Is Outsourced IT an Expense... or a Good Business Investment?

We'll admit it: This is a little bit of a loaded question. Certainly, retaining a good technology partner is an expense, in the sense that you will receive an invoice from time to time. But at the same time, as with many business expenses, a quality outsourced IT partner doesn't just cost you money, but could help you improve your bottom-line positioning at the same time.

In fact, we would go as far as to say that, if you've chosen the right IT provider to match your situation, then what you spend on IT is actually a great investment... especially when you contrast it with the costs associated with having a full-time employee on the books.  Here are a few good reasons why:

An outsourced IT firm can usually handle more capabilities than an on-staff team member can. A lot of small and medium-sized companies just assume that they would be better off hiring a single employee, or even having existing team members take care of technology problems.

There are a number of reasons to avoid this, but one of the most important is that it's difficult for any single person – much less one who doesn't have an IT background – to stay on top of different disciplines like networking, hardware, server security, etc. For this reason alone, the high number of skills available through an outsourced IT team makes it a value.

As much as you would love to have technology problems confined to business hours, they have a nasty habit of popping up when you least want or expect them. In those situations, having a quality outsourced IT provider with 24/7 availability to respond to emergencies is invaluable. There will come a time when you will need after hours technology help, so it makes sense just to work with the firm that has multiple employees and can help you out when you need it most.

The most expensive part of a technology problem isn't usually what you pay to have it fixed, but the sales and productivity you lose while your company’s critical systems aren't working. By taking preventative action and keeping you online and secure, an outsourced IT company can save you untold thousands, or more, that you might have otherwise lost to unplanned downtime.

When considering whether it's time to look for an outsourced IT firm or not, the bottom line is this: Almost any company that has even a small technology component is likely to save more money outsourcing technology help than they would spend getting it.