Switching IT support provider is not a decision to be taken lightly but it is often a decision born from necessity rather than from choice. The perceived pain of changing support providers often paralyses businesses – leading them to endure the inept service until things become too costly to continue.

Often, the incompetence of a provider becomes apparent immediately after their service begins, but it can also arise part way through the contract if something changes within their business. Worst of all though is when signs of incompetence are hidden or the business is unaware of what these signs even are.

Finding out if your provider is up to scratch is hard. Reviews can be faked and asking them will give an inevitably positive answer. But there are some red flags you can be on the lookout for which indicate it’s time to switch.

10 reasons you should switch IT support provider

1. They don’t deliver tangible business results

Your IT support provider should provide you with a measurable return on investment (ROI).

If their strategic consultancy consists of pushing the latest tech and something vaguely labelled as ‘the cloud’ or you can describe their technical support as ‘keeping the lights on’, they’re not worth the money you’re spending on them.

Additionally, if the ROI they deliver is defined in vague terms rather than strict measurements, it can signal problems. Whilst you may be “more available” thanks to that second Internet line they installed, what matters is whether they can tell you when it saved you from an outage and how much money you avoided losing due to reduced downtime. If they can do this, it shows they not only understand your business enough to provide you with these hard numbers, but they’re focused on the metrics which matter to your business and not just tech for tech’s sake.

For the most value to your business, your provider should also follow continual improvement frameworks such as ISO 27001. Without continual improvement, their strategic guidance will eventually become too diluted and you will be better off moving to a new provider.

Find out if your IT support provider is truly delivering measurable value with a cost-neutral Value Enhancement Audit

2. They don’t understand your business sector

There is an oversaturation of generalist IT providers on the market right now and whilst they might be able to fix your PC when it breaks, they’re unlikely to be able to advise on implementing a law firm’s practice management system or fuelling a manufacturer’s lean initiatives with technology.

To provide effective guidance, your provider needs to understand the challenges and opportunities available right now within your sector. That means they should be attending events and expos in your sector, hosting events relevant to your sector and speaking in your sector’s language.

At its simplest, it may be better to look at it from the other way around. If you’re in a regulated industry and your provider doesn’t understand your industry, their lack of awareness will prevent them from creating solutions that are even allowed to be implemented. And if they can’t do something as basic as that, how can they make changes which drive value for your customers?

A provider who doesn’t understand your business is fine for day-to-day maintenance since that only requires an understanding of tech. But for even a modicum of business value, you need a provider who understands your sector. If you get this, you’ll be able to form an IT partnership that motivates true business outcomes, driving you and your business forward.

3. They don’t take security seriously themselves

It’s genuinely alarming to see the number of IT support providers who are not cyber-secure. An immense amount of trust is needed between a support provider and their client and if a support provider isn’t covering their own security, that’s a grossly negligent breach of that trust.

If your IT provider isn’t following security best practices (Cyber Essentials Plus, patch management, zero-trust e.t.c.), then it’s best to leave before a disaster occurs. Imagine how angry you would be at your IT support provider if they left your client database misconfigured and allowed for those details to be stolen and sold by criminals. Now take that anger, multiply it by your number of clients and direct it at yourself. Not a fun thought.

Knowingly using an insecure support company makes you just as bad as them if something goes wrong. And when your clients get angry at you for leaking their data or the board demands to know who is responsible for the ransomware infection which took down operations for a week, they are completely justified in that anger.

4. They won’t accept responsibility

There is a shared responsibility between an IT support provider and their client. The support provider is responsible for understanding the client’s risk profile and ensuring systems are kept at optimal performance and the client has the responsibility to act on the advice provided by the support company and operate to the standards given through the provider’s consultancy.

If one party is not completing their responsibilities, then relationships can easily break down. When something goes wrong, clients are obliged to prove how they adopted the provider’s advice and operated to a certain level and providers are obliged to explain why things went wrong, how it’s being fixed and how it will be prevented in the future.

If whenever something goes wrong, they instead blame you (and you have taken their guidance) or indicate it’s not their problem or refuse to offer solutions whilst insisting the fault lies with someone other than themselves, it’s time to move on.

5. They focus on contractual details

All good IT support providers know that when their clients are successful, they are successful. So, if you often hear “we don’t cover that” or “that’s not in your contract”, it indicates they aren’t interested in supporting your business or they are incompetent.

Of course, if you signed on for a contract that specifically doesn’t offer support for phone lines, don’t expect them to help you with your phone lines. But if they treat their relationship with you as purely transactional rather than as a partnership, it’s an indication you should switch.

For edge cases, a good provider will lean on your side and assist with the issue since they understand the importance of building their relationship with you. Providers who abide by strict contractual details are often the ones who only see your business as a source of monthly recurring revenue instead of as a partner and so would only see this help as an ‘expense’.

6. You have outgrown them

If your business goes through a period of rapid growth, it’s possible to become too big for your current IT support provider to handle. Since the alternative is purposely stagnating your business to let your provider catch up, changing support provider is the obvious course of action.

It’s not easy to measure if you have outgrown your provider. But judging by how you’re currently reading an article about switching providers, it’s possible you’re already at that point. There are a few things to look for which indicate you’ve outgrown your provider:

If you’re seeing any of these, it’s possible that your provider is unable to effectively manage the requirements of your business. If that is the case, it’s time to switch.

