Businesses today wrestle and grapple with the thought of hiring their own technology support staff to support their daily need for IT support without fully understanding the risks and the costs associated with having their own team of technology professionals.

Business owners, C level execs and Managers are attracted to the idea of having a team or a consultant readily available within shouting distance down the hall, basically having an IT resource committed to them 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. However, many of today’s business owners across the country are not aware of the total risks their business is exposed to by electing to bring their technology support in-house.

More often than not it is purely a cost based decision, on the surface it may appear to be more cost effective to hire a consultant or employee who is committed as a full time employee. CFOs and Accounting Managers often look only at the cost of having their IT outsourced and are attracted to hiring someone for a few thousand dollars a month as part of their staff will save their company in the long run. This is not the case in reality and by having a full time employee it will actually end up costing a business more in the long run.

So what are the advantages of having an IT Partner who focuses on delivering a complete managed technology solution? There are a number of immediate benefits over having a full time employee. These benefits include:

• The average technology professional with five years experience may be worth $60,000 a year. This is great when you are looking at the bills from your IT provider and see that you have probably paid the same in their consulting bills for only a fraction of the time. When a business elects to go internal, a $60,000 salary now buys the business one person and not a team of professionals offering depth in expertise and knowledge.
• IT Partners will provide around the clock monitoring and coverage throughout the entire term of the contract. When a company hires its own IT staff, the challenges of vacation scheduling, training and time off from illness impacts the company. An outsourced IT Partner provides full time coverage so vacations, illness and other absences do not impact your technology support.
• There are hidden additional costs when a business elects to hire internally. The costs associated with training can rise rapidly. When you have a trusted IT partner, training is no longer the company’s challenge. The IT partner ensures that the skills of their team are up to date. Costs associated with procurement of equipment that includes SmartPhones, laptops and other supplies can quickly add up and finally, there is the added expense associated with healthcare, payroll and others logistical items.

Michael Fafinski, President of Syand Corporation in Minneapolis states what the value of having a full service IT partner can bring to a company, “having a full feature IT partner eliminates the “tunnel vision” found with internal employees. Too often, employers are limited only by the expertise of their internal employees and lose opportunities to improve their business.”

Many firms that elect to go with their own in-house IT person, more often than not resent this decision down the road. What seemed like a great idea quickly turns into a business mistake that does not end well.

Randy Biggs from VACS in St. Catharines, Ontario shares “Hiring a trusted IT partner allows a company to have access to many additional certified resources without having to keep paying for their staff to get certified. I find that with hired staff, you get one of two types. One that always wants the latest and greatest that many companies cannot afford and the second is an individual who becomes complacent and only does what needs to be done. In either case, they are not looking out for the best interest of the company.”

When a company elects to retain an outsourced firm over hiring internally, they are getting service from a company who is focused on ensuring the IT needs are being addressed in the most efficient manner possible. Many trusted IT partners are focused on the bigger picture, ensuring everything is looked after in a company’s environment including:

• Vendor Relations
• IT Budgeting
• Network Monitoring and Proactive IT services
• Knowledge Base Management
• Disaster Recovery Planning

Partnering with a trusted IT Partner brings value to any business no matter what the size. What makes more sense to you? Limiting the knowledge, you options and dealing with people challenges such as complacency and boredom or expanding available options by having a successful relationship with a trusted IT partner who understands how business needs to grow and the importance of the right technology solution.