IT outsourcing has been rising exponentially.
Pre-Covid, the main driver for outsourcing was cost reduction. Many small and much larger businesses used a third-party provider to keep the IT lights on under a flat cost arrangement, typically based on the number of users supported.
Medium sized businesses often had their own internal IT teams, outsourcing small elements of their operations, from a one-off project to a specific area of security, to a third-party.
Post pandemic, the motivations for using an external IT service provider have changed dramatically. The last year or so has seen outsourcing become essential to most organisations’ operations and wider business strategies.
A new generation of outsourcing partners are helping deliver the enhanced service levels and top and bottom-line improvements that businesses need in a post-pandemic world.
Here are six reasons why:
1. Speed of change
Most organisations are transforming at pace, to meet the needs of their clients and win market share. The rate of change means that many IT teams cannot keep the lights on from an IT operations perspective and handle the volume of strategic and systems focused projects that are thrown their way.
In-house IT teams are often much better focused on delivering strategic projects, while a trusted IT partner manages day to day IT operations as an extension to the team.
2. Talent shortage
The worldwide shortage of IT talent includes the UK. This has led many organisations and service providers to outsource overseas to meet demand.
The pace and volume of change in terms of transformation projects post-pandemic, along with a lack of new IT sector talent has created a crisis. There were more than two million UK job vacancies in tech in 2021, more than any other labour area.
3. Security
Businesses face a perfect storm of rapid transformation, skills in global shortage, and a fast-growing cybersecurity risk landscape.
IT teams within organisations are seeing pressure from all sides, which is a tough place to be. Many are leaning on their IT service providers to take responsibility for elements of cyber security, be it day to day security operations, compliance, or governance overlay. This gives an organisation comfort that a third party is providing checks and balances and is making sure that what needs to be done from a security perspective is done.
4. Too complex
The race to the cloud and between cloud, the rise of cyber-crime and swathes of transformation projects have made IT environments complex. Arguably more complex than they were prior to the cloud boom. However, most IT departments have not had the budget, talent, or experience to keep up with the demands placed upon them.
Partnership-focused IT service provider relationships, with the skills and experience these bring, help to augment their own.
5. Enhanced value
Many older, larger IT service providers have usually delivered flat cost savings based on labour savings. This type of flat service outsourcing, if done correctly, will realise straightforward cost-savings, especially as talent and experience wane. However, a new generation of dynamic service providers are helping businesses to not only control costs, but also enhance their operations, deliver strategic initiatives, boost their digital transformation capabilities, introduce automation, and Lean initiatives.
6. Competition
Local, national, and international competition has amplified in most sectors. The largest value gains now are typically driven or supported by some form of digital transformation. This had led businesses to lean on IT service providers to keep operations secure and available while the IT team focus on business and digital transformation projects.
Whichever way this use of external and internal IT support is married, augmented teams are invaluable in the current national and international business landscape.
QuoStar has appointed three new senior members to its recently restructured board as part of the firm’s continued growth plans. Since the start of the year, 20 new people have joined the experienced QuoStar team, with the new additions set to bolster the company’s growth trajectory in 2022.
Andrew Forder, who has nearly 20 years’ experience in the IT service sector, joins QuoStar as Commercial Director. Previously Head of Sales at Nasstar, Andrew has a wealth of sales and account management experience in both mid-size and large UK organisations. He will be managing a dedicated team of enterprise sales individuals focussing on new business while maintaining QuoStar’s first-class client service.
Joining as Chief Technology Officer, Gavin Vickers will take charge of service delivery, IT project management and pre-sales processes. Well-respected industry veteran Gavin was previously Principal Consultant at Nasstar and brings unrivalled experience and capabilities in technical transformation to the role
QuoStar also welcomes Neil Clark as its first Cloud Services Director. Neil, who will lead the cloud services team, has designed, built, and managed numerous cloud platforms over the last decade. Neil previously held the position of Director of Cloud Services at GCI and Nasstar before moving to Head of Service at IT firm Transparity.
With the extended board, the team will continue to develop QuoStar’s position as a leading consultancy and service provider. QuoStar has started working with some well-known clients earlier this year and is continues to expand with a further product launch set for later this year.
The new board members will join David Clarke (Head of Security), Simon Gadsby (Chief Operating Officer), Chris White (Head of Consultancy) and Rebecca Montgomery (Head of Business Services), to work alongside QuoStar co-founders Robert Rutherford and James Stelfox.
James Stelfox, Managing Director of QuoStar, said: “As a team, we’re firm believers in bringing the right industry-leading expertise to each pillar of the business. With these new hires, we’re reiterating our commitment to deliver the best service possible to our clients, which is not only deeply personal to us but also unrivalled in the industry. We’re joined by some of the very best talents in their fields and are excited to leverage their expertise to drive forward their areas of the business.”
Robert Rutherford, CEO of QuoStar, added: “It is an exciting time for QuoStar and we’re delighted to welcome Gavin, Neil and Andrew to QuoStar’s board. Our firm has always been seen as a smaller, heavy hitting consultancy, but the time is now right for us to expand our team and make this transition, while retaining the real care, quality, and outcome-focused attention we have always been known for.”