Most small businesses start with just one or two people who handle every aspect of their business, from customer care to marketing and information technology. While that may work, and even be necessary for a while, once the company begins to grow there is too much for one person to handle.
Hiring employees will mean more IT considerations, which takes time that could otherwise be used for building your business. Unless you’re an internet technology provider yourself, eventually it will make more sense to turn over the IT reigns to someone else, either by hiring in-house IT or by outsourcing to an IT firm.
Hiring in-house IT staff
Hiring your own IT staff ensures you have someone who is 100% dedicated to your business, so unless they’re sick or on vacation, you’ll have someone right there to help in an emergency situation. Having in-house staff means your IT person will have a good knowledge of your specific business needs and goals.
The disadvantage of keeping IT staff on your payroll is you are responsible for their entire salary, benefits, training and other associated costs. You’ll have to deal with eventual turnover and pay the agreed upon salary, regardless of how much IT work you end up needing. This means that you could end up seriously overpaying for the amount of work performed.
Hiring an IT service provider
If you need IT help but aren’t sure you want to add another employee or department, it makes much more sense to outsource to a managed IT service provider. Choosing a comprehensive IT provider can eliminate the need for multiple vendors, because they can offer a more holistic approach to your information technology needs by managing all of your needs, including hardware, networks, voice, data, and mobile devices.
Dedicated IT firms are specialists who keep up to date on the latest technology, so you can be sure to have a team of well-trained experts with the latest resources available to you without having to incur the added expense of extra equipment and ongoing training. Hiring an IT company means you won’t have to worry about employee turnover, and you’ll only be paying for the services you need.
How to decide
You need to keep your business running, and having a reliable IT provider is a crucial part of that. If you’re on the fence about whether or not you want to hire IT help and if you want an in-house specialist or a contracted provider, it can help to sit down with a professional Internet technologies firm. They will help you evaluate the needs of your company and explain what service they can offer and what it will cost you. You may be surprised at how much they can do for you at a price you can afford.
