Outsourcing Managed IT Services vs. Hiring an Internal IT Team

As your business grows, your IT needs change. Companies reach a point where they require full-time IT support services, either in-house or outsourced through a managed services provider (MSP), like Atlas Professional Services. If you’re on the fence about hiring a managed IT services provider, there are several benefits to consider.

Fully Managed IT Services

Before diving into the benefits, it’s important to understand what an IT services company can offer you. With fully managed IT services, you get the expertise of a CIO along with the support of a highly trained IT team. Through this partnership, you outsource all your IT needs to an MSP – from IT strategy to solutions and all critical IT components. They will manage your technology from top to bottom.

At Atlas, fully managed IT services include:

• Workstation support
• Server and network management
• Data backup and recovery
• Email support
• Cloud services
• Vendor management
• Cybersecurity
• And more…

Essentially, you get an entire team of support to manage your IT infrastructure without hiring your own full-time, in-house IT staff. Some of the benefits of outsourcing your managed IT services include:

1. Experience

When you outsource your IT needs to an IT services company, you have access to a team of professionals who will provide strategic oversight and support. This includes the expertise of a CIO along with the support of a highly trained IT team. Replicating this level of experience and breadth of knowledge in-house would require that you hire an entire IT department. Even then, you might not touch the level of experience provided by a managed IT services company.

At Atlas, we also strongly encourage our engineers to pursue as many certifications and qualifications as possible. This allows our clients to have a great experience with highly trained engineers who can resolve their issues quickly.

2. Scalability

As your company grows, your IT needs will also change. So, too, will your staffing requirements for your in-house IT department. When you work with a managed IT services company, you can easily scale your IT support services to meet your changing needs. That may include everything from managing the help desk to providing strategic oversight of a special project, such as moving to a new server environment.

You’ll never have to worry about hiring in-house IT staff and all the headache that comes with hiring and onboarding a new employee. A good managed IT services company is ready to grow with you, whenever the time comes.

3. Potential Cost Savings

There are two ways outsourcing your IT needs to a managed IT services company could save you money. The first is by ensuring that you don’t overspend on IT. Too many businesses jump into making hasty, uniformed decisions about technology investments and end up paying too much. By working with a managed IT services provider, you get all the facts and understand the cost associated with each potential decision.

Outsourcing your IT needs can also cost less than expenses associated with full-time equivalents (FTEs) needed to do the job in-house. This is particularly true when looking to hire high-level employees, like a CIO.

4. Strategic Oversight

Another benefit of outsourcing your IT to a managed IT services provider is the strategic oversight they provide throughout the engagement. At Atlas, we proactively assess your IT infrastructure and identify areas in need of improvement. This includes assessing hardware and software needs, as well as security practices. We also conduct a bi-annual technical business review to ensure our clients’ IT continues to meet their business needs.

When you rely on in-house IT staff, the day-to-day needs of your team often take precedent over these tasks. When the IT department is overwhelmed, IT strategy is the first thing to go. This could end up costing you in the long run.

5. Around-the-Clock Support with Managed IT Services

The final benefit of outsourcing your IT to a managed IT services provider is one your employees will appreciate – 24/7 end-user support. When your IT is managed in-house, you may be at the mercy of employees’ schedules. Employees get sick and take time off, and finding staff to cover those days can be a full-time job.

An IT services company can offer a team of support to ensure that your IT problems are addressed quickly so your team can get back to work.

Ready to outsource your IT needs to a managed IT services provider like Atlas? Contact us today for a free consultation and find out how we can help meet your IT needs.