Blogs

Whether you are part of a growing company or have been long established, the possibility of outsourcing certain roles or functions is one that has to be considered due to the efficiencies it brings. IT is one of the services that can be considered for outsourcing, but how does it compare to having an inhouse team, what are the benefits and how will it impact your business?

In this blog we will look at the three most important factors of an IT team and how they fair in an outsourced and inhouse comparison.

Control

Having control of your resources is of course important in an IT relationship. After all it's your data and intellectual property (IP) that you are protecting.

With a hired IT employee, you do have the benefit that they are on your payroll and that they are present at most times to be called upon. They are available for especially the more mundane, manuals tasks, like plugging and changing data cables, changing printer cartridges and other minor issues. This can save time for your employees and can ease frustration.

The resource can of course be on call to sort most problems but the difficulty can come with control. What happens to this person, who will most likely be holding all admin rights to your systems, when they are away? Who can access the systems to make the necessary changes? Even more important, what happens if you were to have a dispute with this person? Many times, we have seen a situation in Dubai where an IT manager has left his post in dispute with the company, only to be holding said company at “ransom” for their data.

With respect to this control, an outsourced IT supplier in Dubai will generally have a system that controls the admin rights and abilities of their own teams to ensure that you are not in the dark, or worse, should a problem arise.

When discussing control it is also important to understand an employee’s ability to complete tasks within certain deadlines. An IT service provider would call these “service level agreements” and it is their commitment to the contract to ensure these are served, often with penalties for failure to do so.

Knowledge base

In the hiring process, it is imperative to get the choice right when you are choosing your IT man/team. Challenges arise when it comes to qualifying their competencies and abilities on paper. Unless you have someone to prequalify and test these skillsets it is a very difficult task.

An IT person, even if very qualified, comes only with their own skillset. They have little more than Google or Youtube to extract information from should a task be outside of their remit.

With an IT service provider, they will screen many applicants for the various roles within their own organisation. They will also have a robust system to check and qualify the applicant’s various certifications. Finally, they will be able to physically check that what was put on a CV is true.

A huge benefit of using an outsourced service provider, is that they have numerous employees that are dealing with, and have dealt with, many problems. This first hand experience is vital and removes the need to trial and error a situation. This bank of knowledge is where an IT company truly has the upper hand.

Cost

When hiring an IT employee there are a number of costs that apply; visa, salary, vacation support, medical etc. The range of salaries can sometimes appear appealing, some employees can be snapped up for seemingly small amounts. However it is likely that you will be having to pay a large salary to get an employee that is going to be an asset to your organisation. For smaller organisations, it is also important to understand that you will need to cover this employee should he/she go on leave.

An IT provider will have a system that firstly grows with your business. Rates are normally calculated on a per PC, per server basis. This means that you will never be over paying.

Another benefit of this approach is the backbone of a company working for you, rather than an employee. If the account manager is away, there will be a system of support to ensure you get all of the assistance you deserve.

Conclusion

There are many pros and cons to hiring inhouse or to outsource IT services. The risks involved with hiring the right person can be detrimental if it is not performed well. If you have the skillsets to be able to test, qualify and support this individual then it will seem a good route. However, if you want to keep to what you are doing best and to have a system of support specialists in Dubai to pull on whenever you need, then the outsourced option is the stronger play.