Outsourcing IT services is a complete or partial transfer of IT functions to a specialized company, which undertakes under contractual terms to provide a certain level of service quality.
A business can entrust a contractor with specific tasks that require narrow expertise and special skills, such as implementing a complex software solution or completely outsourcing the maintenance of its IT systems and supporting its uninterrupted operation.
IT is outsourcing – benefits for a corporation
Why do international corporations like IKEA or Adidas hire specialized companies to perform IT functions? This approach provides many benefits to businesses.
Financial advantages of outsourcing
According to Zippia, 59% of surveyed companies believe this model provides budget savings. IT outsourcing is an opportunity for a business to optimize costs for maintaining IT infrastructure or performing specific functions:
- More profitable than maintaining your staff. Businesses do not need to hire highly qualified specialists, pay high salaries, invest in development and improvement of competence when the need for their services arises situationally.
- Without downtime or unforeseen situations. A company’s IT specialists may go on vacation, get sick, or change jobs. At the same time, the contractor has sufficient resources to provide uninterrupted support and implementation of the IT functions undertaken.
- Pay only for the options you need. Outsourcing makes it possible to attract narrow experts to perform specific tasks and pay fixed amounts for the work performed.
- Obtaining favorable conditions for the purchase of equipment and software. Outsourcers thoroughly know different vendors’ products and select optimal solutions in terms of functionality and budget.
Improving operational efficiency
Outsourcing customer service allows a business to concentrate on developing and improving its competitive position. The expert approach of contracting companies to solving IT problems ensures the high efficiency of all IT systems in accordance with the enterprise’s needs and goals. This makes it possible to optimize business processes and increase the speed and quality of employee work.
Selecting an outsourcing company: Key aspects
IT outsourcing is an expert service that requires the contractor to comply with quality guarantees and is associated with the risks of transferring confidential information. Thus, to select a reliable partner, it is worth analyzing:
- Business reputation. Around the world, IT companies’ ratings are compiled annually, and hundreds of efficiency and reliability indicators are carefully analyzed. A good sign is the presence of publications by the outsourcer or its employees in specialized publications and participation in events.
- Successful client cases. The company’s websites provide project descriptions and customer reviews. It is worth assessing the scale and complexity of the implemented solutions.
- Project approach. At the negotiation stage, it is worth determining whether the contractor implements ready-made solutions according to a single scheme for all customers or develops individual solutions for each client.
- Expertise. The outsourcing company must provide information about its employees’ qualifications and professional competence; often, this data is available on the website.
Thus, you need to carefully and responsibly approach the choice of an outsourcing company, since the safety and quality of cooperation depends on this.