One of the most important decisions that every successful business must make is whether or not to outsource specific aspects of their company that do not directly interact with the product or service they are providing. For most companies, one of those decisions comes to choosing whether to outsource IT Support or build an in-house department. Whether or not your company relies heavily on technology or not, there is no escaping the need for an IT solution. Whether it's managing accounting, human resources, contract management operations, or more, there is a need to make sure that not only is your technology operational, but also safe and secure from people trying to gain access. Here are some things to keep in mind when deciding which IT support route to take.

The most important aspect to making and business decision is to conduct a Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA). Understanding that IT and Cybersecurity is an absolute and unequivocal necessity to properly run your business, the decision comes down to whether or not to outsource your IT Support solution and here we will go over the costs between each of those decisions.

What Does IT Cost?

Building an In-House IT Department

When it comes the building an in-house IT staff there are multiple factors that you need to consider. The first and most important element, is having a full understanding of your budget and what it takes to hire someone for IT support. According to Value Colleges, a person coming out of college with a BS in Information Technology can expect to make anywhere from $56,466 to upwards of $100,000 per year.

On top of that, in this day and age it is incumbent upon the employer to provide other amenities to employees such as health insurance, 401K, and other such benefits. On top of that, the Small Business Association of America notes that there are multiple other costs that are brought on by hiring an employee including but not limited to employer share of FICA, Federal Employment Tax, state unemployment tax, and more! It is estimated that the cost of an employee to a company can be anywhere from 1.5 to 2 times the cost of the salary alone.

Outsourced IT Support

When looking at an outsourced, fully managed IT Support and Cyber Security solutions provider, the cost can vary from each company. There are three different types of companies that have varying payment structures and what they will provide. Each option is unique in their own right and will be able to provide you with different levels of service. Here we will outline everything that you need to know when looking at possibly choosing an outsourced IT support service to help with your company's IT and Cyber Security business needs.

  • The first type of IT company is your major corporations that have multiple locations throughout the country or across multiple regions. These larger organizations will have pre-set pricing plans with various levels of IT support that will be solely dependent on the amount of money that you are willing to pay.
  • Mid-sized IT companies have a structured system in which they charge per workstation, server, location, etc. Most of these companies are built to create a customized pricing plan that fits the need of each client. Others will choose to follow the route of the of the larger organizations and only have a set  list of pricing options and fit each client into the molds they created.
  • Finally, a small, "one man band" type of IT company will execute a "break-fix" strategy where they will be on call for assistance, however they will charge per hour, per item, travel time, and will overcharge for parts so that they can make a profit on each item they work on. This is someone who will charge for each trip out to the office, an hourly charge for their time, plus adding in the up-charged cost of the actual hardware.

How Is The Quality of Service?

While the price of the service you are looking for ends up usually the driving force for most business decisions, there are points in time where a company will need to make a decision that is more based on the quality of the service being received versus solely the cost. While quality is always of paramount importance, the quality being received is usually relative to the price of the service that you receive. That is the case no matter whether you are choosing to bring in a third party firm or if you choose to hire someone for an in-house position. IT Support and Cyber Security are not something that you want to mess around with, and quality is paramount when choosing how to proceed, in that regard.

In-House IT Staff

If you are looking to setup an in-house IT department, you are probably going to be creating a job listing on Indeed or LinkedIn and have people who are interested in the position, apply directly to you. This means that you will have to take the time to qualify each individual candidate, phone screen them, interview the select few that have made it thus far, and then you make a decision based on the information that you have gathered.

While the process seems straight forward, the fact remains that the only person who can truly qualify talent and preparedness for the IT Support position, is someone that has either done the job themselves or is extremely well-versed in the subject matter. Often times, a person goes into business because they are passionate about a specific product or service that they can provide to others. The last thing on their mind is anything to do with IT support and cyber security.

