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Building and managing IT infrastructure is a taxing endeavor that demands top-notch expertise and highly specialized skill sets. At the same time, tech experts are expensive and hard to find and retain in today’s competitive IT environment. Outsourcing IT services is a notable alternative to traditional in-house hiring. Not only does it deliver cost savings, but also strengthens your security, improves productivity, and reduces risks.
In this article, we’ll explore various outsourced IT support services, discuss their benefits and challenges, and address common pricing models.
Outsourced IT support is a service that allows companies to delegate all or some of their technology-related tasks to a third-party provider. Referred to as a managed service provider or IT consulting services provider, such an organization leases its technical expertise and prowess to a client to help them achieve their goals. From ad hoc availability to continuous IT support, these agencies deliver various services depending on the customer’s needs and budgetary expectations.
Outsourced IT support vendors can aid you with onboarding procedures, enhancing cybersecurity, accelerating cloud migration, and strengthening your IT strategizing, among other activities. Typically, a trustworthy service provider has a wide array of tech specialists on board with varying skill sets and experiences. They choose from their extensive pool of candidates the right person or persons to accommodate your needs and empower your IT infrastructure.
Having an internal team provides myriads of benefits, including quick access, great insider knowledge, cultural fitness, and a tailored skill set. However, constantly relying on internal resources can be detrimental to your bottom line. Your IT employees are considerably more expensive compared to an outsourced IT support team. Additionally, your workers can only work during regular business hours, leaving a huge tech support gap. Finally, your team has a range of responsibilities that they need to put on hold to provide customer assistance.
An outsourced team is more cost-effective and allows for better scalability and efficiency. Furthermore, it can provide technical expertise 24/7 and rely on its extensive talent pool to solve any potential issues. The challenges include remote communication and monitoring which may result in some misalignments. Additionally, some companies are concerned about quality of work and lack of project oversight.
There are numerous reasons to outsource your projects to IT vendors, from cost savings and scalability to cybersecurity and regulatory compliance. So, why outsource IT support?
The world of technology is vast, encouraging experts to niche down into one or several directions. Hiring an employee for each task and duty is a lengthy and expensive journey that many businesses cannot afford to undertake. Outsourced IT service providers encompass an array of niches, offering various experts to tackle a specific problem. Moreover, such companies are up-to-date with the latest technologies and tools that you can utilize with their discounted pricing and expertise.
Another vital benefit of outsourcing IT support services is its ability to scale up and down depending on your needs. Businesses go through phases and require a responsive partner who will rapidly meet their new requirements. Beyond that, you can go through a period of sudden growth due to external factors like seasons, market fluctuations, trends, etc. A reliable IT service provider will be able to support you during the ups and downs and help you maximize the benefits and minimize risks.
The chances are that, whichever problem you are experiencing right now, a seasoned outsourced IT support provider has a similar case study. Such agencies have developed an array of standard operating procedures to tackle any common issue. Even if your obstacle is unique, the vendor can dip into their expert pool to find the right person with a suitable background to help you solve your roadblocks in the most efficient and cost-effective way.
A managed service provider can offer technical support during force majeure situations helping you mitigate business disruptions. Equipped with the latest security technologies and skillful professionals, these companies can aid you in protecting and recovering data. Aside from disasters, your business processes can be halted by inefficient decision making. IT services providers are capable of developing the most effective strategies to ensure your company flourishes and grows.
Outsourced IT services vendors also provide round-the-clock support to deliver solutions quickly and effectively. Relying on in-house technical support staff is possible but requires a substantial amount of resources. Especially if you’re striving to provide 24/7 support to your clients regardless of their location, creating an internal team to run the entire production is a huge challenge. An outsourced IT support agent can handle your customer requests and provide high-quality consulting across time zones and languages.
