Information Technology (IT) is a mission critical operation for every modern company. It provides security, support, and allows for important strategic decisions to flourish. But small to medium sized businesses all too often overlook this department when building their business due to costs and energy required to create a decent IT department.

But in 2016, you’d have to be living under a rock to have not heard about the growing trend of IT outsourcing. The word about cutting costs on IT through outsourcing has essentially been fully permeated throughout our society. But there are so many other things IT outsourcing is capable, which any of our partners can testify to.

IT outsourcing investments are used by providers to build a more efficient, talented, and powerful IT department for companies all over the country. Here are 5 ways this happens.

1. Renewed Focus on Core Business

The vast majority of companies in our society don’t use IT as a core operation, it exists to support and make secure all other company functions. If you decide to build your own data center with severs and security measures, it will inevitably drain focus and not create any tangible competitive advantage.

You’ll need to recruit top talent, keep them at your company, and update your systems to the most modern version every so often. But your business isn’t IT, so these tasks often get in the way finding new company revenue streams. And worthy of mention is the fact that outsourced IT is able to service needs 24/7 while going beyond what an internal team could do with service level agreements.

2. Access to IT Experts and Latest Technology

Unlike other businesses, IT is the core competency of a Managed Service Provider. Full training, certification, and expertise validation are parts of the hiring process for all stand-up MSP’s. Being able to draw on this wealth of technological knowledge at any time gives valuable business advantages.

With all the different IT disciplines like cloud computing, security, and business networks, you have access to any IT expert at any time. And with the best in the field, you also get the latest and greatest technology to give your company the edge it needs to stand out from the crowd. MSP’s know the most modern technology is only utilized by effective deployment into proper environments and quick patching.

3. Minimized Risk with Increased Flexibility

IT is inherently expensive for companies, especially if you’re going at it alone. One mistake can equal a huge investment. If you decide that your company needs to make the move to a new platform, it could go awry without the proper tools. IT outsourcing can both tell you if this is going to be a good overall decision and give you the tools you need.

Reducing the risk of data loss can be easily achieved through the services outsourcing IT providers allow companies to take advantage of. Data backup options are numerous, with safeguards like firewalls, encryption options, and user access tools always given by vendors. And these options are made more powerful with certifications obtained by the IT specialists employed by managed service providers.

The risk of downtime is also essentially removed. You’ve already likely seen the slogans saying “We offer 99.9% uptime guarantee!” This is because IT outsourcing vendors heavily invest in the most resilient systems that handle disruption better than less powerful systems can. Robust systems in place to backup and recover data also reduce the risk of losing anything if there is a technological failure.

And when you need to take a strategic change in direction, IT outsourcing can provide the much needed flexibility to scale up and down. Completed projects are only charged to companies for the agreed upon completion time, and new ones can be created at any time.

4. Enhanced Employee Morale

If you’re dealing with a stand-up company that fits right into your own company culture, it’s likely that overall company morale will noticeably improve. When employees know their data is safe, that they don’t need to work about any downtime, and that they no longer need to worry about handling extraneous IT functions; considerable stress is removed. Especially for non-IT employees who have had to put effort into putting out IT fires.

When a company specialist is able to focus all their energy on doing what they do best, more satisfaction is gained from a job well done.

5. Reduced Costs with IT Outsourcing

And of course, the most well-known driver for companies to outsource their IT needs is the significant cost savings. Many companies report savings as high as 40%, with authority sources like Gartner reporting the occurrence of significant savings by simply outsourcing your email service.

Another valuable advantage is the reduction of Cap ex and Op ex from the accounting end from companies outsourcing their IT. Outsourcing removes the need to purchase physical hardware and space to keep the hardware. Additionally, expensive employee salaries can be bypassed with much more affordable vendor contracts. And these contracts span a massive spectrum of services from cloud computing to application development.

Key Insights

Of course, the advantages of IT outsourcing are not completely without risks. Some vendors may not mesh with your company culture, or they may not provide the transparent help you need. Unless you completely trust a provider, you’re better off continuing your search elsewhere.

But with properly managed IT outsourcing, small to medium businesses can truly thrive, in many more ways than simply saving money on unnecessary IT expenditures.

To see if we fit into your image of what a great managed service provider is, shoot us a message here.

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