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Debunking 9 Misconceptions About Outsourcing IT
Oct 8, 2014
Staff up or outsource? This is the question facing many IT organizations both large and small as they try to keep up with rapidly changing businesses and advances in technology. It’s difficult for them to step back from managing day to day operations to evolve the IT infrastructure and it can put undue stress on the entire organization. One of the best solutions they have is to outsource IT to MSPs however many organizations may have some preconceived beliefs about outsourcing and are unsure of the outcome.
The toughest aspect of selling services is overcoming a buyer's objections. Today’s buyers are more discerning than ever. Your goal is to have a convincing response to these roadblocks standing between you and the sale. Here are nine common preconceived misconceptions about outsourcing IT that you can expect to encounter.
1. It is more expensive
With the adoption of cloud computing, costs now shift from capital expenses to operational expenses. MSPs package their infrastructure, application, and support services into a predictable monthly fee. In fact, the single most important tactical reason for outsourcing IT management is to reduce and control operating costs. Due to specialization and economy of scale, companies that try to do everything in-house may incur 25 to 30% higher direct and indirect costs of internal, dedicated resources in addition to increasing capital costs to maintain an up-to-date infrastructure.
2. It is less secure
MSPs are experts at mitigating risk. As security threats grow in quantity and complexity, your organization needs expert help identifying the most important threats and effectively preventing them. With outsourcing, you don't have to be a security expert or even employ one. MSPs are experts at security, business continuity and disaster recovery. Today’s infrastructure is better than ever but sometimes it fails. This translates into downtime, higher cost and lost data. MSPs help mitigate this risk through 24x7 monitoring, maintenance, multiple geographically dispersed data centers and expert consultation.
3. People will lose their jobs
MSPs often set up their business to work as an extension to their client’s team. MSPs essentially fill in the gaps of a business’s IT, or take the existing load off of an overworked IT team. The best way to think of outsourcing your IT is that it won’t cause a loss in jobs, but instead will help IT organizations refocus their efforts on the business, not technology.
4. Only big companies outsource IT
Nothing could be further from the truth. Technology is the great equalizer between the titans of industry and SMBs. SMBs can gain a great advantage by implementing newer technologies to help them scale rapidly and be agile in competitive markets without incurring the costs of hiring and retaining high priced talent that isn’t needed full time. MSPs are constantly training their teams on the latest and greatest technology advancements and SMBs can get access to these highly qualified resources without making the upfront labor investment.
5. You will lose control over your infrastructure
It is important that the MSP that you select is transparent about the underlying physical infrastructure, the security measures that are in place and offers a clear audit of where your information is stored, backed up to and recovered from. You should also visit their physical data center location. By seeing exactly where the data is hosted you can feel more confident about how it is being protected.
Most MSPs provide cloud services web-based tools for cloud computing that provides network and data center visibility and reporting capabilities to help customers ease the management of their cloud and hosted environments. These tools provide more flexibility and stronger controls for building and managing complex IT environments.
6. It’s all or nothing
The idea here is that when you outsource IT, you have to outsource all of it but the truth is that most companies start small with outsourcing just one activity such as the Help Desk or a migration project. Maybe your IT team is focused on running your ERPsolution, so the last thing they probably want to do is implement a unified communications solution. If you outsource this, you can increase the chance that implementation will go smoothly and you will get the solution you actually want and need.
7. Compliance is more difficult
Most industries that have strict compliance regulations about the way data is stored and used. These regulations are evolving rapidly and are changing all the time. However MSPs provide services in same industries and face the same regulations all the time. They become experts in compliance regulations because they serve many companies in the same industries. This often means that they can actually provide systems that ensure compliance and are also able to keep abreast of changes; implementing them often quicker than an in-house solution.
8. Service levels will be lower than in-house
With today’s workforce working more and more from remote locations, it is hard for companies to provide 24x7 support. With today’s communications technologies such as Skype, instant messaging and online video, good support can be provided remotely at a lower cost.
MSPs also proactively manage their applications and infrastructure. This means that they can often tell when something could go wrong before it does and then take the correct steps to either fix or prevent the issue from happening. This proactive pays off in the long run because it saves you from costly downtime.
9. MSPs cannot support our specialized applications
Many organizations have applications that may need specialized support. However, that highly specialized and expensive talent may not be needed full time or may find their career options limited. An MSP can provide these resources just as easily and companies can take advantage of the economies of scale provided by the outsourcers and only pay for the services being used on an as needed basis. It also gives the talent more opportunities for training and career growth which results in less turnover.