Things to Consider When You Want IT Services Outsourced in 2024

A study from 2019 revealed that over 92% of the top 2000 businesses worldwide had IT services outsourced and a majority (72%) of all outsourcing contract values came from the IT services industry. 

The market for IT outsourcing is expected to grow to a whopping $519 billion in 2023, a 22% rise from 2019 levels. But why do businesses opt for IT services outsourced and why should you do it in 2023?

When you want efficiency in your business operations, you can’t risk juggling all the things in-house, especially IT, if you’re not a tech business by nature. When you outsource your IT department you can:

• Take care of complex tech-related tasks that need constant attention but aren’t fundamental to your business, 
• Free up time and energy to concentrate on what really matters to your business
• And ensures that you’re still giving clients and your employees excellent tech support.

Even when tech isn’t your niche, proper IT functioning will become a basic expectation and need as your company grows.

In this article, we’ll discuss all the things you need to know for outsourcing IT services, including special considerations while choosing your IT service provider. Let’s start with the basics first, understanding what outsourcing IT services mean.

What is outsourcing your IT services? 

IT outsourcing refers to the practice of contracting out the provision of information technology services in order to focus internal resources on other priorities. When you outsource your it department, you partner with a third-party provider to provide business solutions enabled by IT, such as:

• Building or maintaining software
• Building and maintaining IT infrastructure

In order to achieve the company’s vision and create strategies for growth, you must choose a reliable and competitive IT service provider. You can structure contracts and negotiate a deal with your providers in a way to ensure long-term, mutually beneficial partnerships to reduce in-house efforts, cost, and efficiency. Three popular models for outsourcing IT services are:

• Outsourcing as a service, 
• Subscription for software as a service (SaaS), 
• Cloud-enabled outsourcing.

Now that you understand what outsourcing IT services means, let’s see what benefits it can offer.

Benefits of outsourcing IT services

There are several ways in which outsourcing may improve the efficiency and effectiveness of a business. When you outsource your IT department, you get benefits from these major advantages:

• Cost cutting in terms of talent acquisition, technological adaptation, and operational and overhead expenses.
•  Increased efficiency of your in-house teams as you don’t have to worry about IT-related tasks and can focus on your core competencies. 
• Get top-notch IT support from experts backed with state-of-the-art equipment and technology required for better results and great services.

These three benefits, while significant, are just the tip of the iceberg, as outsourcing and offshoring your IT department comes with countless benefits. Want to know more benefits and understand them further? Read our article 10 Benefits of offshore development in 2023. 

When you’re thinking of an outsourced IT department, there are several things to keep in mind for your business for maximum efficiency in the partnership with your outsourcing provider. This brings us to the next part- what you need to consider when outsourcing IT services. Let’s look at seven most important things to consider when you want your IT services outsourced.

Things to consider when outsourcing IT services  

Extent of Control 

When you decide to outsource your IT department operations, you may discover that your company might lose authority or say over the activities carried out by your partner. For this reason, many businesses think that outsourcing IT services results in a loss of operational control on the part of businesses. 

Determine how much oversight you want to maintain over the outsourced IT support services, and hammer out the details with the provider, as it will:

• Guarantee that the outsourced IT department understands your expectations well and delivers accordingly. 
• You may more easily define each party’s obligations and establish reasonable goals for the business partnership.

Communication

The time difference between on-site and offshore development, as well as any potential cultural differences between the two companies, may make effective communication and collaboration a major source of anxiety for any business wanting its IT services outsourced. However, the best providers of outsourced IT services often train their employees and leaders to communicate efficiently and bridge the gap between cultural boundaries. 

With an experience in collaboration with several businesses in various industries, we know that the best way to facilitate clear communication and collaboration is to:

• Define channels of communication in the contract
• Clarify communication expectations, such as daily weekday calls at a specific time 
• Take meeting minutes regularly 
• Document all agreements in writing

Security measures and compliance

Your company’s sensitive data needs to be protected. Therefore, it’s important to know how much data and information you’re comfortable sharing with a third-party IT resource provider before employing them. In many cases, the IT outsourcing company will act as an integral part of your own IT division. This implies they might have to have access to sensitive information about your company and your customers.