Cyber threats have become a large concern for organizations, with data breaches rising a whopping 72% since 2021. With more and more companies offering remote offices, utilizing cloud infrastructure, and adopting technologies, the risk of breach is higher than ever. A trustworthy IT service provider is equipped with a slew of tools and best practices for protecting your assets. From firewalls and encryption to sophisticated fraud detection systems, a seasoned partner will help you ensure your data is safe and backed up.
Another crucial part of a business is regulatory compliance and data privacy laws. Authorities expect organizations to comply with the latest industry and government regulations to protect user data and company assets. Depending on your niche and location, as well as the location of your user base, you may be required to adhere to various laws, including but not limited to GDPR, HIPAA, and PCI DSS. With the cost of non-compliance steadily growing and the rules becoming more complex and nuanced, having a partner help you navigate the regulatory landscape is highly lucrative.
Among the most appealing benefits of outsourcing is cost savings. You can reduce costs by improving productivity and discovering new business opportunities with your seasoned outsourced IT support. Furthermore, you’ll yield savings by not hiring an in-house team, which is a notoriously expensive alternative. The expenses associated with recruitment, training, and managing a team are quite high and unpredictable while outsourcing delivers a fixed or stable pricing model.
Another consideration is that you can devote more time to your core business operations while your service provider deals with the day-to-day IT issues. You can dedicate all your time to fine-tuning your product, innovating new features, improving customer satisfaction and sales, and numerous other tasks that align with your business strategy. Outsourcing non-core activities takes the pressure off of your employees and allows them to focus on big-picture strategic goals.
Finally, all of the above-mentioned advantages give you a competitive edge in the market. From gaining access to the latest technologies and best practices and utilizing the best skills to saving costs, working with an outsourced IT service provider allows you to stand out. Additionally, being scalable and flexible enables you to swiftly react to the changing market needs without losing time or resources.
Essentially, you can delegate any IT-related problem or task that you think would benefit from outsourcing. In this section, we’ll dive into the most common types of services that companies tend to outsource.
IT strategizing is among the most essential processes in any company creating a foundation for the entire IT infrastructure. This undertaking requires a seasoned IT department with specialized knowledge and expertise in trends, technologies, and best practices. Having an internal team responsible for the strategy is costly and takes a lot of time to set up and organize. If you lack in-house staff and tech support to make this happen, consider outsourced IT services to bridge the experience gap.
Outsourced IT support organizations can access their extensive talent pools to find the perfect candidate for your unique business strategy and goals. Moreover, you’ll be able to save money by forgoing expenses associated with recruitment, benefits, office equipment, and more.
Cyber threats are still quite common, especially for businesses that deal with sensitive data like financial or personal information. While technological progress is skyrocketing, so does cybercrime. Protecting yourself from cyber attacks is becoming increasingly more difficult due to the complexity and advancements of viruses, malware, and social engineering.
Having an outsourced IT support agent on your side will help you adopt security guidelines to safeguard your data. From firewalls and antiviruses to fraud detection and multi-factor authentication, a reliable partner will aid you in selecting and implementing the right tools to prevent cyber threats.
No matter how protected your business is, security breaches do occur, whether from a malicious attack or simple human oversight. When this happens, you need a comprehensive plan of action that details who is responsible for what. The cost of downtime can be extremely high, and paired with potential data loss, you can expect serious spending.
An outsourced IT support team will develop a foolproof data recovery plan to safeguard and recover your data to mitigate reputational and monetary risks. A company with an established infrastructure and a broader range of expertise will help you set up a robust system that minimizes damage.
With more businesses moving their infrastructure to the cloud, hiring an outsourced provider who will help you set up and manage your data could be quite beneficial. Cloud infrastructure requires time and resources to establish and efficiently control and your internal IT staff may not possess the tools to do so. Even if you have an IT department at your firm, these tasks will eat away the time they could spend on product development and innovation.
Cloud cost management can also be outsourced to an external service provider. Cloud infrastructure is highly complex and numerous companies struggle to find balance. IT vendors can utilize specialized cloud tools and expertise to monitor and optimize your cloud usage and minimize the overall bill.
