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If you’re like most small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), you probably have your internal resources stretched in order to maximize your profitability. It can be easy to think that the more you do in-house the more cost savings you will realize, but it isn’t always that simple. When it comes to IT services, all SMBs should consider outsourcing tech support. Here are some pros and cons to contemplate as you make the outsourcing vs. insourcing IT support decision for your business.
OUTSOURCING
The benefits associated with outsourcing your IT support include
- The ability to have a team of experts who not only understand your existing IT infrastructure and systems, but also are familiar with (and can support) new, cutting-edge technologies that may give your business a competitive advantage.
- Greater value – when you outsource IT services you get a team of technology professionals to support your business as opposed to just one person (who will have limited bandwidth if you ever experience an outage or other disaster).
- As owner or manager of a SMB, you can focus on your area of expertise and revenue generating activities, knowing you have an outside team of IT professionals handling that aspect of your business.
A drawback of outsourcing is that you do lose some control. For many business owners who have built their companies from the ground up, this can be a mental hurdle to overcome, but as long as you take the time to find an IT support partner, such as ATB Technologies, who understands your current and future business needs, goals and challenges, the benefits usually outweigh any downsides.
INSOURCING
The primary benefits associated with insourcing IT support include
- Possible cost savings – hiring a dedicated in-house technology expert may be slightly less expensive than outsourcing IT services to a third-party team of professionals.
- The ability to directly monitor who is working for you.
- Communication may be more streamlined if everyone is located in one office setting.
The disadvantages of insourcing can be great. While having someone in-house sounds easier to manage, if you don’t know what you’re managing, it can end up creating more work for you with little to no business advantage. Furthermore, whatever savings you may experience (and that’s not even guaranteed), you get what you pay for. No matter how great your insourced IT professional may be, they are just that – one person – and can only do so much, especially during times of critical need such as outages or a security breach.
Every business needs to make the decision that’s right for their specific needs, but for many SMBs the cost/benefit analysis shows that outsourcing IT services provides greater value and competitive advantage when compared to in-house tech support. To learn more about how ATB can help your business, contact us today to schedule a free consultation.[/x_text][x_prompt type=”left” title=”Call Us Today” message=”Give us a call: 314-878-4166″ button_text=”Contact Us Online” button_icon=”comment” circle=”false” href=”/contact/” href_title=”” target=””][/x_column][/x_row][/x_section]