You may want to check the IT service provider’s credentials to make sure they are qualified to deal with any issues related to network security and data management systems. The best corporate data security management will provide complete redundancy as well as IT disaster recovery services to their customers. Two things you must do when selecting a partner when outsourcing IT services: 

• Ask about their practices to promise confidentiality of customer data, company information, and your business systems. 
• Include the required clauses in the contract and paperwork to protect your business at all times.

The expertise of your IT partner

Outsourcing IT services should allow you to tap into a larger pool of skilled professionals. But you can’t have that if you risk having your IT infrastructure managed by inexperienced personnel. In most cases, the outsourcing business is able to work with your computers and networks and solve any issues it may face. But if the partner you choose doesn’t provide comprehensive IT assistance, you’ll have to pay more to have additional services provided by a third party. 

Therefore, you must give some thought to the outsourcing business’s knowledge and abilities. To ensure working with a proper outsourced IT service provider:

• Check the company credentials of the outsourcing company 
• Seek reviews from its past clients. 
• Ask if they invest in their employees with frequent training to keep them abreast of technological changes and how they do it. 
• Find out if they have data backup and recovery capabilities. 

The morale of your in-house staff

The morale of an organization’s onsite IT department employees may take a major hit if it outsourced some or a major portion of IT tasks. It’s understandable that workers who have had their jobs eliminated or outsourced to an outsider would feel rejected and betrayed. To retain their trust and cooperation, management must do the following:

• Clearly explain the reasoning behind the choice of outsourcing IT services.
• Provide employees with a credible presentation of the short- and long-term advantages of IT outsourcing.
• Communicate how outsourcing IT services impact their work, and assure it will not result in their loss of employment.

Compatibility

Many businesses that use third-party providers for outsourcing IT services have complained about the providers’ lack of understanding of their business. If you’re outsourcing work, knowledge transfer is something to consider. When hiring an outside business to act as a component of your IT division, it’s important to make sure it is compatible with your business in terms of the:

• Its work culture, 
• Values, 
• And work ethics.

The IT company should also have clear and effective service level commitments and management in place to collaborate with you smoothly.

Availability

The safety of your data and digital intellectual property may depend on the reliability and efficiency of the IT services you outsource. The company you choose should have dedicated technical support available around the clock in case of any emergencies involving your network. Any delay in service may have a devastating effect on productivity and may cause revenue loss in worst-case scenarios.

Once you’ve taken the above considerations, you can ensure efficiency and reliability in outsourcing IT services to a third-party provider. Coming to the next topic in line, you must be wondering what all services can an outsourcing partner provide in IT. So let’s discuss what an outsourced IT department can offer your company.

Which IT services can be outsourced?

When you outsource your IT department, you can take a significant load off of your in-house team. However, it’s up to you to decide to what extent you will delegate IT operations and what services you’ll outsource. Some of the common IT services outsourced are:

1. IT infrastructure

Outsourcing your company’s IT infrastructure gives you access to the specialized technical knowledge your company needs to effectively manage the following:

• Network Configuration,
• Cloud services,
• Technical support services,
• Cybersecurity and data protection,
• Data center support, etc.

Outsourcing IT infrastructure is ideal for startups and small businesses as it can save the costs of hiring and training IT employees while providing increased security and efficiency.

2. Help desk or technical support

Outsourcing help desk and technical support allow you to get third-party services that manage the resolution of user problems and technical issues connected to IT infrastructure and applications. 

Outsourcing Help Desk and Tech Support can help businesses avoid staffing concerns, boost customer happiness, and cut support expenses all at the same time.

3. IT consulting

IT consulting offers assistance in integrating the IT strategies and solutions they plan for with the entire business process or objectives they have set. Clients from all industries that need to integrate an IT solution into their current operations may benefit from IT consulting. 

IT operations may be supported by services that include strategic and architectural counseling, as well as developmental, operational, and execution planning.

4. Database storage management and development

Businesses are able to store data on their personal servers with the assistance of several providers of information technology services. While they are keeping client data, the outsourcing partner also devises techniques and methods to render access to that data as simple and easy, while maintaining security. 

5. Data analytics/ visualization

The gathering of data is an essential step in the process of making business choices. Once you’ve got access to data, you will be able to provide a logical meaning to a significant quantity of unstructured data. 

