You know that having the right IT setup and systems for your Dartford-based business matters, but when you’re not an IT expert yourself, how can you be sure you’re choosing the best approach? That’s where IT support in Dartford can help.
Even the decision on whether to manage IT in-house or to outsource it can be a difficult one to make when you’re also spinning many plates in the business and there are never enough hours in the day.
In this blog, we’ll share our expertise so you can be confident about this important decision. There’s no hard and fast rules you can follow, instead what’s right for your business will depend on your business objectives, the complexity and size of your business, how you work with clients, your security requirements and, of course, your budget.
The three elements of successful IT for any business
To manage IT well you need to put enough attention on each of these three areas:
- IT strategy
- IT management
- IT operations
One mistake start ups and small businesses make is to focus too much on operations and management and not enough on strategy. Unfortunately, without a sound, simple strategy, you’ll end up with fuzzy management and inefficient operations. This leads to mismatched IT support and, potentially, higher costs.
Whether your IT is in-house or outsourced, these three areas need to be covered.
Naturally if it’s in-house, it’s all down to you and your employees. Some IT suppliers will expect you to lead on IT strategy, while they provide management and operations – which can be a surprise for some business owners when things are going wrong and become unexpectedly expensive later.
Other suppliers, like Heliocentrix, have the expertise to guide you on strategy as well as the other two elements. Final say over the strategy will always stay with you and your business, but sound strategic advice will help uncover opportunities you may miss on your own.
In the rest of the blog post, we’ll share the benefits of in-house IT and when that is likely to be the best option, compared with the benefits of out-sourcing.
Advantages of in-house IT for Dartford businesses
Greater control over when, how and what is done
When you manage IT in-house, you or your IT manager will have complete control over exactly how IT is set-up, delivered and managed. This may allow you to:
- Tightly control budget – ideal for start ups or a small company still establishing itself
- Directly oversee all decisions about IT – if, for example, you have very strict or stringent requirements relating to your services or your customer service
- Know quickly when there are problems – as you or your IT manager will be directly involved in resolving them.
Of course, items in the list above can turn into disadvantages. Directly overseeing all decisions about IT, for example, might be a drain or make you a bottleneck. If IT isn’t your area of expertise and/or your time is spread too thinly to manage it well, having greater control could lead to IT that isn’t optimised for your business.
Avoid hidden IT supplier costs
Outsourcing IT is cost-effective way to access expertise, because you don’t have to budget for staff and the related overheads. With outsourcing, you pay for what you need. Do make sure, however, you check what’s included covers your needs because, if there are extra charges for upgrades or emergency support, these expenses can add up. With Heliocentrix, for example, we charge a fixed cost per device and we clearly explain what’s included or not, so you always know the true cost of outsourcing.
It’s a good idea to create a projection of all the costs of keeping your IT in-house, including staff time, license and software fees and any time you’ll spend worrying about and managing IT. Also consider the opportunity costs: how likely is it that efficiency-gains could be missed without an expert perspective?
Accumulated expertise with specialised or legacy systems
Some sectors rely on highly-specialised software, like legal or financial services firms. Others use legacy software which has been developed for their specific niche. Having a member of staff in-house who has worked with that system for many years can be a distinct advantage in this situation.
However, succession planning for IT staff with specialised software expertise can be challenging, so ensure you’re not storing up a bigger problem for later.
More control over data security
Highly regulated sectors, like legal and financial services, must comply with strict data handling requirements. They may even need to restrict third-party access to their systems, and therefore in-house control over sensitive data and systems. Therefore, in-house IT support may be the best option.
Dedicated IT resource onsite at all times
Another main benefit of keeping IT in-house is having a dedicated member of staff onsite at all times. If you have a lot of system users (for example at a school or college) or if there will be severe consequences for even a short period of IT downtime, in-house, dedicated staff may be the best option.
That said, at Heliocentrix we offer a service that provides a dedicated, on-site member of staff, if that’s what you need.
