Businesses fully recognize the importance of technology to maintain competitive in the market. But business owners have a hard time choosing between eighter an in- house IT team or a managed service provider.
Both come with their own set of pros and cons, and we are going to talk all about them.
Based on Budget
The biggest misconception regarding managed IT services is that they cost a lot. Well, if we are doing a comparison between both, then the truth is the direct opposite. Namely, hiring an in house IT team costs a lot of money, far more than outsourcing your IT needs.
source:continuitycenters.com
First, you would need to designate space for new staff, then hire new staff, then purchase a PC and a workspace for them to work, and lastly to buy all the necessary IT infrastructure. These are all costs associated with an in house IT team. On the opposite side, when hiring managed IT services you’re only paying for the service they provide. Most of the time, you would be charged a flat fee for the services, which go far below the annual salary for an IT administrator.
Room For Growth
You could make a case for the eighter of those if we focus on room for growth. An early startup might do just fine with a single server and a couple of workstations, but we mentioned the on-site expenses, physical workspace, IT infrastructure costs, and of course, budgetary constraints. If you want to grow with an in house IT team, you have to take into consideration that all of these expenses will grow along with it.
source:one.comodo.com
According to Tier One Technology Partners, a managed IT service provider doesn’t have the same level of control as an in house IT department, but it completely removes the costs we mentioned earlier. What this means is that you can still grow, while paying a little more than before. Do have in mind that these costs are nowhere near the costs for managing an in house IT department. So with the entire necessary IT infrastructure available to you, you could make a case that a managed IT service provider offers better room for growth.
Tech Support
source:one.comodo.com
Hiring an in house IT department does come with its own set of advantages. Most notable is the fact that you have full control of your IT infrastructure and IT needs. However, you always have to take into consideration that people are not robots and cannot work for you 24/7.
Whenever we hire someone, we have to give him sick days, vacation days, and days when the person simply cannot come in. This means that your tech support might fall behind at certain times. This can all be avoided whenever you hit the five-employee mark, but oftentimes this is too late in the game.
Hiring a managed IT service provider completely eliminates this because it follows a different model backed by service level agreements (SLAs). With a managed IT service provider, you have all the tech support you need 24/7, 365 days a year.
You might not have full control over your IT infrastructure, but you are fully protected by SLAs.
