In the age of cloud computing, outsourcing IT is becoming more commonplace as it becomes unnecessary to be on-site in order to provide many IT services. Very often, businesses will outsource separate needs to separate companies, working on a ‘best of breed’ basis. However, there are real advantages to restricting outsourcing to one IT supplier.
Why outsource
Let’s take a quick look at why outsourcing IT is a good idea in the first place.
Cost is an obvious factor. By outsourcing you are sharing the costs of the supplier’s upkeep with other clients, rather than having to maintain a full-time IT department yourself.
You also gain the advantage of hiring a company for which success rests on high performance in computing, whereas your internal IT department isn’t under the same pressure. You sell car parts, not IT.
It also removes the burden of recruiting for a department you may have little understanding of, a particular concern for smaller businesses.
Cost
There’s something to be said for finding the cheapest (good) supplier for each element of your IT requirements. However, at the same time, if outsourcing to one supplier you can negotiate for all of your services in one place.
It benefits the supplier to land more business in one go, and it saves you the trouble of negotiating with tens of different suppliers to try and drive the overall cost down – when they have no reason to offer you a discount.
Monitoring
Similarly, there’s a lot to be said for the added simplicity in monitoring when outsourcing to only one supplier.
Outsourcing IT doesn’t absolve your business of all responsibility. It’s still important to keep an eye on the supplier’s performance to ensure you’re getting what you paid for and can raise any issues as they arise.
In theory, service level agreements (SLA) guarantee a certain level of performance, but reality doesn’t always correspond with SLAs. A single IT supplier gives you one phone number to call if something is under-par and reduces the number of sources to be checked for the metrics outlined in the SLA.
Accountability
Perhaps most importantly, it’s far easier to keep track of your supply chain with a single supplier. Suppliers may outsource aspects of your service to sub-contractors. If you have a number of suppliers yourself, it becomes increasingly difficult to keep track of who is actually performing your service. If a subcontractor makes a mistake, it may not be your responsibility, but you will bear the brunt – both the effects of the mistake and any bad publicity associated with it.
Far better to stick with one supplier, be sure of who is performing your service, and have a single, regular and trusted point of contact.
We offer a full range of IT services. If you’re looking for a single IT supplier for your business, look no further. Contact us today.
