7 Reasons to Outsource your Managed IT Services
Why should businesses consider outsourcing their managed IT Services. Technology advances so fast, and as a business owner you need to know your business has everything in place to keep you one step ahead of your competitors. Your technology and people will be what sets you apart.
Here are the top 7 reasons why you should consider outsourcing your IT managed services.
1. Compliment your in-house team
A lot of companies prefer to have their own IT Manager/Engineer in-house and usually this person is relied on heavily to ensure continuity of their IT network and constantly called upon by the users in the company. What businesses should consider is what happens when that person is on holiday or off sick? How about if they are already working on a critical issue and another one rears its’ ugly head? Worse still, what happens when a serious incident occurs that they can’t resolve?
By outsourcing your IT to compliment your in-house personnel provides peace of mind that the business will still function whatever issue arises.
2. Reduction in the cost of staff
An IT Manager can have an average salary in the region of £50,000 per annum. Take into account all the other associated costs such as ongoing training, and company benefits and that yearly cost suddenly becomes a large overhead. To find out your ROI should you outsource your IT read more here.
3. Skills gap
As a business, trying to recruit an IT person when you have no background in IT yourself can be daunting. How would you know if they have the right mix of skills, knowledge and experience, and how would you test that?
By choosing to partner with a credible outsourced managed IT services company you can have the confidence that you’re partnering with a team who are qualified to make the best judgements for your company with the skills required to manage your network.
4. Access to latest technology
Technology and IT go hand in hand. To stay one step ahead of your competitors you need to ensure you are taking advantage of the latest products, application and technologies. By partnering with an outsourced managed IT provider you will gain valuable access to a team of specialists with collective knowledge and experience.
5. Pro-active is King
It’s a huge cost to businesses to invest in tools for their IT personnel to enable them to be pro-active. It is likely that most of their IT strategy is based on a break and fix set up. Being re-active not pro-active. Unfortunately, by addressing issues when they have already occurred would usually mean they have impacted your users productivity to some degree. By pro-actively monitoring your network 24/7 your outsourced managed IT provider can identify issues before they happen, reducing the downtime individuals or the whole company could experience as a result.
Managed Service providers also have the ability to install software and patch updates on all your devices out of hours. Therefore, no disruption to users and help to maintain the integrity of your network.
6. Staff productivity and morale
We come across some companies who prefer to keep IT costs low by delegating the responsibility of IT to a member of staff who have a little knowledge of IT. You know what the saying is – a 
little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Usually these people also have another role within the business. Although the thought of ‘saving’ money on employing a qualified IT person, or outsourcing your IT may initially sound attractive, how much time are they spending trying to resolve IT issues? Would their time be better spent developing their other role within your business? It will only be a matter of time before there is an issue they will not be able to resolve.
Outsourcing your IT frees up productivity and increases staff morale. Thus, allowing your staff to concentrate on areas that can help your business grow.
7. Value added
It’s easy to forget your IT while things are ticking along nicely, and why not! But, have you considered the range of additional services that could add value to your business that managed services providers can offer.
From MBD (mobile device management) to business continuity, from security as a service to the benefits of cloud solutions?
This is without taking into account your dedicated vCIO (Virtual Chief Information Officer). They help you understand and manage the evolving technology landscape. Therefore allowing you to better plan for long-term goals and scale your business.
To read more about how Softlink can help with your outsourcing requirements, or to arrange an informal chat, please contact us here.
