Why would I want to outsource my IT?
Why would I want to outsource my IT?
When you consider the IT requirements for your business, it is often difficult to decide whether to employ an in-house IT manager or bring in a partner to take care of things.
In order to make that decision, you need to weigh up the advantages of each way of organising your IT. You can then make an informed decision about which approach best suits the specific needs of your business.
In-house
Local knowledge
No two businesses have the same IT requirements. Even very similar companies will do things different. In order for your IT to work effectively, someone has to understand how those systems interact with each other. In-house IT staff work with the same systems every day and know how to deal with those little issues that keep cropping up. They also know the particular challenges that their colleagues face and are able to accommodate their particular requirements with workarounds or other fixes that keep the show on the road.
My door is always open
When something goes wrong, staff who don’t know exactly what to do can go and find the IT guy. Having someone based onsite who is always on hand engenders trust and many teams prefer to work with someone they know personally.
Outsourced
Broader skill set
Outsourcing your IT means that you are hiring a team. No matter how good an individual’s skill set is, there is no way they can keep their knowledge and training up to date across the wide range of systems and technologies found in most businesses today. Outsourcing your IT to a larger, well-trained and experienced team brings a depth of talent that would be unaffordable in-house.
Always available
It doesn’t matter how dependable your in-house IT staff are, there will always be times when they need to take a holiday or are off sick. Outsourced IT teams have dedicated teams and will ensure support dis always available during the hours you pay for (often including 24x7 cover).
The bottom line
Outsourced IT teams will almost always be cheaper than an in-house team. Once you factor in salary and other employee costs, a two person team will start at £50,000 per year. In addition, you’ll need to factor in training and accreditation costs.
Although outsourced IT services vary in price and quality, with the price of services dependent on the number of staff in your organisation and how complex your requirements are, a ten person business can expect to pay around £500 per month. That’s quite a difference.
Actually, it’s simple…
At Cerberus we know there’s more to IT than getting a broken PC to start up. In addition to day to day support, businesses need strategic advice and guidance, so that investments add value and incrementally improve reliability and staff productivity.
Our team of expert engineers each have specialist areas to ensure high quality support for desktops, servers, security, networks and Internet and hosted services. We work with your staff to build trust and gain a solid understanding of your business priorities. Not only that but with our services delivering truly ‘joined-up’ support, we always take the lead, working proactively to resolve any issues without unnecessary delay.
Ultimately, the question isn’t whether in-house or outsourced IT is better, it’s whether an in-house team can provide the same depth of knowledge and experience as the right outsourced partner.
Cerberus delivers the best of both worlds – an expert team dedicated to providing personal service, and who understand your business, and crucially, able to support and maintain a full range of IT and communications systems.
Find out more here