people working in IT

Outsourcing IT services has become a common business practice – and, in some cases, a lifeline for many companies over recent years. 

Many businesses just don’t have the time or the staff with a high level of IT expertise, which is why many have chosen to hand over their IT needs to a third party outsourcing company.

In fact, nearly 57% of multinational corporations employ offshore developers in an effort to concentrate on their main business operations.

So, is outsourcing services something you’ve been thinking about for your business process management? Making the decision to outsource your IT services can be a tough one, after all, you’re putting aspects of your business into someone else’s hands! 

We’re here to help you make that decision with a few handy examples of how you can outsource your IT services and why it might benefit your company in the long run.

What does outsourcing services mean?

Employing an outside organisation or individual contractor to complete work and projects that were previously completed internally is known as outsourcing. Outsourcing is a business strategy used by businesses to cut expenses and close the talent gap.

You are probably already familiar with, for example, cleaning service outsourcing, outsourcing manufacturing or outsourcing for business legal support. In this case, we’re focusing on IT outsourcing, which could range from customer and client support to website development.

Recent data and research suggests there are 5 main goals and reasons why a company would choose to outsource:

  • Cost reduction
  • Flexibility
  • Speed to market
  • Access to specialist tools
  • Agility

Deloitte

If we look more closely at just specifically at why companies choose IT outsourcing, it comes down to cutting costs and bringing IT industry experience to the team, and who wouldn’t want that?

IT outsourcing can help entrepreneurs, particularly startup owners, advance their businesses more quickly and save more money than they could with a small in-house team. 

Large corporations like Google, Apple, and Facebook also contract out a portion of their work since it gives them access to experts with various specialties. So if the big companies do this, why not small businesses too?

Speaking of small businesses, it’s been reported that 83% of them will keep or boost their 2023 spending on external business services.

5 examples of outsourcing IT services

The majority of outsourcing companies provide businesses all over the world a variety of IT services. Unbelievably, these IT management services have significantly aided in fostering organisational development. Here is a summary of some of the IT outsourcing services you can use to decide which IT solutions your company most urgently requires to ease your business processes.

  1. Website development

This is one way to advertise your company online, spread the word about your goods and services, engage with website visitors, and establish your authority on the global market.

 Remote developers can help with content management, web management, and custom WordPress web design.

  1. Software development

In addition to web development, software development is essential for business promotion since it makes it possible to instantly see your brand across the internet. When the software used by your company is kept up to date and functioning properly, this is when the magic happens (and continues to!)

A greater customer engagement rate can be attained by using custom software development to innovate, enhance, and know your customer’s communication and learn about their thoughts on the goods and services. The benefits of custom software development can be huge so it is worth exploring this option.

  1. Cybersecurity

The majority of firms nowadays are susceptible to IT issues and security risks.

In fact, 39% of UK businesses were subject to cyber attacks in 2022.

With cybersecurity, you can be sure that your computer, data, and network are safe from malware, cyberattacks, theft, information exposure, misdirection, and viruses.

  1. Data backup and recovery

A significant system malfunction or difficulty could happen at any time, which is why it’s really important to always be prepared. Be aware that your IT network serves as the nerve centre for your company’s operations. 

You couldn’t compete in your sector if your IT infrastructure wasn’t optimised and secure. It is crucial that every company has a disaster recovery plan in place in the really unfortunate event of a hack or system failure.

  1. Help desk and maintenance

An outsourced helpdesk service can assist you in troubleshooting complicated IT problems and responding to customer concerns right away, even after your office hours, if your company is not open 24/7. A good and effective help desk also improves customer satisfaction, product quality, and productivity.

IT maintenance is perhaps one of the most important services you can outsource, especially if you don’t have any team members dedicated to this role. 

A dedicated IT maintenance team plays a crucial part in your outsourcing strategy, and should be at the top of your to-do list if you’re a start-up launching your small business, considering you probably won’t have the time to fix any IT issues when you’ve just started a business!

Reasons why companies outsource IT

We’ve already mentioned above the main reasons above about why a business might consider outsourcing their IT services, but let’s have a more in depth look here:

Reduced operating costs

Fees for outsourcing IT services are mostly always flexible and negotiable, why pay for services you don’t need? You should be able to choose which services you require as well as negotiate a package deal if you require more than one service.

Additionally, it enables them to lower the price of purchasing the hardware and technology required for your IT requirements as well as the cost of recruiting an internal IT team.

In short, IT outsourcing provides your business with much-needed financial benefits like lower overhead, bulk purchasing, lease alternatives, software licences, and regulatory compliance.

The latest advances in technology

You are likely to receive high-calibre work when you team up with experts who are equipped with the necessary knowledge, experience, and skills in software engineering and information technology. Your return on investment is increased at the same time.

In addition, suppliers of IT outsourcing services make sure the businesses stay up to date on the newest developments in technology, security threats, and compliance issues. 

As a result, you can gain from the expertise of top IT professionals as well as from the technologies offered by the company, such as being a Microsoft Gold partner which can showcase a huge amount of benefits.

Core business functions

Most notably small-and medium-sized businesses, not all businesses have the resources and employees required to achieve their company needs. 

By outsourcing, you can free up internal staff time to concentrate on key business operations without having to spend it learning how to do things that aren’t in their job description.

Additionally, a team of outsourced IT professionals can handle complicated and time-consuming IT issues, which will boost the productivity and efficiency of your staff.

Looking to outsource your small business IT services?

We hope you’ve found our IT outsourcing examples useful and helped you come to a conclusion on whether IT outsourcing is right for you.

If you want to become one of the outsourcing success stories like the big brand we mentioned earlier, why not take a look at our small business IT services?

We can help you with a number of services including:

Contact us today for more information on our small business IT support services.

IT outsourcing examples FAQs

What is outsourcing IT services?

The efficient delivery of IT-enabled business process, application service, and infrastructure solutions for business objectives is known as IT outsourcing.

What is the difference between IT consulting and IT outsourcing?

While outsourcing focuses on providing specific services and carrying out the work, consulting focuses on offering sophisticated services and giving advice on how to do things.

Why should you use IT outsourcing?

Outsourcing typically results in financial savings. This is frequently down to cheaper infrastructure, lower operational costs and labour costs.