As your company grows, you need to ensure employees have uninterrupted access to the programs they need to stay productive. In your search for an IT solution, you may be weighing the benefits of\u00a0 IT outsourcing versus hiring an IT manager. \u00a0<\/p>\n
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The steep price tag of a full-time IT manager might make you wary to keep IT in house. In most cases, it\u2019s not cost-effective for companies with less than 250 employees to hire a full-time IT manager when outsourcing IT is far cheaper and requires a lot less work. When you\u2019re small, you also may not need the resources of a full-time manager all day every day, meaning your wasting money on a salary you don\u2019t necessarily need.<\/p>\n
Just as you would hire an attorney to handle your legal matters or an accountant to prepare your taxes, you also need a professional to perform basic network maintenance. Outsourcing IT services<\/a>\u00a0gives you that professional help \u2014 but on your terms. \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Outsourced IT teams typically hire IT experts that you wouldn\u2019t otherwise be able to afford on a salary. In this scenario, you gain the resources and expertise of IT managers, but only when you need it. \u00a0 However, to have success with outsourced IT teams, you need to set up the right agreement. That\u2019s where a fundamental understanding of the\u00a0break-fix model versus managed IT services<\/strong>\u00a0is critical.<\/p>\n If you truly understand the cost of your time and factor in employee productivity, the managed IT services model<\/strong><\/a> is considerably less expensive over time than the \u201cbreak-fix\u201d model. \u00a0 Not only is regular network maintenance critical to\u00a0warding off cyber threats, but managed IT services also focuses on prevention rather than cleaning up messes after they’ve done costly damage to your business. \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Under a \u201cbreak-fix\u201d model \u2014 in which the consultant only addresses issues as they arise \u2014 there is a\u00a0fundamental conflict of interests<\/strong>\u00a0between you and your IT firm. \u00a0 IT consultants\u00a0have no incentive to stabilize your computer network or resolve problems quickly<\/strong>\u00a0because they get\u00a0paid hourly. The risk of unforeseen circumstances, scope creep, learning curves, inefficiencies and outright incompetence are all shifted to you, the customer. \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n These companies\u00a0essentially\u00a0profit from your problems<\/strong>, which is precisely what you don\u2019t want. Under this model, the IT consultant can assign a low-paid junior technician to work on your issue. This person could\u00a0take two to three times as long to resolve the problem than a senior technician.\u00a0Consultants\u00a0don’t benefit from\u00a0properly managing their time<\/strong>\u00a0or efficiency so there is every reason for them to prolong the project and find more\u00a0problems than solutions. \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Of course, if they\u2019re ethical and want to keep you as a client, they should be doing everything possible to resolve your problems quickly and efficiently. \u00a0 Second, it\u00a0creates a management problem<\/strong>\u00a0for you, the customer, who now has to keep tabs\u00a0on the hours they\u2019ve worked to make sure you aren\u2019t getting overbilled. And because you often have no way to really know if they\u2019ve worked the hours they claim, it creates a situation where you must have full faith the company is 100% ethical and is tracking their hours properly. The cost of IT projects can vary drastically from month to month, making budgeting a nightmare.<\/p>\nSave More With\u00a0the Right\u00a0Outsourced IT Arrangement<\/h2>\n