Outsourced IT Support

If you choose to forgo the route of building an in-house IT staff and want to move forward with selecting an outsourced IT Support provider for your company, then here is what you can expect from the same three types of businesses that were listed above:

  • In a large organization that deals with IT Support, customer service is answered through a layered approach. All IT support needs are expected go through a ticketing system. That ticketing system gets put into a queue where a team of Tier 1 technical support technicians will attempt to solve the problem or classify it so that it a higher-tiered technician can resolve the issue. As part of these larger organizations there is often times a team of IT support technicians that will all split the workload, which means that any ticket that you put in for your company will be handled by different people every time.
  • In a medium-sized Managed IT Support company, often times you are a dealing with a company that has anywhere from 3-15 employees. Often times these companies are family-owned and operated. These companies have the time and resources to service your company with the same tools as the larger firms and the personal touch of a smaller company. Most of the time when you are working with a medium-sized company, you will be able to speak and work with the same people every time.You will be able to build a rapport with your account manager and have a long-lasting relationship with that company.When choosing a medium-sized IT Support firm, it is very important to research how organized they are and what tools they are using. There are many medium-sized IT firms that will grow faster than they should because they want to appear larger than what they are. Another minor take away with some of these companies are that they will only be able to handle a certain amount of clients or clients of a certain size before they will need to recommend signing with a larger firm.Overall it is important to meet with the company you are interested in working with and to develop a positive working relationship with them.
  • When considering a smaller IT Support company, or what we refer to as a "one-man band," there are few positives and negatives that you must keep in mind at all times. When it comes to customer service and what you should expect from a smaller IT company, it is important to remember that they are one (maybe two at most) person and will be doing everything in their power to maximize profit without being stretched too thin. This usually means that they will try to utilize a lot of tools that only Manged Service Provider's (MSP's) have access too, which are great, but will be hard to reach when you need them.Remember, they are one to two people that are trying to service anywhere from 5-25 clients as a single entity or possibly a duo. The fact remains that this works for companies that are just starting out or that do not rely heavily on technology for their core business.

The fact remains that the quality of service that can be expected is directly correlated to the person/people that are performing the service of IT Support and that the size of the company that you are working with and/or the person you choose to hire can differentiate from the information provided above. These compositions have been made from the over 30+ years that our experts have spent within the industry.

What Are The Benefits And Takeaways Of Each Choice?

In-House IT Staff

Having an in-house IT department, among other things, helps to convey a sense of success and accomplishment to your clients and employees.

On top of just looks and perception, having an IT staff based in-house helps with response times and their ability to work on issues at any given moment. If any employees have an issue they can simply go over to the IT Department and speak with someone or submit a ticket that will have someone come over from the other side of the office. While there are many issues in which IT staffs can fix remotely, there are times when you need a physical presence on scene to accurately identify and work through the issues.

As an in-house IT staff, they only work with one Network and IT setup, so they become more familiar with the landscape of how things are setup and can become the Subject Matter Experts (SME) of your company's specific environment. This becomes extremely important when it comes to knowing what aspects need to be worked on or upgraded as well as what is working well and should be replicated throughout. On the other side of the coin, when it comes to figuring out how to improve the network or work with different tools that you want to add-on, they will have little to no knowledge because their only experience has come with one network setup.

Outsourced IT Support

When considering all of the different variables that go into choosing whether or not hire an IT support company or to build your own in-house team, there are a few things that you will need to consider.

IT companies work with many different industries, network types, and software vendors that can allow them to bring the utmost knowledge, experience, and top-rated tools to your small or medium-sized company.

Many of the tools that these companies use, are specifically privy to them and Fortune 500 companies, due to the sheer volume for those companies to support. With that, IT support companies can provide you with top-tier experiences and security so that you can rely on your technology to continuously support your business and keep you up and running.

The only issue that you may run into with an outsourced IT support service, is that if you do not do your homework on them and do not call their references, then you may choose a service slow or lackluster support. Every outsourced IT support firm is completely different in the way that they operate, so just because one is not advantageous, does not mean that every single one is as well.