the phone to them or is it purely email communication? What is YOUR preference, and can they facilitate? Not being able to communicate the way you want to at a time you want could be a huge hinderance. 

• Less than expected service. Sometimes reality can fail to live up to expectation. With an MSP, if you experience a service that is not up to the standard you were expecting, you can ensure a Service Level Agreement (SLA) is in place, and that both parties are clear on the terms to mitigate the risk. 

As with anything, if you’re going to make a commitment, it’s imperative to do your research, have conversations and ask the right questions –after all, you don’t want your coffee being delivered by Bigfoot when you were expecting Beyonce. It may even be worth agreeing a communication plan with your potential MSP partner. We’ve listed some ideas below, that (depending on you and your business needs) you might want to ask to ensure there is alignment and understanding on both sides: 

1. An effective and transparent communication process between you (the customer) and your potential partner.  

2. Frequent sharing of project health and milestone monitoring. 

3. Sharing project review findings, quality review findings and ‘action taken reports’. 

4. Periodic reporting of mutually agreed key objectives and metrics. 

5. Sharing of long-term plans, growth initiatives, budget expectations and potential future trends. 

Establishing that common understanding of what is expected and what can be delivered from the get-go builds trust that will set the foundation for a clearer and more enjoyable journey.