5 Ways That You Know It’s Time to Outsource IT

Do you ever experience IT related issues such as downtime, staffing issues, or not knowing how to properly allocate your IT budget?

You need to run your business, and having a dependable IT department is essential for you to do that. According to ZDNet, “…surveys show IT budgets and headcounts remaining largely flat (in 2016), leaving CIOs the problem of figuring out how to keep the business running while pursuing innovative projects.” When is the right time to supplement your IT staff, or outsource IT all together? eSOZO shares five important trends to watch for.

1. When You Aren’t Sure if Your IT Staff is Going to Show Up Tomorrow

It happens. People get sick, have appointments, or even worse may have given their notice. When these events begin happening over and over again in your IT department, the risk to your business increases. Downtime will increase, revenue will decrease, and your data may become less secure.

Besides staffing a helpdesk and back-end IT support, the costs of managing full-time staff are going up. There is a shortage in IT skilled workers, and employees can usually demand more during the hiring process or at review time. Benefits for full time staff, including vacation time and healthcare, can run upwards of 18% – 26% of the employee’s salary. (CNNMoney) Many companies look to outsource IT functions when there is not enough money to hire more employees.

It’s time to outsource IT.

2. When Your CEO Decides to Launch a New IT Initiative

You may find that your IT staff is great at servicing entry level helpdesk tickets. But they may struggle with solving complex problems and launching new projects. Keeping all your employees happy and working at full capacity is related to IT. It’s always a good idea to have someone who is patient and can explain simple computer tasks to different types of people. This IT person is usually different than an IT person that loves working alone and digging into research and trends.

Or it could be the other way around. Many IT experts love the challenge of new project or problem, but everyday password and application issues bore them. This leads to employee disengagement or a decline in excellent service to your other employees. You could hire someone to fill either void. Yet, as skills increase or employee engagement decreases, you may find yourself in the same situation again.

It’s time to outsource IT.

3. When your President Cannot Consistently Run Reports Every Morning

Business leaders need information to make decisions and manage. Whether you can’t get into email, the automated report didn’t run last night, or the internet is down (again), having to call IT every morning is a waste of your, and your leader’s, valuable time.

If minor (or major) issues continue to disrupt your systems, it’s time to find a way to be proactive in taking care of IT problems. Alerts and having 24/7/365 staff availability ensures less downtime for your team.

It’s time to outsource IT.

4. When You Keep Running Out of Disk Space

As your business grows, so does the data you need to run your business. It could be customer or vendor records, purchasing and invoices, or backups of your valuable information. Continuously expanding systems to meet your business needs is costly and takes time. While your team is working to react to the issue, other IT tickets may have to wait.

Running out of disk space usually occurs during a backup scenario. There are many risks to missing a backup of your systems. Ransomware attacks continue to increase. Local events such as weather issues, floods, fires, and other freak accidents may cause a loss in data. Security breaches may cause damage to data. Having a network that allows for expandability saves time and money long term. It also reduces the need for upfront capital expenditures.

It’s time to outsource IT.

5. When You Keep Running Out of Money

According to Computer Economics’ annual report, “The percentage of IT executives who consider their budget as ‘somewhat inadequate’ or ‘very inadequate’ is rising, especially among smaller organizations.” In addition, “One of the other reasons for IT budgets being considered inadequate despite lower per-user costs is that the demand for IT services is increasing. IT organizations might be doing more with less, but the demand for more has not stopped.”

Unplanned IT expenses are frustrating to any business. It could be updating equipment to handle new and growing business needs. It could be losing an IT employee and having to hire someone new at a higher cost. Recovering from a data breach or loss of data is becoming more and more frequent. Also, if you are not documenting and managing software assets, surprise upgrades or license renewals could also hit the budget.

Besides actual expenses, a report by Gartner says that downtime costs are thousands per hour. Calculate your own downtime costs. By including an outside IT partner in your plans, you are better able to document and manage assets, prepare more realistic budgeting, and maintain a steady cost month over month.

It’s time to outsource IT.

Conclusion

Your company’s internal IT staff is great at what they do. But are those resources enough to handle all the business’s needs?

Whether you need to outsource some of the daily tasks that your experienced team is handling, or you need to quickly launch a new project, eSOZO can fill in the gaps. If you are ready to move to the cloud, need to save resources, and don’t know where to start, eSOZO can help. We can manage your IT needs on your budget and your terms. We handle the staffing and help create a consistent monthly fee to keep your budget under control.

Integrated Help Desk

It simply links your IT Service Desk to ours. Your internal IT department retains full control, and is able to significantly expand its resources and support by leveraging eSOZO’s expert IT resources.

IT Solutions: Desktop Remote Monitoring and Management Video

Author: Aaron White, Date: 18th July 2016