11 Jun In-House IT Versus Outsourced IT – What’s Right For Your Business?
Your business is growing, you’re adding employees, things are going well: congratulations!
Naturally, with this growth, your technology and IT support needs grow as well. Most offices have that one person who knows a bit more than everyone else when it comes to technology. As a result, they naturally become what at RelevantTec we like to call the “IT person by default”.
At a certain point, the IT support workload and complexity will outpace the knowledge and time available for this person to handle it effectively. When this happens, you may be thinking that it’s time to consider finally hiring dedicated IT support. If that’s the case, you have two options: in-house or outsourced. There is no hard and fast rule because both support models have pros and cons. To help you decide what’s right for you and your business, we’ve put together this handy guide.
Benefits of In-House IT
An in-house IT support professional is suitable for organizations that have a specialized task that’s unique to the business. A good example of this is having a custom, unique-to-your-business software. This may require having the developer on staff to keep things updated and running smoothly.
Your business may also need a higher level of internal accountability for highly sensitive tasks. This is often government or industry regulated. This is also a good indicator that you may need someone internally accountable.
Another potential benefit for in-house IT is being able to exert more control of the work this person does as well as always knowing that your business is their top priority.
What is outsourced IT and how does it save money?
Glassdoor has the average IT Support salary in the US at $51,013 per year. That’s roughly $4,250 per month for one full-time employee. A more seasoned IT Manager in the US makes $85,253 per year or approximately $7,100 per month for one full-time employee who may have a more well-rounded and experienced background. For a small business, adding that kind of salary to the books is a significant investment which doesn’t even include the cost of support tools, cybersecurity, awareness training, and backups. This is where most start looking at outsourced IT.
Outsourced IT isn’t new, and no, we aren’t talking offshoring. These are third party IT teams that speak your language and live in your communities. The business model for outsourced IT companies is simple: spread the cost of the support professionals and support tools over multiple companies saving each from shouldering the full cost burden alone while still getting all of the benefits of IT support.
Companies who outsource IT also don’t have to worry about training IT staff, keeping them motivated in a highly competitive field and giving them the resources to obtain valuable certifications.
No single point of failure
What happens when your in-house IT person calls in sick the same day your network crashes? Or goes on vacation for a week and (rightfully) doesn’t respond to emails? You have a single point of failure. With outsourced IT, you have an entire team of support professionals, so even when those individuals aren’t at work, there’s always someone to answer the phone.
Diverse skillset
IT is a lot like healthcare. There are a lot of specialties. Hiring a jack-of-all-trades IT person will naturally leave a lot on the table in each specific area compared to a server or network or cloud or security specialist. With outsourced IT, you get all of the specialists on your team.
Buying Power
A good IT provider will have successfully negotiated great pricing for all of the critical tools they use to keep your business operating and secure. On your own, your business will pay the standard (non-discounted) rate for software, security and backup solutions that won’t come with your in-house IT support, adding to the overall cost and complexity.
End thoughts
For the vast majority of businesses under 100 employees, outsourced IT is the most economical and effective solution to IT support. Even companies scaling above this number who start to hire internal help, often supplement with external support.
Every organization is different. If you’d like to talk through your unique situation to see what’s right for you, give us a call. We pride ourselves in a no nerd-speak approach to IT. You’ll be glad you called.