7. They talk tech

It’s easy for someone without a technical background to get overwhelmed by the acronyms and terminology used by IT support companies. If your support provider is speaking in tongues, it may be time to get an exorcist, if they’re talking tech though, it may be worth looking for an exit.

Tech for tech’s sake is what brought about the downfall of Business Intelligence in the 80s and 90s and so any provider who is still pushing the latest shiny gizmos is either still stuck in the 90s or hasn’t learned that what businesses want is results, not new hardware.

Your IT support provider shouldn’t just be speaking in the language of business though, they should also be talking the language of your sector. If they understand the unique risks and rewards your business has, they will be much better equipped to deal with those and create optimised solutions.

8. You aren’t learning

When was the last time your IT support provider told you that you were wrong (and not in the “you don’t get tech” way), explained why and then helped you create a better outcome with their guidance?

Have they ever done that?

If you aren’t learning by working with your IT support provider, they either aren’t challenging you enough or they don’t know any more about technology than you do. In either case, you should consider switching to a different provider.

Innovation only comes when the status quo is challenged and so if your support provider isn’t bringing new ideas or thinking of ways technology can help you exploit opportunities in your sector, you’re likely to stagnate.

It’s key though that the things you are learning are relevant to your business. If your provider is just going too in-depth with tech then that comes back around to point 7.

9. They’ve been bought out or merged

The acquisition of your support provider by another company should put you on high alert. Not only will there be a period of disturbance during the merge, but culture, leadership, pricing and SLAs can all shift – leading a drastic change in the quality of the service you have come to expect.

With the sudden convergence of the two providers, you may also find yourself becoming a lower priority client – further impacting your response times and availability of resources.

Shortly after a merge is also a common time for members of the leadership team or founders to leave the company. If this occurs, you may find for example that the CEO who prioritised long-term relationships with clients is replaced with one who prioritises short-term profits instead.

If after a merger or acquisition of your support provider, you find yourself dissatisfied with the service, it’s time to look for a new provider.

10. They’re much cheaper than the competition

This may seem like a reason to stay with your provider, but it absolutely isn’t. IT support is not a commodity where each offering is identical, it’s a knowledge-based service and therefore follows the rule of cost = quality. Saying you have the cheapest IT support just means you have the worst IT support.

If your IT support provider is the cheapest on the market, ask yourself what corners are they cutting to reduce prices? Of course, you have a budget to keep in mind, but when you’re presented with a cheap break-fix provider and a more expensive proactive supplier, don’t immediately discount the latter based on flat costs.

What next?

It’s unfortunate to see that 69% of businesses change support provider every year. This raises serious concerns because without a long-term relationship, how can a company get genuine results and coherent strategic guidance from its IT provider? The relationship between a company and their support provider has to be forged on partnership. But this statistic indicates support providers aren’t doing enough to create value for their clients.

If you think it’s time to review your provider, we believe you should choose a new one who is able to engage for the long term.

There are a few factors to consider before choosing your new provider though. Location, sector focus and service scope.

Location

This used to be one of the most important factors to look for, but modern support providers can fix most problems remotely. What’s more, having the ‘IT guy’ swing by each morning to see if anything is broken is a sign your provider lacks proactive maintenance and monitoring capabilities, rather than indicating anything good.

Whilst it’s wise to keep your support provider local enough to send an engineer in an emergency, you no longer need to limit yourself to just providers in your town, city or even county.

Sector focus

This is now a far more important factor when choosing a provider. With a glut of generalists on the market, if a support provider focuses on your sector, you should give them real consideration. Their specialist knowledge and experience make them much better suited to assist your business and their connections to people in your industry may provide additional benefits.

Service-scope

Finally, service-scope means what the provider defines as IT support. If the provider defines IT support as fixing things when they break, they aren’t worth your time or money. If they define it as keeping systems running and always in peak performance, they might be worth consideration. But if they define it as keeping things running, always in peak performance and backed by an ongoing strategy, you’ve hit gold.

If you’re searching for a better IT support provider, our Total Service package provides the comprehensive support and consultancy you’ve been searching for. If you’re not quite ready to make the switch yet, book an online review to discuss your challenges with us.

Here’s an important question for you: Do you only eat your lunch after having died from starvation?

You will have likely answered “no” to that question, so here’s another one for you. Do you only fix your IT issues after they cause damage to your business?

You probably said “no” again. But unless you’re using proactive IT support, you should be saying “yes” instead because this is exactly what you’re doing. Waiting until the worst has happened before addressing a problem.

What is reactive IT support?

Reactive support (sometimes called break/fix support) is where the focus is on fixing IT issues after they occur, instead of preventing them from occurring in the first place.

For a long time, reactive support was the only type of IT support possible. But with modern analytics and systems management tools, better monitoring and even the rise of AI-enhanced predictive models, proactive support is now not only possible but widely available.

Yet despite the proactive model being available, many businesses continue using reactive support – often unaware of the damage it’s causing them.

Their choice of IT provider is most often to blame since the cheapest support rarely offers even a hint of proactivity. Instead, cheap providers favour the legacy break/fix approach as it allows them to get better margins on their clients.

Why is a reactive approach not good enough anymore?

