What do you do when your in-house IT support technician quits? If you’re like most business owners, you start by feeling frantic and hurt, like getting punched in the stomach.
Computer and IT Support: Why Outsource Your IT Department?
After that, you have to find and train a replacement fast. In the meantime, you could be without computer IT support for a while. And let’s not even think about the disasters that could happen because of that.
Luckily, though, there’s a way that all of this can be avoided. Specifically, you can outsource your IT support to a third party who will always be there for you.
And this is only one example of the many reasons you should outsource IT services. Read on to learn even more benefits of outsourcing.
1. No Firing, Quitting, or Support Interruptions
Since we’ve touched on this one already, we’ll start here. An in-house IT employee is a single individual, one who can leave you for a better offer at any time.
This will never happen with a third-party IT service. They are under contract to provide your services until such time as you dismiss them.
And if one of their employees quits, they have a team of others who will pick up the slack. So, you’ll never have any interruption in service.
2. No Hiring Process, Ever
How long does it take you to scout, recruit, or otherwise obtain qualified prospects for your in-house IT team? Then, how long to interview and decide who to take onboard? Now imagine doing this all over again if this team member ever leaves the company.
Better yet, imagine never having to do this again. Third-party IT services qualify and hire their own employees so that you don’t have to worry about it.
Their fully trained IT experts are simply standing by, waiting to serve you
3. No Training, Coaching, or Managing of Your IT Team
Furthermore, the training process for onboarding new in-house employees can take even longer than the hiring process.
You could spend a month or more teaching the new recruit how they fit into the particular structure of your business.
Not only that, training is an ongoing process. For example, you must brief your employees on every new policy that your company comes out with. And you sometimes need to use corrective coaching to make sure the employees are doing their jobs.
Again, when you outsource, all this is handled by your third-party IT service. You’ll never have to tell them to get back to work. You never even have to keep an eye on them.
Plus, they establish an open communication link with you for any important information. They’re always there when you call. And they’ll call you if there’s an issue you need to be aware of.
4. They Work When You’re Closed
Computer/technology problems don’t respect business hours. After all, your website and certain automated functions of your business keep running 24/7.
System bugs and cyberattacks can happen any time, day or night. But your in-house employees go home when you close up for the night.
Not so with outsourced IT support. They can watch over the technological aspects of your business even while you sleep.
5. You Can Still Keep Your In-House IT Team
Rest assured, we’re not encouraging you to fire all your in-house IT members. There’s no rule that says you can’t have in-house and outsourced IT support. In fact, it’s not a bad idea.
You might have an IT team leader who you trust over all others. That’s great.
But he/she won’t be working for you forever. Eventually, this person will retire or otherwise leave. When they do, third-party IT support is there for you.
Actually, it’s there for you, regardless. What we mean is, any time you need a little extra IT help, say, after a cyberattack, hire a third party. Then, once the crisis has subsided, end your service contract.
6. Fast Action
That point about extra help after a cyberattack is crucial. You see, the longer it takes to contain such a situation, the more likely it is that there will be irreparable damage to your business.
For example, the attack could cause you to lose important data. This has a 60% chance of shutting your business down forever.
But with immediate access to a huge team of IT experts, the chances of this are greatly reduced.
7. Changing Scale Is Easier
Or, perhaps your business grows unexpectedly. Again, call third-party IT support for extra help.
Conversely, maybe business is slow and you have to downsize. If you’re utilizing outsourced IT when this happens, you can cut this service instead of firing your in-house team.
8. It’s Cheaper
Lastly, it’s generally cheaper to outsource. At least, it’s a more reliable expense.
That is, you never know when turnover will happen. But when it does, you have to spend resources on hiring, training, even severance.
That’s not to mention the hidden cost of benefits and company-provided retirement plans.
Besides that, if your in-house IT employees are actually good at what they do, they’ll ask for more money. If they don’t get the pay they desire from you, they’ll get it somewhere else.
But your third-party services are always experts and always there for you. And the cost stays mostly the same, too, without any surprises. Though, the cost of service may increase by small amounts every once in a while.
Always Outsource Computer IT Support
Remember the benefits of third-party computer IT support that you learned here today. And, if you aren’t taking advantage of these services yet, look into it now and get started.
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