Outsource or Complement? Which type of IT support is right for your business?

Knowing which option is right for your business can be a challenge. How can you be sure which will work the best for your organisation?

Smaller businesses can't usually afford to staff a large IT department but as IT gets more sophisticated and more complex, the need grows for technical expertise in a host of different areas. It's practically impossible for smaller businesses to manage all their IT needs these days, which is why outsourcing or complementing internal IT resources can be an efficient option, leaving you free to focus on running your business.

Circle IT Managing Director, Roger Harry explains how each of these concepts would benefit your business.

Q. Outsource or Complement? What do they mean?

"Outsourcing means that you put your complete IT infrastructure in the hands of a Managed Serviced Provider (MSP). Fully Outsourcing your IT support has a number of benefits;

• Flexibility for those who want to take away the headache of managing their IT infrastructure
• Delivers reliability, accountability and cost visibility
• Fixed monthly costs that covers all IT support
• No leave or absences of IT staff
• No IT training costs
• Increased security
• Access to a specialist knowledge base
• Access to project management and implementation consulting expertise
• Reduces the risk of technological obsolescence

Complementary IT support provides you with an expert on-demand support service to assist your current IT department, a number of the benefits are;

• Delivering the exact cover you need, where and when you need it
• Offers better control of overheads
• Provides on-demand access to a highly skilled knowledge base
• Provides Holiday & sickness cover so your systems are always supported
• Leaves you to focus on the big issues not the day to day activities
• Gives you access to the right tools for one-off projects
• Stops you being overwhelmed by support calls, leaving you to concentrate on your network
• Provides your IT department access to Enterprise network management tools without the high cost of licensing

Q Which is best for my business?

"This really depends on your company’s size, infrastructure and business objectives. Consultation is the key to making sure you get the right type of support. With some of our clients like Harding Evans and Keep Wales Tidy we found that a complementary service would work the best for them, by working alongside their existing IT department we freed up their time to concentrate on new projects."

"Celtic Energy, on the other hand, made the change from an in-house IT department to a completely outsourced IT support solution. With the company rapidly growing, the costs of employing an IT support resource were outweighing the advantages. Opting for the same support route, GoCompare decided that they needed to completely outsource from the outset, knowing that to ensure the success of their business they needed this critical function to be managed by an expert provider, enabling the company to focus on its core marketing and development skills."

If you would like any further information on these services, please call us on 0870 428 3582