Outsourcing Information Technology – the IT Skill Gap
There have been massive changes within Information Technology over the last couple of years. Businesses want to compete, innovate and thrive, but most decision makers are frustrated. Their existing staff may be good, but can’t keep up with the changes, don’t have the time to invest to become expert in these new technologies, and can only cover so much technological ground.
Some of the impactful technologies that intrigue business and have the potential to deliver a strong ROI include:
- Cloud and Hybrid Computing
- Mobile Workforce and Mobile Devices
- Unified Communications and Collaboration
There are of lot of justifications for Outsourcing IT, but the real driver is the demand to reduce operational expenses.
A major, and growing, trend in addressing the skill-gap is the use of Outsourced IT to backfill the day-to-day demands associated with their technology infrastructure and user support. There are number of inherent benefits to the outsourcing model, including:
- More cost effective that hiring staff – Outsourcing scales easily compared to adding and deleting staff headcount. You only pay for what you need.
- Stable pool of Talent – Outsourcing organizations already have a team of experts with overlapping specializations.
- Access to a broader range of technical expertise – an outsourcing team is comprised of many talented people. They can draw on a much deeper bench of talent when unusual issues arise.
- Faster root cause problem identification and resolution – Outsourcing firms are driven by Service Level. All issues are given priorities and addressed within contractual boundaries.
- Faster internal and external application delivery – Because an outsourcing team deals with delivery issues every day, they’re more adept at rollout.
- Reduced IT complexity – We use a systematic approach for identifying assets and streamlining processes. You don’t need to be an expert on every nuance of your environment anymore.
- No employee issues and overhead – Because outsourcing is contractually based, you don’t have HR, hiring, benefit and vacation issues.
- Better 24×7 service coverage – Outsourcing is designed with 24×7 in mind.
- Flexibility to adjust services to business changes – Regardless of your organization’s seasonality, growth or contraction, outsourcing can be adjusted to meet your needs.
IT professionals embedded at end user organizations are seeing a quickly growing gulf between their professional skills and the service delivery and consumption demanded by their employers. Can they keep up?
The Biggest argument for not Outsourcing IT is “We’re already Tech Savvy”. Does that argument work when it comes to your Accounting, Legal, Payroll, and Building Maintenance needs? I’m constantly amazed at businesses with a “good enough” attitude when it comes to IT.
Did you know that, on average, an embedded IT staff spends approximately 80% of their time dealing with day-to-day end-user issues? If your business does have internal IT talent – they know your business and how you make money. How much more effective are they if they can devote their time to strategic, business issues, rather than day-to-day uptime?
Tim Krueger, CEO, PEI
