If you are beginning to grow your business, then you will likely need help to make it grow in the direction you want. You may also be thinking if you need to have the help outsourced or from in-house. While both have advantages and disadvantages, it may be difficult to decide which to go with.
In order for your decision to be an easy one, we will explain what outsourcing and in-house are as well as what makes them different.
What Makes Outsourcing IT Different From In-House IT
When a business outsources its IT work, it is allowing an outside source to accomplish the work that your business would normally accomplish. The services may come from an agency or individuals who have experience in the IT field. Outsourcing IT is also done so that money can be saved while the work can be quickly finished.
When the business has IT work completed in-house, you will be assigning work to current staff.
Advantages and Disadvantages of In-House IT Services
In order to get things done, the business needs to have the right staff. So, if you need help with IT, then outsourcing it would benefit the business greatly.
Many reasons exist that permit you to take advantage of the current staff you have.
However, the team you have may not be fully up-to-date with current IT processes. This is why you should consider the following advantages and disadvantages.
Advantages
Present New Skills For Your Current Staff
When a project comes up, your IT team needs to be able to handle the task. This means they need to be fully up-to-date with the necessary skills to get the work accomplished.
When you have the work in-house you are able to allow your staff to grow their experience and skills so that the results improve. This is seen as a great investment because there will also be a lot more training involved, which they will stick around for.
Having more training and skills also means the projects that your staff does not work on can now work on them. When that work is outsourced, then you need to ensure that they have the necessary skills to accomplish the job. By working in-house, you and your team are able to collaborate and work together.
Work Schedule is Set
No matter where you and your team work from, your schedule can be set for the team.
This allows for availability and the team can start together and finish together. If you hire a freelancer for your IT work, they set their own schedule and this may cause projects to be completed late or incomplete.
Team Is Dedicated
When work is conducted in-house, your team will be dedicated and have the same goal in mind. They will also have the goal of success in mind because it will have an effect on their future with your IT department. When your team is interested in the work, they will more likely go further and use creativity to get their job completed. Ideas and solutions may be suggested in order to complete a task more efficiently or conduct maintenance so that problems do not occur.
Having this huge amount of dedication easily replaces any gaps that your staff may have as far as skills are concerned. Your team may also take the initiative more and come up with solutions by themselves. This will lead to a team that is more engaged and productive.
Disadvantages
The Costs May Be Higher
When you hire more IT professionals, you will likely be paying more in the long run than you would if you did not hire. As the work gets completed, the amount of work and the pay that goes along with it needs to be the same.
When help is only needed for a few projects, you may save money on outsourcing the work because the amount they bill you should only be for the work completed. This means the tasks that are not related to your project do not get paid. You also do not have to schedule them a certain amount of weekly hours.
When your IT staff does the work, you must pay them for the work they do as well as wait for work to be assigned to them. The expenses incurred by your staff also must be paid by you.
When a choice needs to be made between in-house and outsourcing, a company will often choose to outsource the work to save money.
Insufficient Amount of Training
It is impossible to have staff be able to accomplish everything that you ask of them. In fact, your IT department may not have the sufficient amount of training that a project requires. Plus, it may not be a good idea if you assign work that your IT team does not have enough training to accomplish successfully.
Conducting training individually may end up costing more than what it is worth. Plus, any spent resources may cause attention to be diverted from things that need to be completed, which may have an adverse effect on the results. In this sense, you are better off sticking to an experienced IT professional.
Staff Are Not Easily Managed
The staff you assign the work to may not be managed easily and the amount of time working on a project may fall behind schedule. This can be caused if you assign too much work to be completed in a short amount of time.
You need to remember that there are only 40 hours in a workweek and those hours are all likely being spent working. What you can do is make a priority shift so that the most important aspects of the project get completed first and get back to the other areas later.
If you are contemplating over time, then it may become too expensive and should only be used for occasions that are in dire need of completion.
When your IT team is asked to do more, they will not be as productive as you would want them to be. By outsourcing, you will alleviate any unnecessary strain on your staff and they will always remain productive.
Outsourcing Advantages and Disadvantages
Now that we know what in-house sourcing involves, we can have an understanding of the advantages and disadvantages involving outsourcing.
Advantages of Outsourcing IT Services
Money is Saved
Outsourcing your IT projects will save you money in the long run and may not even be as expensive as you think compared to in-house. You may even save more if the outsourced entity is in an area where the cost of living is significantly low. This may allow you to pay a lower rate than you would normally pay.
Outsourcing is Flexible
When work is outsourced, you are able to be flexible with your time and money. You won´t need to conduct any hiring process to have an IT professional work on your project.
You will be able to get the help quickly and the amount of time required will be based on how much work you need them to accomplish. If you want them to work part-time along with your regular staff, then so be it.
Gain Experienced IT Staff
You will be surprised by the number of outsourced agencies that exist today. With a lot of them, they will likely have the experience you are looking for and can thus handle any job that you pass their way.
Disadvantages of Outsourcing IT Services
Communication is Lack Luster
You may find it hard to have project updates to ensure it is on schedule and you are unable to see the progress as it occurs without having to ask.
You Are Not In Total Control
As soon as you outsource a project, it remains under the control of the outsourcing agency until completion. The outsourcing agency may also fail to be straightforward with you and only communicate as soon as the project is completed.
