IT Infrastructure Outsourcing: FAQs about What It Is and What It Means for Your Business
Your IT infrastructure is your organization’s base for successful operations and technology elements. Is yours efficient enough to be successful for your organization?
For many organizations, managing your own IT infrastructure can be a challenge, due to a lack of time and resources. The challenge often results in the form of a slow and clunky network, a lack of network security and software or hardware issues that tamper with your team’s productivity.
For those organizations that are still not seeing results despite spending crazy amounts of money to maintain your network, or whose IT team is working around the clock, a common solution is IT infrastructure outsourcing.
But handing over the reins to your company’s technology can be intimidating. What happens to your network? Does it open you up for risk? How can someone who doesn’t know your business make decisions that actually work for you?
We’ve outlined what IT infrastructure outsourcing really entails, what you need to know, and why it could matter for your business.
What is IT Infrastructure Outsourcing?
“IT infrastructure” is a broad term that covers several facets of your organization’s operational technology setup, including:
- Phone systems;
- Internet connectivity;
- Internet circuits;
- And much more.
IT Infrastructure Elements
It also refers to the way that your IT system as a whole is designed and implemented, including how you host, protect and recover your organization’s data.
IT infrastructure outsourcing is essentially delegating the management of your setup and systems to an IT provider.
How Does IT Infrastructure Outsourcing Work, and What Will an IT Advisor Do to My Systems?
Depending on what your service provider offers, IT infrastructure services can be customized to fit your organization’s needs.
More than likely, your IT advisors will start by asking questions about your organization’s pain points and goals to begin making recommendations. They may even pay a visit to your physical location to see your operations for themselves and gain a thorough understanding of your company.
Then, your IT advisor will be able to discuss if your organization may need upgrades to your physical technology systems (like phone systems) or assess whether your internet connectivity could be slowing your team down.
Once your specific needs have been identified, your IT advisor will be able to match you with specific solutions. Once you’ve agreed upon the actions they’ll take, your IT provider will create a full plan for how they will manage and support your company.
Because each organization is different, each will have different technology needs, which also means that the specifics of IT infrastructure outsourcing will be different for everyone.
The Process for Outsourcing IT Infrastructure
How Would Decisions Be Made About My Physical Technology?
Your physical technology plays a huge part in your overall IT infrastructure, and because technology is always changing, improving and transforming, your systems may become out of date before you even realize it.
In IT infrastructure outsourcing, an advisor would review your technology, taking into consideration your team’s tasks, your organization’s operations and your rate of growth to see if your current IT set-up is a fit for your business, what you’re currently doing and where you want to go.
Even if you don’t need a completely new system, there may be smaller relevant updates that you can make a big difference to your IT structure.
Does IT Infrastructure Outsourcing Introduce Cyber Risk To My Business? Is It Risky For My Tech to Be Managed Outside of My Organization?
Security should always be a top priority for any business leader. Outsourcing your IT infrastructure may actually reduce risk for your business—not introduce it.
Hackers often target unmanaged, unpatched or outdated IT systems, so having an expert IT team manage your systems, provide patches quickly and make updates when needed actually means your organization is more protected.
Because your IT advisor will be considering how your organization uses and stores data, they’ll also be able to make the most pertinent recommendations about how you can protect it against loss or theft.
Even in the event of loss or theft, IT infrastructure outsourcing allows your response to rest in the hands of a team of IT experts in a crisis.
Why Would a Business Outsource IT Infrastructure? What are the Benefits?
IT infrastructure outsourcing offers significant advantages to organizations, like access to IT experts without adding to your staff, reducing costs, saving time, increasing efficiency in your business and reducing risk.
Through outsourcing, many companies are able to stay more competitive, more secure and more efficient. Ultimately, by outsourcing your IT infrastructure, you, your employees and your IT team can shift focus to your core business, instead of having to worry about or getting stalled by IT issues.
My Business Doesn’t Have IT Infrastructure Outsourcing in the Budget. What Can I Do?
IT infrastructure outsourcing may actually save your company money in comparison to the costs of managing your systems on your own, so it actually may be more affordable for your organization.
Outsourcing your IT infrastructure tasks can save your business significantly on labor and payroll costs. You can scale your IT support during different busier times of year or if your business growth takes off, as opposed to managing and recruiting for an ever-dynamic in-house IT team.
And by shifting these responsibilities to an external team, your in-house IT team can focus on their core tasks, while your IT infrastructure support becomes scalable and your IT performance is boosted.
Learn More or Get Started with IT Infrastructure Outsourcing
Among the many reasons to outsource your IT infrastructure, one of the most important is working with a team of experts that can guarantee quality service.
Contact a Warren Averett Technology Group advisor to get started with outsourcing your IT infrastructure or to learn more about what it may look like for your specific organization.