If your company needs to a designated IT department, there are two choices for deployment. You can either outsource it to another company, or staff your own IT professionals.
There are advantages and disadvantages to each choice, as listed below.
The Case for Outsourcing IT
● Contracting IT staff from another company, firm, or other third-party means you’ll likely have access to a multitude of employees, which likely means 24/7 monitoring. This can be difficult to achieve with an in-house team.
● Since you’ll be one of hundreds (or thousands) of clients, these companies typically charge less for upgrades and repairs.
● Independent IT providers typically offer access to repair tools as well as high quality diagnostic software.
● Field representatives are not always deployed to solve problems. Troubleshooting is often done by remote agents through an internet connection.
● If there’s a high demand for repairs, maintenance may not be immediate.
● Data theft and/or sabotage is possible if an outside IT company comes into a business that houses sensitive information, data, or confidential programs.
The Case for Hiring In-House IT
● IT staff is always on-hand for issues that arise.
● Although it may take longer to get things done, in-house staff can learn a business’s computers and software on a more intimate level.
● Hiring in-house is typically more expensive because IT team earns a salary even when they aren’t fixing a problem and employee benefit packages can be expensive.
● It takes time and money to find, screen, and interview job candidates.