When a company is setting up its IT department for the first time, a big choice must be made. Do you go it alone and hire your own people, creating a full, dedicated IT department? Or, do you go with some sort of outsourced option? Of course, you can also choose to mix these methods, although some might find it confusing to do so.
Either way, you have a big decision to make if you own a business, and we are here to help you with that decision. If you are in need of outsourced IT services in Philadelphia or managed IT services in Philadelphia, this article is for you. For your consideration, here are the main advantages that can be obtained by outsourcing your IT needs.
1. You Will Probably Save Money
In most cases, companies are able to save money with an outsourced approach. These savings will come in several forms, as you will save money in multiple ways. For one thing, you will definitely save a few bucks on payroll costs. The cost of employing a dedicated in-house team can get pretty high, especially if you want to employ top-level people (and most companies do). With an outsourced company, you can get the same quality of service and the same expertise as part of a flat monthly fee.
One problem is the fact that in-house employees are often paid by the hour. This makes sense in some ways because their services are not needed every minute of every day. However, when you get into things like network monitoring and file monitoring, it’s a different story. Some services (like monitoring) require a hand at the wheel 24 hours a day. You can definitely save money by outsourcing tasks like these, at the very least.
You can also save a lot of money on equipment costs. One of the most annoying things about information technology is the fact that it becomes obsolete so quickly. Unlike private individuals, businesses need to have current tech for security and productivity reasons. Old tech will usually have security weaknesses, and it will tend to be slower. Thankfully, many outsourced IT companies will allow you to lease things like servers and routers, making them cheaper to acquire than such resources would normally be.
2. Better Security
This is our second item, but it might just as easily have been number one. Security is of the utmost importance these days, as there are so many scammers and hackers out there. Just like rats, they get caught in a trap from time to time, but their numbers are too great for law enforcement to deal with all of them. Thus, companies and individuals have to protect themselves.
When you have a rat problem, what do you do? You call an exterminator, someone who has the expertise to solve the problem. Yes, you could just set a bunch of traps on your own, but an expert will generally be more effective. For the same reason, it makes sense to employ a larger number of qualified cybersecurity specialists. Outsourced IT companies tend to hire very good security people who have been thoroughly vetted. If not, you need to find a different provider.
3. A More Effective Support System
Tech problems are always going to crop up in the workplace from time to time. You can’t expect all your employees to be tech wizards, so you shouldn’t judge people too harshly if they have a little bit of trouble. Even those who are truly well-versed in computer usage will sometimes encounter an unknown problem. In all these instances, the best remedy is to call someone who does have the knowledge to identify and fix the issue.
As part of your outsourced plan, make sure that you set up a tech support line for your employees. If you have people working remotely (and you probably do), then it will need to be a 24/7 hotline. Thus, when one of your regular employees has a problem, they can call this helpline and get things resolved. As long as your IT company employs competent help desk staff, this will result in a more effective support system.
4. An End To The Break/Fix Cycle
Some companies choose to run their IT using a “break/fix” model. This simply means that they will take a “hands-off” approach until something goes wrong. Once something goes wrong, they fix the immediate problem and that is all. This model is basically a relic from the early days of IT management and is completely outdated.
When you have experts evaluating your IT situation on a constant basis, they will certainly find some small improvements that can be made. They might even find a few large improvements to be made as well. An outsourced team makes it far easier to do this, as your in-house team can focus on streamlining operations and improving efficiency in general.
5. The Guarantee Of An SLA
A Service-Level-Agreement (or SLA) is a contract between you and your managed IT provider. Like any contract, it is meant to spell out the needs and obligations of both sides. In the case of managed IT, this is meant to guarantee that you will receive a certain level of quality. For instance, if you are having a lot of internet outages, your managed IT company isn’t doing a good job. Thus, under most SLAs, the managed service provider would be liable for the costs of that downtime. These agreements are a great thing because they allow you to guarantee good service and acceptable results.
Conclusion
There are other advantages that can be gained from the employment of outsourced IT, but these are the five most important ones. As you can clearly see, all of them offer distinct advantages to any business. If you need managed IT services in Philadelphia or outsourced IT services in Philadelphia, we recommend calling PCH Technologies at (856) 754-7500.