1. Leaves the core of the business vulnerable

IT is vital to every department and process within a business. So, if there’s a problem with IT, there’s a direct business impact. This can range from being a simple inconvenience right through to a complete halt of operations. Accompanied by the typical reputational damage.

With a reactive approach, these problems both large and small can arise far more often. This isn’t necessarily because reactive support is worse at fixing problems, but because reactivity is worse at dealing with them.

With a reactive approach, an issue needs to be actively causing pain before it’s addressed. And this results in far more issues reaching employees.

Compared to the proactive approach’s continual improvement mindset, reactivity is also lacking. For a start, a reactive approach has no way to stop issues before they begin impacting the business. Reactivity also lacks the ability to apply past experience from one client to another. Eliminating most common issues completely.

With so many things going for proactivity, it seems like it should be the default. But it’s an approach that many IT providers only pay lip service to. Only with a focus on continual improvement, along with ensuring all systems are proactively monitored can an IT provider call themselves proactive. But once they do, many problems can be fixed long before their effects become visible. Reducing potential damage and minimising employee downtime.

2. Negligent to your clients/customers

By the time a reactive IT support provider begins addressing an issue, your customers or clients will already be feeling the negative effects. Perhaps a crypto-jacking infection on your web server is causing your website to become unresponsive, locking out customers. Or a failed piece of hardware has meant critical client assets are lost. These sorts of issues occur far more often with a reactive approach in place and can have major ramifications for your business.

The largest of these is that outages = lost clients. We live in a time where every business is commoditised. So if you experience frequent issues due to reliance on reactive IT support, your clients can and will switch to your competitors.

Additionally, if you have SLAs with clients, failing to meet them due to a spotty service can have direct financial repercussions. But needing to compensate your clients will not cost you a great deal but will also erode trust, resulting in further problems.

3. Allows issues to grow out of hand

With a reactive approach, issues are only fixed once they’re having an impact on your business. This means that a problem which has no immediately visible impact can go unnoticed until it’s far too late. Here are a couple of examples of the sort of things which can go wrong.

A few hours before going out to meet a prospect, a director’s laptop locks up with a message stating she must pay a ransom to unencrypt her data. Clearly the victim of a ransomware attack, the director is dismayed to find it has encrypted the files she needs for her meeting.

Upon recovering the files from their nightly backup, the company finds that the latest snapshot was actually several weeks old. The nightly backup had been encountering an error and failing each night. Without proactive monitoring in place to spot this issue, weeks of data were lost including the files she needed for her prospect.

On Monday morning, the finance department finds they can’t access their finance software and are all seeing an identical error code. Upon calling their reactive support desk they discover that the error code means that the software’s licence key has expired. It takes a day to renew the licence key and costs a considerable amount to do so. Due to no proactivity in relation to managing licenses, a whole day of productivity is lost and the unexpected cost takes a chunk out of the department’s budget.

A final point here: with a reactive support provider, there’s no guarantee that an issue fixed once is fixed for good or across all systems. Without proactivity, the same issue can arise many times, needing to be fixed from the ground up each time.

A proactive IT provider will instead flag the example issues as non-conformances due to their impact. Then, by putting controls in place, they would ensure that the issue won’t happen again not only for the affected client but for any of their clients. This prevents wasting resources on readdressing issues whilst also ensuring you’re always becoming more resilient to issues.

4. Blind to vulnerabilities

When most businesses think of cyber-attacks, they think of ransomware or DDoS attacks, both of which are very visible. But, most malware is designed to stay hidden on a network for as long as possible. Stealing as much data as it can or working its way up the chain of permissions to execute a catastrophic blow.

With the average compromised system staying undetected for 146 days, having no active monitoring due to reliance on reactive support is a dangerous choice to make. By leaving yourself blind to hidden vulnerabilities due to a lack of active monitoring, the impacts of a breach can also become far worse.

Lacking proactive monitoring and system vulnerability scanning allows these threats and more to stay on your network for far longer. Putting your business at a much greater level of risk than it needs to be. But with proactive monitoring and regular vulnerability scans, you can identify these risks and remediate them far quicker.

5. Normalises failure

When using reactive IT support, issues will often be common, recurring and irritating. The sheer volume of these small problems can easily overwhelm employees, causing them to either just get used to it or leave the company. Neither outcome is ideal.

In the case of employees who leave, a replacement must be found and retrained. But even after this, they will still have a chance of leaving the company for the same reasons.

Considering that the cost to replace a well-trained employee can exceed twice their yearly salary, high turnover can be catastrophic for your cashflow.

As for employees who get used to the issues, they may end up causing you more financial damage than those who leave…

6. Kills efficiency

With a reactive approach, each small issue needs an employee to take time out of their day to deal with it, instead of it being pre-emptively resolved.

Whether through having to call the reactive service desk or from reduced productivity whilst dealing with the issue. Even only a few minutes of disturbance per issue can make the wasted time mount up.

For example, if each small problem takes 5 minutes to identify, diagnose and fix and each employee experiences only one issue per day. A company with 40 employees will lose 16 hours and 40 minutes each workweek.

Extending this over a month, the company will lose 66 hours and 40 minutes. And over a year, 800 hours will be wasted. The same as having an employee lay on the floor all day, for 100 days whilst on full pay.

It’s also worth remembering that without proactive management, the same issues can keep recurring. From this, it should be easy to see how lost time can pile up, causing a significant impact on a business’s operations.

