Why Outsource? Advantages of Outsourcing Your IT Infrastructure
Years ago it was unlikely that a business or business owner would consider outsourcing highly important facets of their organization. Some of the early entrepreneurs such as Rockefeller, Morgan, and others played things close to the vest; and that’s not to say most businesses don’t operate in a similar fashion today. There are risks to letting so-called “outsiders” into your realm. Trade secrets or other confidential information is not to be released, and trust can only be put on those within the company, right? Not so fast. In case you hadn’t noticed, things in the business world have changed rapidly in recent years. Technology has brought about new businesses and new challenges. It’s more difficult than ever to find people who can do things the right way. This is especially true when it comes to IT.
IT challenges are immense. Security, data, application management, uptime, downtime, and all of the above swim in the minds of technology professionals and executives everywhere. What if our website goes down at a crucial time? What if our email system goes down and our communication channels are closed off for a period of time? What if someone in the IT department leaves the company? These are all things that keep us up at night. Most often, we worry about the one golden question. Do we have the right tools and personnel in our IT department to maintain our current business and also grow and scale?
A good business grows over time. You gain more customers, more employees, and will ultimately need more computing power and expertise. Outsourcing your IT environment, whether a portion or the whole operation, has plenty of advantages that can not only help your business now but help mitigate risks and issues as the business grows. Here are several great advantages to outsourcing IT:
Scalability
As we just mentioned, scaling your business is one of the prime reasons for going into business in the first place. You want to grow. The problem? As you grow you have increased technology needs. You need more servers, more speed, and more people to manage it all. First, scaling your IT infrastructure can be costly (see #2), and second, you may not know how to do it properly. Second, if you’re a seasonal business and have a spike in activity during certain times, you may only need “cloud services” or increased computing power for a short timeframe. Whatever the case may be, outsourcing your IT environment to a trusted provider allows you to more easily manage peak times and overall growth. Providers like Neovera can even help you determine your needs as you grow if you’re unsure of where to go – or even where to begin.
Cost-Effective
Money, money, money. When it comes to business money is often, well, everything. It takes money to start a business and it takes cash flow to keep a business going. For small and medium sized businesses every dollar counts and finding cost-effective IT solutions isn’t always easy. Hiring the proper talent and expertise can be costly, not to mention hardware and software and everything in between. Outsourcing your IT infrastructure or hosting part of it in the cloud can often cost much less than doing everything in-house.
Security
We’ve all been warned about the “digital” age and how to secure your data and information. In a year that saw a number of major data breaches at some of the nation’s largest retailers and businesses we were reminded that a high level of security is imperative. This isn’t simple password protection; we’re talking multi-step authentication, constant monitoring, and more. Organizations like Neovera that specialize in IT and infrastructure security will have more in-depth knowledge on how to keep your information secure.
Expertise
Perhaps the most overlooked aspect of IT is having the talent and expertise to create and maintain a solid environment. Sometime we think, “Oh, that sounds easy enough, I can do that!”. Then we get involved only to find that we’re not as savvy as we thought. IT hosting companies are a team of experts. It’s their job every single day to manage infrastructures just like yours. If you’re a great marketer you don’t join the sales team, if you’re a great accountant you don’t join the marketing team – you get the gist. Experts are hard to find, and if you’re not one yourself you’d be better off letting a team of experts handle one of the most important aspects of your business.
These are just some of the primary benefits of IT outsourcing. Of course, you can find many others including Software as a Service, Hosting, and overall consulting. IT outsourcing is certainly not something to be afraid of and has in fact helped thousands of businesses around the county and the world realize their goals. If you have questions about what outsourcing your IT infrastructure can do for your business be sure to contact Neovera today.