IT outsourcing for SMEs: Advantages and disadvantages

Why resort to outsourcing when you are an SME? What is, first of all, outsourcing, in concrete terms? As we know, IT has become, for many years now, completely essential, whether you are a very small business or a large company. The impact of a computer failure can have painful or even disastrous consequences for the entire organization Outsource Your App Development Project by calling on a specialized service provider, who has all the skills to keep your information system operational and to deal with unforeseen events.  Although this mode of operation is becoming more and more popular in companies around the world, it sometimes continues to give rise to doubts, fears and fantasies. We have tried in this article to demystify a service that allows companies to focus on their core business.

What is outsourcing?

Outsourcing consists of outsourcing all or part of the management and operation of its information system to a provider, a digital services company (ESN, formerly known as SSII).The scope of services of this ESN depends on the choices and the maturity of the organization which entrusts it with this service: supervision of networks, hosting of applications, provision of virtual servers, management of backups, maintenance of databases…

What are the main advantages of outsourcing?

To be competitive today, the company needs to focus on its primary mission. This is what, among other things, outsourcing allows. We have listed 5 points in detail:

Cost reduction:

If you opt to outsource your servers to your provider’s data center or to an industrial cloud, you benefit from all the advantages of virtualization, and will pay only for what you actually consume, without having to invest in a heavy infrastructure dedicated to your organization. Your service provider defines with you the scope of his intervention, with units of work that allow you to budget your information system (amount of RAM, volume of storage, number of users, bandwidth, etc.). In addition, you switch from a CAPEX operating mode to OPEX, which is interesting from an accounting point of view.

Access to the latest technologies and expertise

By calling on a service provider whose job it is, you benefit from all the expertise of a multidisciplinary team, without bearing all the costs (HR, training, equipment, etc.): Certified engineers, best-practices, premium publisher’s support, 24/7 customer service Flexibility

Virtualization and cloud-computing allow your company flexibility and a reactivity that is difficult to obtain on an On-Premise infrastructure (that is to say located in the company). If your business is growing, or only anticipates a one-off increase in its needs, for reasons of seasonality or to support a commercial operation. If, on the contrary, you wish to reduce the wing, it is also possible, whereas on a “home” infrastructure, once your server has been purchased, it is impossible to return the unused portion.

Data security and IS reliability

Your service provider, by doing its job, invests heavily in physical and logical security. Probably a lot more than many companies. Your data is hosted and saved in state-of-the-art data centers, maintained at a high level of security (we naturally invite you to check it!). Your information assets are thus better protected against attacks, intrusions or disasters.

A single point of contact

An asset of outsourcing is the possibility of having a single point of contact who understands and knows your needs, and who is able to offer you a whole range of services that will allow you to optimize the efficiency and performance of your IS If your service provider has a sufficiently large offer, you can manage the entire IT chain without increasing the number of contacts, and therefore without increasing the costs: Hosting, server and data management, application integration or development, business intelligence, cyber security, management projects, advice … the choice is yours.

The disadvantages of outsourcing

More than outsourcing as such, it is the quality of your service provider that can have a negative impact on this mode of operation:

. If you have not defined sufficiently precisely its scope of action, with a detailed contract, and precise service commitments, you may see inconvenience, a delay in the execution of the contract, or even hidden costs that could leave a bitter taste.

. In some cases, specific tasks cannot be outsourced.

. Some organizations may feel that they are losing control over the operations they once did internally.

. If your service provider is not contractually bound to respect a level of service, you may risk delays in the time it takes to take charge of your requests, or in the resolution of your incidents.

 Outsourcing is a solution that can be very interesting for a logo design Auckland Company. It is advisable to choose the service provider well and carry out a study beforehand to avoid the pitfalls later. You can thus have a tailor-made, turnkey solution.