8 Factors to Consider When Outsourcing IT

Outsourcing of IT services to IT support companies has existed for a long period of time until recently when large organizations have been reconsidering their outsourcing approaches and beginning to adopt in-sourcing. Firms have however been unable to manage to reach their outsourcing goals as they anticipate. Sometimes companies fail to achieve the quality they desired.

You need to be mature enough in the IT outsourcing case so that your planning and execution turns out to be good.

If you are considering reaching for IT support companies to outsource your IT services, you need to think about the following.
1. Company’s employee’s morale
When a firm outsources all or pieces of IT, its staff morale may be affected. It is therefore, a good idea for IT managers to make the staff understand why they have considered outsourcing and how the outsourcing impacts the firm’s IT strategic goals. This will make them feel comfortable with the decisions being made as they will have fully understood why such decisions are being taken. Employees will also be able to evaluate their stand in the firm as lasting employees. They might not agree with the decision but at least they will have known about it.

2. Professional guidance is key in the whole outsourcing process
It is good to invest in professional guidance from qualified sourcing consultants so that you avoid costs associated with setbacks in relation to selecting IT outsourcing destination, associate as well as model. Ensure you get professional guidance in the entire process.

Remember it is hectic and costly to enhance the collaboration once damage is done especially when the staffs have already had a negative encounter with the outsourcing collaboration. Therefore it’s advisable to seek external guidance especially if the whole idea of how outsourcing is done falls outside your firm’s capabilities. It will be better and cheaper to accomplish this right at the inception than having to fix an initiative that has fallen at a future stage.

3. Quality
The outcome can be greater or lesser when you outsource, depending on the services you are outsourcing. Some companies consider outsourcing their IT services when they lack experienced IT experts within their company. Sometimes companies outsource IT tasks because they can be done at a low cost when outsourced than employing an employee to manage the IT services within the company. Therefore it is good to consider the quality of the service you will get before outsourcing your IT services. Also, note that you will get what you pay for.

4. The type of the contract
You should find out whether your partner can offer a minimum contract. This will help you to easily terminate the contract in case you become unhappy with the service provider. It will be frustrating to enter into a long term contract with a service provider since it becomes difficult to walk away and chose an alternative service provider in case you are not satisfied with their services.

5. Business reputation
Firms survive and fail by their reputation. In today’s world where social media is the talk of the day, each product and service your supplier offers is analyzed under the microscope. Therefore consider choosing a partner with the highest possible standards of reputation online.

On your side as your seek outsourcing services your company should be perceived as a good place to work by the people you are trying to attract. It becomes difficult and challenging to hire and retain employees especially when an enterprise has a reputation of outsourcing their services.

6. Agility
Outsourcing can be beneficial and sometimes negatively impact the company’s IT agility. On the positive side, it aids when a company lacks the time to complete a major task that needs to be completed in time. It also negatively impacts intellectual capital thus hindering a company’s ability to respond to new business conditions with IT.

7. Reporting
If you have several teams in your company, you will most certainly expect usual reports from your teams. Your IT service provider should not differ also. Your service provider should be able to notify you of any possible hitches and their suitable resolutions.

8. Reference
Once you are contented with the contract your partner has to provide, ensure they provide you with a list of recent companies for you to contact for a personal reference.

Conclusion
When you are considering outsourcing services, ensure a thorough consideration of all the relevant factors is made. This article has provided a way of approaching this intricate issue and we hope a useful preliminary point for your assortment process.