7. Proactivity is possible

This list could have consisted of this point alone because the simple fact that proactivity is possible should be enough of a reason to change to it. However, this wouldn’t have been very informative to you, the reader. Nor would it highlight the potential dangers of continuing to use the reactive model.

When comparing the two models, it’s not even a matter of weighing up the pros and cons. The proactive model is a direct upgrade. For one final analogy, it’s like determining whether to use a Palaeolithic hand axe (see: sharp rock) or a chainsaw to cut down a tree.

It’s also worth noting here that many IT support providers sell themselves as being proactive when in truth they’re not. It may be that their monitoring is proactive or one part of their operations. But this alone does not mean they are proactive.

You should aim to understand how your IT system is managed since this shows you what gains can be made with some quick initial changes.

What is a CIO?

If you don’t know what a CIO is, or want a refresh, check out our existing article on the role of a CIO. Since this article is aimed at businesses who are aware of what a CIO is but want to know if they need one, we won’t be covering it here.

Does my business need a CIO?

A widely held notion is that only large, multi-national corporations need the service of a CIO. This may have been true a decade or so ago, but with IT now central to the whole business it’s no longer the case.

The skills of a CIO are now useful to any size or type of business from a 50 person legal firm to a 300 person manufacturing business.

So then, if every business can have a CIO, how do you know if you need one? Here are some key indicators you can look for which show you’re ready for a CIO:

1. You lack the information to make business decisions

When there are plans to make a change in the business, a lack of data and information can plunge even a good idea into uncertainty. Lacking the knowledge for major IT-related business decisions results in project delays. And when the time does come to choose, it’s a decision made on the promises of a salesperson rather than on proven facts.

These factors often limit the scope and effectiveness of projects. Resulting in a lower value or poor performing outcome.

A CIO helps by de-risking the decision-making process. By using their knowledge of technology and the wider business, they can find a solution that has its base in hard facts and proven performance, rather than going by guesswork and hope.

The CIO also gives an amount of certainty to making IT-related business decisions. This can help drive change and adoption, giving you an edge over your competitors who may be uncertain about how to review and apply new technologies such as AI or initiatives such as process improvement and automation to their business.

2. There is friction between departments

When one system or department’s poor performance and operations restrict the ability of another department to get work done, animosity and frustration can arise. This friction is often made worse by siloed departments. This causes rifts of communication, priorities and strategy to form and makes employees feel like they are fighting against their co-workers to get work done.

By being a mediator who ties together the IT and operations sides of the business, a CIO can help reverse this friction. Producing a unified strategy and operating environment means employees will be working towards a complementary outcome. And since everyone will be working in tandem, the likelihood of bottlenecks forming is also reduced.

Finally, because the CIO is in a neutral position, not aligned to any specific department they can be an impartial judge over which department is in the most need of IT resources and systems.

By relying on the facts and listening to each case, they can determine whose requests and priorities to address first. Rather than having each department claim that they are in the most need.

3. There are regular complaints about IT system performance

When constant IT issues are occurring, employee performance will decrease. For a 40-employee firm, even five minutes of disturbance per employee per day will waste over 16 hours a week.

A CIO will listen to the complaints being made and use their knowledge to identify and address the root of the problem. Be that through their own team, a service provider or a software vendor.

This not only minimises employee’s frustrations but it also improves their efficiency. Making a difference to your bottom line.

A CIO can also help you understand where issues might arise in the future as your business grows. They have the expertise and experience to know when you’ll meet friction and pain from an IT or operational standpoint. Allowing them to smooth out the road before you get there.

4. The business is going through a period of change

When your business is experiencing change (moving premises, going through a merger or acquisition, moving to the cloud, expanding teams, e.t.c.) there can be uncertainty around the potential threats which arise and unseen opportunities which pass by. Large scale change in the business’ use of IT can also create unease from a strategic standpoint.

A CIO has the experience, skills and expertise required to get things done in this situation. And thanks to their knowledge of both IT and business, they’re able to take advantage of the opportunities and mitigate the threats which may arise during a period of change.

5. You don’t understand the benefits IT can bring / You see IT as a necessary evil

When a business sees IT as a necessary evil, it’s inevitable that they’ll commit the least money, time and effort towards it. But businesses which do this only end up handicapping themselves since IT is not only ‘a cost’. Instead it’s the main area where you can gain a competitive advantage in the modern business arena.

The ‘IT is a cost’ mindset arose in the early 2000s due to a decline in business intelligence and a lack of understanding in what IT is. Investments were being made based on trends and hype, not fact. And when people were burned by their mistakes, it leads them to think of IT as a waste of resources.

The CIO helps bring back the business focus and knowledge that so many businesses have lost. Allowing IT to once again become a performance enabler.

Through wise technology investments, addressing deficiencies and ensuring that the IT strategy aligns with the strategy of the wider business, the CIO can re-kindle faith in IT and drive it back into the heart of the business, where true business gains lie.

6. No one in the C-suite is excited about IT

When there is no interest, there is no innovation.

There needs to be someone on your board who is excited about the potential of IT. Without this momentum, you risk projects being put on the backburner or dropped altogether. Slowing your pace of innovation, or even causing stagnation.

So in a world where you either innovate or go out of business, the CIO’s interest and proven experience in technology are vital.

