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A recent Gartner Talent Planning Survey* revealed that over half of the surveyed CIOs were planning to Increase their Full-Time Employees in IT in order to Accelerate Digital Transformation Initiatives and support increased growth in Automation, Cloud Platforms and support for Remote Working.
In particular, this highlighted the need for growth in security personnel, required to reduce the risks from more remote working, as well as growth in employees in the use of analytics and cloud platforms. In contrast, more ‘traditional’ tasks such as Data Centre, network and systems administration and applications maintenance were the most likely areas to see staffing decreases due to the shift towards cloud services (see Figure 1).
Figure 1. Expected 2021 IT FTE Change in IT Activities
Source: Gartner (March 2021)
With this in mind, does it make sense for you to consider outsourcing your routine administration tasks to be handled by, and off loaded to an IT MSP saving you the overhead required for these tasks? What about considering outsourcing your whole IT department, gaining access to consultancy expertise at a fraction of the price of either; engaging in extensive project work with consultants, or employing your own high level staff with the required level of knowledge to accelerate your Digital Transformation journey?
Believe it or not, in most cases it's a good idea to outsource IT tasks and functions to someone who can do them better, faster, cheaper and if in doubt, the Forbes Technology Council cited 11 signs that a company should consider outsourcing IT**. These included:-
Business Operations – Consider outsourcing when managing IT takes time away from your business objectives.
Skills Gap - Gain access to an entire team with a wide variety of skills, rather than relying on a single in-house resource.
Better IT – Refocus existing staff toward innovation whilst accessing the latest up to date technologies via an IT MSP.
Time To Market – If you don’t have the necessary in-house expertise and development bandwidth to bring things to market when operating within short deadlines, outsourced help could be the answer rather than hiring suitably qualified talent which can be very time consuming and expensive.
Existing Skill Sets Don’t Match Needs – Are your IT skills up to date and supporting business growth? If not, look elsewhere and implement outsourced services that cut costs, increase flexibility and remain relevant in a changing environment.
High Staff Turnover – Might indicate your not paying enough to keep talented staff that you could access with an IT MSP.
Niche Expertise – The value of IT outsourcing is access to specialist skills and niche expertise rather than hiring your own. If you look at expertise and NOT cost, you’ll actually end up saving money.
Not a Core Competency – Outsource when IT is not an integral part of the company’s core competency. A company can get a better quality service at lower cost without risk of losing its’ competitive advantage.
IT Operations Are Causing You Problems - A clear indication that you should look at outsourcing is if maintaining IT operations is causing problems. Focus on growing your business, not your IT operations cost centre — leave that to an IT MSP.
IT is a Commodity - Is the thing you’re looking to outsource (IT or otherwise) a commodity to you, or a competitive advantage for you? Outsource, if it is a commodity. Keep it inside, if it gives you competitive advantage.
Makes Sense Strategically – An IT MSP has years of experience working with a wide range of clients, a team of knowledgeable staff and internal resources that would take you years to build up.
So if you’re considering whether to outsource some or all of your IT to an MSP you can book a 30 minute discovery call with us here or for more information on our range of Ethical Managed IT Services: