In-house or Outsourced IT Services: What’s Best For Your Business?

Successful small and mid-size business owners take advantage of opportunities that will make their company run more efficiently and save money. From comprehensive cyber security to managing installations & upgrades, data storage, providing web hosting, network testing & monitoring, employee training and more,  IT services ensure that a business is prepared to succeed and protected from harm. Knowing whether you should keep your IT management in-house or switch to outsourced IT services is a key opportunity to save money, as well as get an overall  better customer experience.

Spoiler alert: There isn’t much of a comparison. Outsourced IT almost always saves companies money and increases customer satisfaction. Is outsourced IT right for your company?

Here’s what you need to know: 

Average Cost to Hire

The typical hiring process is several steps and can take weeks or longer to complete. 

1. Post the job on multiple sites
2. Cull through resumes
3. Interview potential candidates
4. Put together offer
5. Extend offer
6. Negotiate offer
7. Hire 
8. Train

When looking to hire, you’ll also want to research the average salary of an IT manager in your area. In Connecticut, the average salary for an IT manager is $120,000 to $150,000. You’ll also need to add in additional costs like benefits and office space and materials. Divide all this by 12 and you’ll get the monthly cost of hiring an in-house IT manager. You can compare this figure to the monthly fees of outsourced IT companies. 

Remember, when this person leaves your company (the average turnover for this position is five years) you’ll have to go through this process all over again. 

Coverage

If you do come to find that hiring an in-house IT manager is right for your company, you’ll also have to consider how you will take care of the following issues:

• Covering your new hire during their vacation and time off
• Supporting your IT needs during off hours like the weekends
• The extra human power needed for larger IT projects like cloud migration

You may find that your new in-house hire will need back up from an outside source during these situations. Will you still be saving money in the long run if you need to hire additional human power too?

The Power of Experience

With a single IT manager comes the experience of just one person. With an IT managed service provider (MSP) comes the experience of an entire company combined. The team will most likely have worked with many industries and clients. That depth of knowledge should give you peace of mind when it comes to outsourcing IT. 

Let Us Take IT Management Off Your Plate

Still not sure what’s right for your company? Schedule a consultation with us to run your numbers.