By staying abreast of the latest trends and opportunities a CIO can ensure you’re always getting a business advantage. And with their understanding of the business applications of IT, new technologies and systems can deliver improved business processes and productivity. Giving you a competitive edge.

How big of an investment is a CIO?

To hire an in-house CIO, you can expect to be paying a salary of ~£150,000 per year. And for a highly qualified candidate, up to £240,000 per year – almost a quarter of a million.

A CIO’s salary is likely to eclipse that of any existing senior IT employees you already have such as an IT Director or Chief Technology Officer. It may also surpass many of your other C-level executive’s salaries as well. This is because the role demands a blending of technical and business knowledge alongside at least a decade of experience in similar roles and so employees can command a premium for their employment.

If you’re unable to part with this much cash or are already concerned about cash flow, you may now be thinking that a CIO is out of reach. Fortunately, there’s a second and increasingly popular route: a CIO service.

Because a CIO service has many clients, you get to benefit from the economies of scale which allows prices to be much lower on average.

Combined with how you only pay for the time you use their consultancy, rather than a yearly salary, a CIO service will typically be far more accessible than an in-house employee; all whilst offering the same benefits.

In today’s blog, we will be discussing four things you should do before meeting with providers to who you will potentially outsource your project to.

1. Determine your goals first

Whilst you may think you need to have an extremely detailed project plan before approaching providers, you may end up missing out on expertise. A provider may be able to provide some alternative solution or options to accomplish your goals based on their prior experience.

Growing businesses who are looking to outsource an IT project should instead outline the business goals they would like to achieve through the process. Begin the project with the end in mind – know your desired outcome.

Speak to our team: See how we can help your business to grow with our fully managed IT support 

2. Manage expectations

A new IT project can bring a fair amount of change, so it’s important you communicate openly throughout the business. Your project may result in employees having to change how they perform their role, but the more prepared they are for this the smoother the transition will be. Hold meetings, send email bulletins, schedule training sessions and generally just keep them up to speed.

The more you include the wider business, the better. The best way to overcome resistance is typically inclusion. This can happen through creating a project team within the business, made up of key stakeholders. This should also result in a better outcome in general.

3. Select a certified and experienced IT consulting business

Whilst cost is always a consideration, don’t let it be your sole – or even your main reason – for selecting an IT consultant. What is far more important is the certifications, training and experience a provider has in relation to your IT project.

Additionally, it is a good idea to inquire about the provider’s prior history working on similar projects and perhaps for some references. It makes sense to ask for references, or if you are technical – meet and discuss the detail with the technical team who would deliver the project.

You should be looking for a partnership when choosing an IT provider. You must trust the team and be prepared to work with them with the same level of trust you’d have with your own internal teams.

4. Create a specific contract or agreement

Once you have chosen your IT service provider, you should work with them to determine objectives in terms of the project’s scope and completion. It is possible that you may uncover additional things which need to be done in the midst of your project and while this isn’t necessarily an issue you should have a plan in writing in how to deal with these.

Even where your provider has done thorough research into your IT infrastructure and configuration before the project commences, some things are not encountered until after work begins. By understanding that things may occur and could result in additional time or expense, and being prepared for this, frustration is minimised for all parties.

Conclusion

IT projects don’t need to cause pain. Although it may take some time to get the necessary framework in place and to find the right provider, due diligence will pay off. With structure and governance, you will achieve a positive outcome and working relationship.

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As a business or IT leader within a growing business, you have probably considered outsourcing parts of or potentially your wider IT operations to a third-party provider at some point.

Of course, the financial benefits of outsourcing are widely discussed, but there are more reasons to outsource IT – some just as, if not more, important than the flat costs.

In this blog we’ll be discussing some of the reasons businesses consider IT outsourcing, the potential risks typically associated with that and the rewards you stand to gain.

Why do businesses consider IT outsourcing?

1. Reduce and control costs

When you outsource you reduce the cost – and time – associated with managing internal employees. For example recruitment costs, interviewing, training, planning, holidays, retention, illness etc.

2. Improve company focus

It’s neither practical nor desirable, for a company to cover every single area. Therefore it makes sense to consider outsourcing certain areas to third parties who have the experience and expertise.

3. Gain access to expertise

You stand to gain a greater return on your investment by outsourcing your IT to a company that specialises in that area. You benefit from the collective knowledge and experience of a whole team of experts. Plus, providers often require their employees to have specific certifications and qualifications.

4. Free up internal resources

Have the day to day IT operation looked after by experts who have the tools, people, skills and technology to manage it better than you. Then use your internal resources to focus on business improvement initiatives, often in partnership with the IT provider.

5. Gain additional resources

If you do have not someone in-house to manage all or a specific part of your IT nor the budget to attract and retain someone capable, then outsourcing presents a viable solution – in both the short and long term.

6. Reduce risk

Keeping with technology changes, the latest security risks and best practice is expensive and time-consuming. Keeping up with industry change is part of being an IT support provider and by outsourcing, you can access this knowledge. It’s highly valuable and can prevent you from making wrong or poor decisions for the business.

What are the risks of IT outsourcing?

