Should I Hire IT Staff Or Outsource My IT?

When you have a business, you know you need IT services. This may not be in your realm of expertise. Therefore, you want someone to come in and take care of this for you, so you can run your business without worry! But what is the next step? Let’s break this down so you can have confidence that whichever direction you choose to go, you can get the right support from a person you will value as a member of your team.

Cost

You can expect an average cost of about $161,753 per year for a full-time network administrator, or IT professional, in the city of Chicago. This may vary per city but will give you a good idea of what hiring someone on staff to do IT will cost. This may or may not include training and support.

Managed Service Professionals typically charge a monthly fee, sometimes referred to as a retainer. The fee is often determined by the number of devices in the organization that will be managed, supported, and serviced. Prices will vary, depending on location, amount of service needed, staff numbers, etc. Therefore, it is best to ask for a consultation so you can determine in advance what you will be paying per month. Consultations are often offered free of charge, so don’t be afraid to ask for one.

Pros Of Hiring Full-Time

You have control over who does what when the IT support comes from within your staff.

Someone is on-site and available to help at all times during business hours. This can save time.

Cons Of Hiring Full-Time

For some small businesses, the costs of a qualified IT professional can be prohibitive.

It can be very difficult to find a single qualified employee who is proficient in everything you need for your business. If you do find this person, their salary range might be unattainable.

You may have to sacrifice one level of expertise for another. If you hire someone with management skills, you’re likely to get less hands-on expertise from them, meaning they might not crawl under someone!s desk to fix a connectivity issue. Or, if you hire a hands-on person, they may be unlikely to contribute at a strategic level to your IT needs.

The IT industry has high turnover rates, so you may have to recruit, replace, and train new IT staff frequently.

Pros Of IT Support Outsourcing

The costs can be much lower, depending on the nature of the contract.

Many of the software and tool costs for moving to a new cloud platform are included in a managed services monthly contract. This itself can be a large cost savings.

Managed services providers have expert team members with years of experience. They often offer valuable opinions on high-level strategic decision-making within your IT infrastructure. They can set up the network and computers for a new office quickly and efficiently. They will often have witnessed and resolved most of the problems you are likely to encounter.

They stay on top of technology and improvements you might make to save time and money. They take care of everything on time and are often on call 24 hours a day. Back-ups are not missed or forgotten, security is top of mind, and everything is tested and secure.

Cons Of IT Support Outsourcing

Managed service providers are not physically located in your office, so if something requires a physical presence to fix, they would need to send someone to your location.

Some companies are concerned that a great relationship will not be established and they will need to work with someone new every time there is a problem. It’s best to find a firm where one person is assigned to you that you can work to build a team relationship with, just as you would a member of your company.

Trust can also be of concern as you’re giving an outside firm access to your data and networks. This is why it!s very important to find a professional, reputable firm to manage your business IT

We would love to offer you a free consultation so you can see the difference for yourself. Optimized Computer Solutions will help your company with security and IT in a professional and courteous manner. Our rates are competitive and we are experts in our field. Call 844.OCS.TEAM today to see the OCS difference!