A managed support service provider is capable of tackling all your issues, setting up cloud storage, and aligning your cloud infrastructure with business needs. Moreover, an experienced IT partner will guide you through the transitions from on-premises to the cloud and help you avoid mistakes and delays.
Although common and recurring processes, onboarding and offboarding tasks can be quite challenging and intricate. To ensure a smooth experience, your IT department needs to provide access to all work-related systems, offer training materials, and set up their PCs and mobile devices. Offboarding involves terminating access rights, resetting workstations, and data transfers.
To minimize the workload and improve the efficiency and security of these processes, companies choose to outsource their onboarding and offboarding activities. Not only does this reduce the burden on your IT department, it also ensures security compliance and delivers cost savings. Finally, your new employees can enjoy a quick and seamless onboarding process without extended wait times or misunderstandings.
Project management is another time-consuming process that could be outsourced to an IT provider. Project managers are tasked with creating and tracking project timelines and ensuring their fulfillment. In order words, they are responsible for the project being executed on time and within the predefined budget.
A competent outsourced IT support agent has the knowledge and experience in developing project timelines and discovering actionable insights into IT systems. Make sure to select a partner with sufficient expertise and know-how in your niche who also brings personalized assistance.
Help desk support is among the most popular processes to outsource to a third-party provider. Hiring your own tech support team is a costly and lengthy endeavor that’s likely to still result in long wait times and disappointed customers. Outsourced IT support services can take on the bulk or the entirety of your customer queries, letting your in-house IT team focus on more complex and urgent issues.
Managing networks and IT infrastructure is another task that falls on your internal teams. This entails close monitoring of your hardware and software systems and ensuring they are up-to-date and safe. An outsourced IT support team can continuously track your servers, devices, routers, and other systems and keep them reliable and high-performing. Having a reliable partner on board guarantees network security through updates, configuration, and troubleshooting.
The increased popularity of remote work created a variety of benefits for both the employer and employee. However, it has also put companys’ data at risk. Whenever an employee’s device is misplaced or stolen, the organization is risking data exposure. A well-developed mobile device management infrastructure can protect you from leaking your data to third parties. An outsourced IT support firm can remotely gain access to the device and wipe it clean before it lands in the hands of a hacker.
Digital transformation is a broad term that encompasses a company’s journey to an efficient and optimized business. From cloud migration and process automation to data analytics and digital accessibility, the journey includes a wide array of milestones. A knowledgeable external service provider will bring its prowess and experience to help you navigate the digital transformation path.
Virtualization is the practice of creating a virtual computer system that simulates computing resources like servers, networks, and storage devices. Using this mechanism, companies can simultaneously run several operating systems and apps on a single machine. Outsourced IT support can deliver virtualization services allowing you to design and manage virtual environments. In turn, you can reduce hardware costs, optimize IT management, and unlock new business opportunities.
There are several strategies when it comes to pricing outsourced IT consulting services. The different pricing models may be suitable depending on your business needs, budget constraints, and IT partner. Here are the most common cost structures:
The per-user pricing model offers a monthly fee per user regardless of the devices they use. Remote and hybrid employees can access their files via multiple devices and can be productive from both home and office.
The per-device structure provides a flat rate for each device, including servers, PCs, smartphones, etc.
The tiered pricing model gives clients a choice of an appropriate structure depending on their demands. For example, the lowest tier may include remote technical support, while a higher tier involves cloud integration.
Another pricing model is called monitoring-only and suits companies looking for various cybersecurity services offerings. From security patches and updates to backup plans and monitoring, you can choose the services you require the most.
Organizations that know exactly which service offerings they need can take advantage of the a la carte pricing model. This option allows you to pick and choose any IT services you need without wasting resources on unnecessary or redundant features.
Finally, if you want to completely outsource your IT infrastructure and gain full access to all the services that outsourced IT support provides, the all-you-can-eat model is for you. Maybe not the most cost-effective option, it safeguards you from any incidents and guarantees complete coverage.