Handing over control of any part of your business to a third party will always present some level of risk. With IT outsourcing this could include:

1. Deciding what to outsource?

Your whole organisation will rely on IT in some way so it is essential to ensure your provider is qualified to run your operations. However, don’t forget that you don’t necessarily have to outsource your whole IT environment. For example, if you have bespoke software you may decide it is best to keep this in-house and outsource other tasks. For example, project management, day-to-day support and IT strategy to a third party. It all depends on what is best for the business and where you get the best value and return.

2. The level of control

Critics of IT outsourcing argue that outsourced support will never be as effective as an internal employee directly under the control of senior management. This just isn’t true in the main – unless you are a large business. It really depends on the partner you’ve chosen to work with. If you’ve taken the time to select a partner who understands your business, is aligned to your goals then it is more likely you will find you have a long-lasting and business-enhancing relationship – rather than a lack of control. It’s simply not possible for a large percentage of small and mid-sized businesses to attract and retain the best IT minds – the challenge on a day-to-day level is just not there.

3. Employee morale

The mere mention of outsourcing can leave some employees feeling like their job is at risk. To negate this risk ensure you communicate openly across your entire organisation. An IT support provider is there to support your business, often working in tandem with an internal IT team for those businesses who already have them in place. It will typically give internal IT teams room to grow, develop and deliver wider benefits to the business.

You can avoid many of these risks if you take the time to find a support provider and ask them the right questions before you begin your outsourcing contract.

What are the rewards of IT outsourcing?

1. High quality and experienced staff

Since IT is their core focus, IT support providers will ensure they hire staff with the right qualifications, specialisms and experience. There will be a breadth of expertise and knowledge, which enables providers to assign the best person to the project.

2. Access to the latest technology

Technology changes so rapidly it can be difficult for a single person to keep up with. Let alone working out what is just a trend and what is worth your investment for the long term. An IT support provider will be able to keep you updated and advise on these areas.

3. Cost savings

Of course, there are the financial benefits to consider such as leaner overheads, smaller project delivery windows, bulk purchasing and financing options for hardware and software.

4. Flexibility

Providers will have a greater number of resources available to them due to the size of their team and the breadth of knowledge and experience. In contrast, an internal team may have limited resources and capabilities.

5. Improve staff morale

Using an IT outsourcing company often removes the burden from your internal staff. Bringing in a third party can help as it allows the team to focus on particular areas. For example, the provider might take over day-to-day support while the internal team focuses on projects or vice versa.

What are the next steps?

There is a lot to think about when it comes to IT outsourcing. However, if you think it’s the right step then there are a few things to get in order:

Outsourced IT support and internal IT teams both have their pros and cons, but there is a third option available to businesses and that is co-sourced IT support. Co-sourcing is a flexible approach which allows you to supplement your internal IT department with external resources, which can alleviate the team’s workload and simultaneously provide you with additional resources, experience and skills.

What is co-sourced IT support and how does it work?

The activities you will co-source will largely depend on your business. Some common co-sourcing scenarios include:

What are the benefits of co-sourced IT support?

1. Lower Costs

Keeping expenditure in check is an important consideration for a business owner. However, IT – particularly around security – is not an area where you want to compromise on quality. Co-sourcing can be a good way of achieving a balance because it typically has lower overheads. Yet you can still gain access to the specific skills and experience required for a particular project.

As you can rely on outsourced IT support staff to perform certain functions you may be able to limit the number of people you require full time in-house. As business owners will know, finding and retaining skilled IT engineers is expensive and time-consuming. While outsourcing may not be right, having an external team helps with workload distribution, preventing build ups and delays.

2. Flexibility

Another benefit of co-sourced IT support is its flexibility. Depending on your set up, your internal team may deal with daily issues but have no time for projects. Or who simply don’t have the right skill set for performing specific functions, such as security or infrastructure management. In these situations when projects do arise it can cause tension and stress as the internal team simply can’t manage it all.

For example, if your business decides to migrate to a new system (such as Office 365) it can be helpful to not only have additional help at hand but to be able to rely on people who have experience with this particular type of migration.

This flexibility is ideal for businesses who don’t require a large team on a day to day basis but do require additional assistance in specific areas. Co-sourced provides you with reliable, high quality and experience support where and when required.

3. Scalability

If your business is growing rapidly, or you operate in an industry which experiences flux, then there may be occasions where you rapidly require extra support but it’s not practical to simply start trying to hire additional IT engineers.

Co-sourcing allows you to increase your IT support in-line with your business needs, without the hassle of additional recruitment – which may not be practical from a financial or time-scale point of view.

4. Improved Security

A co-sourced IT provider will have the resources to keep up with the latest security developments and are well placed to assist with or take responsibility for IT security. Even minor vulnerabilities, such as neglecting to apply the latest patch, can leave your systems open to threats such as malware and ransomware, so IT security is not an area that you want to neglect.

5. Frees up your internal team

Many internal IT teams can often find their time eaten up by support issues. Leaving them unable to dedicate time to projects, system improvements and changes which deliver value to your business.

Depending on the structure of your internal team and the skill base you have, one option would be to use your co-sourced partner to manage and fulfil internal service requests, freeing up your team to focus on valuable projects.

Alternatively, your co-sourced partner could take responsibility for larger projects while your team focuses on internal operations.

Discover co-sourced IT support. We help IT professionals to extend their team’s capabilities by providing additional support, experience and expertise.