With the use of data analytics, businesses have the potential to transform unstructured corporate data into insightful information that can be used for strategic decision-making. The visualization tools that IT service providers utilize allow them to see trends within the data easily via the use of graphs, charts, and maps.

6. Email marketing service

IT service providers may also assist in creating an email marketing strategy to facilitate communication with both existing and prospective clients. This is made possible by technologies driven by IT and AI that assist simplify various operations.

Businesses looking to scale their marketing efforts, gain more loyalty from their clients, and drive more traffic to their websites may benefit from outsourcing these services.

7. Quality assurance

Businesses are able to guarantee the high quality of digital products and services by using quality assurance practices, which include manual and automatic testing.  It is essential to the accomplishment of any website development project, software program, or product development endeavor. 

The efforts of quality assurance may be outsourced, which could save both time and money while maintaining a high level of product quality.

8. Web design

A web design agency may assist you with a range of design assignments, each of which makes a significant contribution to the effectiveness of your website as a whole. The IT companies that are dealing with this work may produce multimedia exhibits that will set your organization apart from the other businesses in your industry.

It’s a great option for young businesses with a congested budget, who don’t want to hire an in-house team as they need this service for just one time. 

9. Software development and support

If a business wants to build a software of application for their customers or internal use, they can hire a third-party software development and support team. Many businesses prefer offshore software development as it is a cheaper alternative to developing a solution in-house or through onshore agencies. 

When outsourcing software development and support, you not only get excess to world-class experts who’ll:

• Create visually stunning and feature-loaded solutions, 
• Assist with installation, 
• Provide maintenance, 
• Help to troubleshoot and fix any issues in the system. 

10. API integration services

APIs (application programming interfaces) are designed to aid in the automation of manual processes in order to offer a seamless and effortless transition among applications that are connected together. Using API integration services, many apps and elements of the software are able to share information with one another across several APIs.

It’s best for businesses to outsource API integration if they want to build a solution that is connected to several data sources and apps. They save you time and resources by taking care of the seamless integration and resolving any performance problems that may be caused by third-party software.

These are some of the common IT services that are often outsourced around the world. There are many others that you can delegate to a third-party provider if your company or its IT department a juggling hard to handle. When you outsource your IT department or part of its services, the company providing the service will be responsible for everything. However, businesses may choose between using a single supplier or multiple providers to handle specific functions. The choice is up to you!

How anglara can help?

In this article, we’ve outlined the most important considerations to bear when you plan for IT services outsourced in 2023. Outsourcing IT services is a great way to save time and money while gaining efficiency on your digital projects and developments. But choosing a partner that doesn’t meet the above criteria can hamper the entire workflow and can be counteractive, causing a negative return on investment (ROI).

Anglara offers businesses in various industries scalable bespoke software development services. We have been providing a wide variety of software development services to businesses for the past 7 years, including:

• Software/product development
• IT consultation
• Website development
• UI/UX designing 
• API integration
• QA 

We understand that every business has unique needs with different complexities to address. If you simply outline what you wish to accomplish, we’ll ensure that our team of developers will provide a solution that exceeds your expectations. Fill up the form below and set up a 30-minute free consultation with us to discuss your requirements, and we’ll show you what we can help you achieve as your reliable partner.

FAQs

How does outsourcing work?

When a corporation utilizes outsourcing IT services, it engages with a third-party IT service provider to carry out internal operations or projects. The outsourced business has a team of experts with the necessary resources, which makes working with them cheaper and more efficient.

Should i outsource my IT department?

You should definitely think of outsourcing your IT department if your venture isn’t a tech business by nature. You can also think of outsourcing certain IT tasks if:

• They are not your business’s core competencies
• They keep you from maximizing your productivity
• There’s a skill gap in the organization
• Your turnover rate is high
• You want to support your IT department  
• You want to minimize time to market
• You have niche expertise requirements
• It adds value to business strategy

When to outsource its services?

Outsourcing IT can benefit businesses regardless of their situation. However, the following are the most frequent causes for companies to outsource their IT departments:

• Not enough money to acquire resources and skills to start new initiatives.
• Insufficiently qualified individuals to take on the assigned work.
• Inability to start a new project due to time constraints.
• In need of assistance with maintaining data integrity and project relevance