Advantages of outsourced IT for Dartford businesses
IT as a core competency
When you outsource your IT, you’re bringing into your team a provider with core expertise in IT. The right IT supplier for a small business will be able to handle the strategic, management and operational elements of IT, ensuring your systems are seamless. They’ll have the expertise to evaluate different solutions and implement the ones that support your business not just today, but into the future.
Rapidly scalable IT
Another benefit of working with a third-party IT provider is they can quickly scale up your support. Hiring IT staff is a resource intensive process that takes time, and maybe your next business growth opportunity won’t wait that long. An outsourcing partner, on the other hand, can provide more staff, more licenses or identify the system upgrade you need quickly, because that’s our business.
If you want to grow your business, outsourcing IT support in Dartford can be a good way to ensure your IT is planned with those goals in mind and can be scaled as and when you need it. Also, if your market or your business is highly reactive, scalable IT will support you whether you need to scale up or scale down.
Access to all IT specialties
IT isn’t just one set of skills, like any profession it covers a collection of skills in different sub-disciplines including:
- cybersecurity,
- cloud computing,
- data backup and storage,
- IT help desk support,
- communications,
- and more.
Whether you’re planning a big IT project that needs specialist IT expertise, or you want to make sure you’re getting a well rounded approach to a problem, outsourcing gives you easy, cost-effective access to all the skills you need.
Cost-effective solution
As we mentioned earlier, bringing IT in-house can make it easier to control costs, however outsourcing is often more cost-effective overall. When you have the right package and service level agreement to support your business goals and objectives, outsourcing will set you up to win.
This is because outsourcing allows you to buy only the level of support you need. Most small businesses don’t need a full-time senior IT leader like a CTO (Chief Technical Officer), but that doesn’t mean they won’t benefit from consultancy with a Fractional CTO (or vCTO) when they need it. Outsourcing gives you access to different experts, working at different levels, without needing to find the budget to employ them all, train them and manage any staff benefits.
Holiday and sickness cover
An IT service provider doesn’t go on holiday, because it will distribute workload across their technician team. The provider takes all the responsibility for providing a continuous service, so you never have to worry about finding holiday or sickness cover for your IT staff. IT service providers can also provide a cover service if you have a resource short-fall in your in-house IT team.
What Dartford businesses should consider
As we’ve demonstrated above, whether in-house or outsourced IT is right for your business depends on which of the various advantages above are most valuable for your business. In general, when you think about your business and its IT needs, you should be considering the following
- Budget
- Growth plans
- Business complexity and size
- Security and compliance requirements
- Role of IT in your business and your service to customers
Budget
If your IT needs are very simple, in-house might be the way to go. However, bear in mind that outsourcing lets you pay for what you need (like the pay as you go service Heliocentrix offers) without having to worry about overheads, training, ongoing development and HR, so it’s a cost effective way to getting a higher level of expertise in your IT support.
Growth plans
Don’t only think about expenses, think about opportunity costs. Having access to Strategic IT expertise will boost productivity now and support more efficient operations as your business grows and develops.
Business complexity and size
Businesses of 50 people or less with simple telephony, internet and digital file storage needs can probably manage IT in-house, though those initial systems may hinder growth later. Larger businesses or those with more specialised data, security or communications requirements will benefit from outsourcing IT to an experienced provider.
Security and compliance
Financial services firms, solicitors and GP surgeries (among others), must comply with relevant data protection regulations. They need specialised IT systems, in terms of security, auditing and case or client management. An in-house team will develop a deeper understanding of your systems and will give you greater control over your data and your IT provision.
Budget may still be an issue, however, and outsourcing will give you cost-effective access to a broader set of expertise around security and creating bespoke systems. When outsourcing, it will be important to find a supplier who understands your sector and specific compliance requirements.
Role of IT in your service to customers
For some businesses, IT and digital service development is part of the service provided for customers. A security company, for example, will have a more complex IT strategy than most marketing agencies or small creative businesses, and outsourcing can bring in the expertise you need quickly and flexibly.
Looking for IT expertise?
Contact our expert team at Heliocentrix. With experience of supplying IT to all kinds of local businesses over the years, we are here to talk through your requirements and find the right solution for your business.