The large majority of companies today will have some sort of IT requirement, and a good proportion of those will find IT critical to the day to day running of their business. Not only do you have to think about the business’s overall IT requirements, but these days it’s common for each department to have their own individual needs – such as bespoke programmes, software or workflows.

It’s clear that most businesses will need some kind of dedicated IT resource, but the trouble comes in deciding whether to build your own internal IT team or opt for outsourced IT support.

In-house IT support

There are benefits of building an internal IT team. With the right people, with the right experience and qualifications, you can build a bespoke support team with in-depth and specialist knowledge of your company’s specific setup and systems. If based on-site they will likely be available immediately and will be able to solve issues fairly quickly. Some companies view this as invaluable for potential emergencies, such as security breaches.

However, it takes time, patience and often significant capital outlay to build an internal IT team. Businesses must understand what skills they will require in the future to build an effective team, and this can be difficult to predict – even for the most forward-thinking business leader.

It’s not only the one-off recruitment fees to consider. The average salary for a service desk analyst is around £26,000. For an IT Manager, you could be looking at £45,000 or higher. You’ll also need to consider ongoing training costs – as you’ll want your team to stay up to date.

It is usually a mistake to rely on just one or two people to manage your entire IT environment. Even the most experienced IT engineer will have knowledge gaps. Relying solely on a very small team could likely cause your problems in terms of sickness and holiday cover. If one member of your two-person team is on holiday and the other falls sick, what will happen? Who will be responsible for covering issues outside of normal working hours? You cannot expect a single person to be on call 24x7x365.

Outsourced IT support

One of the main benefits of IT outsourcing is the financial savings it offers. Generally outsourced IT support is more cost-effective than creating an in-house team, and you can expect to pay a fixed monthly or per-user fee. The exact price usually depends on the number of users and the level of support, but once you do the calculations, outsourcing tends to be the most cost-effective route.

With outsourced IT support you have support 24x7x365, so you don’t have to worry about things like sickness and holiday cover. Most IT support providers will have a dedicated out of hours line so you can access support whenever you need it. Many issues can now be resolved remotely, so you may not need a full-time team on-site at all times.

You will also have on-demand access to a wider pool of expertise. A quality IT outsourcing company will have staff with a range of experience and qualifications, and as such should always be able to find someone to help, whether it’s to assist with a quick fix or for a more long-term project. If your internal IT team doesn’t have the experience then you may need to bring in a freelance consultant. While they may only be a short-term hire, costs add up, as contractors often command higher day rates.

Critics will argue that a third party will never be as effective as an employee under the control of management. Other concerns often include data privacy, data ownership and disaster recovery. However, the majority can be avoided altogether with the right IT outsourcing provider. There should be agreements in place governing the quality of service you receive. Service Level Agreements should outline the way issues are prioritised, response times and the penalties if these are not achieved. Customer retention rate and recommendations can give you a rough idea of quality, but don’t make decisions on a single factor – e.g. “who is the cheapest?”

Conclusion

It can be hard to decide which approach is best for your company, but it is clear that there is no one size fits all solution when it comes to IT support.

For some companies, neither approach maybe 100% right. This leads some to opt for a hybrid model that combines elements of outsourcing with an internal team. The most important thing is to find the right IT outsourcing partner, who understands your business and needs.

You’ve probably heard the old adage “you get what you pay for”, meaning if you choose a cheap product, you can probably expect problems. But is this true when it comes to IT support?

Well, yes… yes it is.

With one of the most well-known benefits of outsourced IT support being its’ cost-effectiveness, many companies rush to find the lowest price they can. But if you’re selecting your IT support provider solely on cost, then you could be in for a nasty surprise. Just as a bigger provider doesn’t guarantee better service, a cheap quote doesn’t guarantee cheap service in the long run!

IT support prices vary widely from provider to provider, but be wary of any quotes which significantly undercut others. If the price seems too good to be true it probably is. So always be on the lookout for hidden costs. Maybe your proposal says you’re getting a ‘fully-managed IT service’ for only X amount per month, but what’s really included? For example, you have access to the Service Desk but is that 24x7x365 or 9-5 Monday to Friday? Or ‘security’ is included but what exactly does this entail – is it a firewall, anti-virus, network scans? Those elements alone do not mean you are secure.

Providers will typically price IT support in two broad ways; pay-as-you-go (or ad-hoc) or fully managed services for a fixed monthly fee.

What is pay-as-you-go or ad-hoc IT support?

This option is typically suited to small businesses and start-ups who are not heavy technology users yet and have budgetary constraints. There is usually a set hourly cost for reactive support, but the exact price can depend on the role you require – for example, a senior consultant usually charges a higher hourly rate than a systems engineer. Sometimes there are additional charges for transport and travel time.

Some companies will sell blocks of hours, also known as a “time bank”, with the price determined by the numbers of hours you buy. There may be a discount for bulk buys, but be aware that some companies may put an expiration date on the hours you purchase.

Your ad-hoc IT support may include a small monthly retainer to cover the cost of the initial take on, ongoing maintenance and network monitoring. You should be clear exactly what your ad-hoc support covers and what you can use your hours for e.g. can I use my hours for strategic guidance and IT consultancy.

