Outsourcing the management of your company’s IT is an opportunity to trim your budget and free up personnel and office space for other tasks. However, this strategy can backfire if it isn’t implemented in the right way. Here are a few common mistakes when outsourcing your IT that can result in customer dissatisfaction, lost workplace productivity, and costly delays.
Mistake: Outsourcing Your Entire IT Department
This may sound a little contradictory; after all, isn’t this entire article about Managed IT? However, the most effective IT departments are often integrated. This means there’s outsourced IT staff led by your company’s managers.
Even one manager assigned to this job can provide invaluable guidance to these outsourced IT professionals. Managers can communicate expectations, meet deadlines, and help with big-picture decision-making. Outsourced IT staff are unlikely to understand your company and its vision as well as one of your own people.
Mistake: Ignoring Global Limitations
It’s true, businesses have become increasingly global thanks to the spread of the internet. You could hire IT services based in any remote corner of the world. However, this is a risky decision that should be made carefully.
Some places experience regular political upheaval. Others have unstable power grids resulting in the IT department being unreachable for hours. Finally, there are cultural barriers that may be in play. These could include:
• an imperfect understanding of English
• a lack of the most modern equipment and training
• wildly varying conflict resolution strategies
This kind of mismatch can be difficult for your company and your customers to adjust to. It’s worth taking a second look at where the IT service is based and whether this is a good fit for your business.
Mistake: Choosing the Lowest Bid, Not the Best Fit
Each Managed IT services provider will offer a different approach to problem solving, different experience levels and skill sets for their staff, and a different office culture. These intangible factors can make two services which seem similar on paper be very different to work with.
The lowest bid is not always the best fit here. Instead, consider talking to the vendors you’re interested in hiring. They may see IT needs in your company that could cost a little more at first. However, experienced outsourced IT can cut your costs over time and increase efficiency as they implement long-term strategies.
Would you like to learn more about outsourcing your company’s IT needs? Contact Golden Gate Office Solutions today!