Your final costs of outsourced IT support services can vary drastically depending on the pricing model, company size, required services, and other factors. Definitively saying how much you’ll pay for your managed service provider is impossible, but we can give you a rough estimate. A smaller company with under 50 employees may expect to pay $60,000 per year for a full support package. A larger organization working in the financial or legal industry will be charged around $190,000 per year for the complete service coverage.
To find out a more precise number, get in touch with the potential outsourced IT support provider and communicate your needs and requirements to receive a quote.
Nothing comes without its challenges, and outsourced IT support can also pose concerns. In this part, we’ll investigate challenges that companies face as well as provide solutions to minimize them.
Unlike in-house tech support, an outsourced IT provider will not be in the same office and may not even be in the same country as you, which can complicate communication. In these circumstances, misalignments in business objectives and expectations are a common occurrence. Add language barriers and cultural differences to the mix, and you can end up with project delays, unclear deliverables, and subpar quality.
However, relying on project management tools like Jira and Asana can help you establish open communication channels and facilitate a smooth and transparent relationship.
Supervising every single task and process from afar is not an easy endeavor and may result in inconsistencies in quality. For example, you and your partner may have different norms and regulations when it comes to code review, testing, and documentation. This can lead to inefficiencies in the long run, leading to a subpar product.
That’s why communication is such a vital part of a successful collaboration. Find an outsourced IT support partner who is responsive, reliable, and experienced to minimize the quality risks.
The vast majority of outsourced IT support services require data sharing or transferring which can put you at a cyber risk. Additionally, you’re essentially entrusting an external IT provider with your valuable data. If your partner experiences a security breach, your assets are also in danger of being exposed and leaked.
You can avoid these issues by formalizing a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) and service-level agreement (SLA) to ensure the confidentiality and privacy of your data.
Without any monitoring mechanisms in place, you’re at risk of losing control over your business operations. In fact, lack of supervision is among the most common concerns of outsourcing IT-related issues and tasks. This can lead to increased spending, extended timelines, and overall poor experiences.
Set up tracking tools and mechanisms before the collaboration begins. From software that monitors various metrics to regular meetings and calls, make sure you have the infrastructure to oversee the project at every stage.
Receiving consistent and accessible 24/7 availability is among the biggest concerns for companies looking to outsource their tech support tasks. How can one deliver round-the-clock support considering the time zone differences, staffing challenges, and heightened workload?
To address this concern and ensure you’re getting effective and reliable technical assistance, look for a partner who has the capacity to deliver 24/7 support. Well-established IT vendors have contractors and employees across time zones and will be able to cover your round-the-clock needs.
So should you or should you not outsource your IT tasks to a third party? If your business lacks the expertise to manage complex systems and ensure network monitoring, outsourced IT support may be a good option for you. Other reasons include budget constraints, rapidly growing business, and lack of coherent IT infrastructure.
In turn, if you possess the internal resources to solve all of your IT-related issues including cyber threats, cloud migration, recovery plans, etc., outsourcing may not be beneficial for you. Additionally, smaller businesses with only basic IT needs who aren’t looking to grow and expand may be satisfied with a small in-house team.
If you decide to outsource some or all of your IT projects, it’s crucial to first understand your current needs. Evaluate your existing infrastructure and identify the areas that require assistance. Next, research IT services providers to find a responsive and experienced partner who will help you with your goals. Make sure the prospective company has case studies that demonstrate their expertise and result orientation. Furthermore, prioritize agencies that display superior soft skills like communication and teamwork.
NIX is a reliable IT consulting partner with decades of experience and a wide portfolio of success stories. Our extensive IT knowledge and a rich collection of service offerings make us a trustworthy outsourced IT support provider. Whether you’re looking to delegate a few tasks or the entire IT operation, we are here to pick up the slack and lend you our expertise to tackle your issues.
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