If IT is an essential part of your business, or your company is growing quickly, then, typically, you should avoid ad-hoc support as it simply isn’t cost-effective over the long run. If you end up requiring day-to-day support then purchasing hours or paying for reactive support will get very expensive – and likely slow down your operations.

What is managed IT support?

The price of fully managed IT support typically depends on the number of servers, computers and devices to maintain. However, some companies do charge by the number of end-users instead so make sure you check with your provider.

Typically a fully managed IT support service will include telephone, email and remote support, alongside onsite visits when required. A quality IT support company shouldn’t limit your support, for example how many calls you can make and what they will support. If you use extremely bespoke applications then you may need to make allocations, but your IT company should provide guidance.

However not every managed service provider is transparent when it comes to pricing. It’s still very common for providers to offer tiered pricing, where the support you receive depends on your tier. For example, you may have seen pricing plans with levels such as:

Watch out with tiered pricing!

Tiered pricing can become extremely complicated because one plan includes some features and not the other. You may only receive remote support with a Bronze Package, but the Gold Package may include remote, telephone and on-site support.

You can also expect to find different levels of support at each tier. For example, all levels may have access to help desk support but at the Bronze level, you can only access that support between 9 am – 5 pm – or log a certain number of tickets per month.

Check the SLA

Another thing to be wary of is your Service Level Agreement (SLA). This can massively impact service, support and response times – which can negatively impact the running of your business. Every provider should have transparent SLAs which detail how they prioritise issues and the response times for each level. If a provider won’t – or can’t – give you the details of their SLAs then step away now. The best thing you can do is choose an IT support provider who is completely transparent with pricing and SLAs.

Conclusion

Every provider will have different IT support packages, so check exactly what yours includes. While it may seem like a good price initially, it could cause you problems in the long run. A fully managed service should be just that, it shouldn’t have unnecessary limits. You should both be working in partnership.

The continual running of IT operations in your business is essential for it to survive. This means you need to have a qualified team on hand to manage your systems. But the cost of hiring and retaining such a team internally is something only the largest companies have the time and budget for. To gain the competitive advantage big players get from their internal teams, smaller businesses have turned to IT outsourcing as a way to strike a balance between performance and cost. One of the most talked-about benefits of IT outsourcing is the cost savings it can bring, although the benefits extend far beyond this. However as there’s no one set pricing model it can be difficult to understand exactly what’s included, and if the service is priced appropriately.

Below are some of the most common pricing models you are likely to be presented with when exploring IT outsourcing providers.

Monitoring only pricing model

This pricing model typically provides network monitoring and alerting, but with different levels of service. For example, for a small business, it may include patch management, antivirus and anti-spam updates, disk optimisation and backup monitoring on a flat monthly fee. Additional remediation work, identified through monitoring, would be an additional charge.

For larger businesses, the internal IT team would receive monitoring alerts, with the provider responsible for all incident resolution.

Per-user pricing model

Most per-user pricing models charge a flat monthly fee per end-user to cover IT support across all devices. This is a very straightforward pricing model and ideal for those companies with a tight budget as it allows you to budget for your IT support exactly. It also makes it easy to forecast for any business growth. Planning to take on an extra 20 employees this year? You can see exactly how much that growth is going to cost you in terms of IT support.

Per-device pricing model

Another option is for IT support providers to charge per device, e.g. desktop, laptop, mobile, server. There would usually be one flat price per device type, which again makes it relatively easy to see exactly where your costs are coming from and allow you to budget for future additions e.g. you decide you want every member of the sales team to have a tablet for remote working. The per-device model will often come out marginally more expensive than the per-user model – owing to the fact a single user will likely have multiple devices which need covering.

Ad-hoc pricing model

The ad-hoc model means rather than paying a flat monthly fee you pay as and when you require support. This may sound good but, since prices can’t be normalised, you will likely end up paying far more overall. Additionally, as IT becomes increasingly critical, a purely reactive approach to IT support will leave you hurting after a major incident due to prolonged downtime and a large bill from your support provider. Because of this, the ad-hoc model is becoming increasingly rare with most businesses having transitioned to a fully managed service or “all-you-can-eat” model.

Tiered pricing model

Tiered pricing is where different bands of support are available. The higher the band, the more services or perks you’ll gain access to but at a greater cost. For example, you may see bronze, silver and gold tiers.

This is one of the most common pricing models but it does have its difficulties. As each tier includes its own services and limits, what can initially seem like great value can become a headache. For example, you take out a bronze level IT support contract which includes data backup. Imagine the worst happens and you lose your files. Then, on top of that, you find out your backup only covers a certain period – excluding the period you’ve lost.

It’s not to say that tiered pricing won’t work for some businesses, but if IT is critical for your operations it’s probably not something to gamble on. A fully managed service should be fully managed. There should be no limits on what your support includes.

‘All you can eat’ pricing model

The all you can eat model allows for an unlimited amount of support at a fixed rate each month. This makes it ideal for nearly every type of business looking to outsource their IT. It’s technically the same as the top level of a tiered pricing model, but without the artificial inflation from the lower tiers. This typically makes the all you can eat model better since it will include everything you need whilst being at a predictable cost.

When looking at this model, it’s important to check if it includes out-of-hours support as standard. Depending on the provider, 24/7 support might be there by default or it might have an additional charge. Although, it’s typically worth the extra money to have full peace of mind and to be able to prevent a late-night incident impacting the following day.