In-House IT Vs Outsourcing IT: What Works For Your Business?

In this day and age, businesses without information technology (IT) are few and far between.

Even construction companies that rely primarily on heavy equipment now use software to keep track of said equipment and their field workers. And so one may argue that most organizations would benefit from having an IT department. But as you may already know, there are two options if you want to have an IT department: you can either create one for the business or outsource from an agency.

Of course, it's worth noting that both options can be beneficial under the right circumstances, but you must also consider what works best for your business, and that's why you're here. 

This article will tackle those two options and help you decide which to choose. What better way to start things off than by introducing what each of them entails for your business?

What Is Outsourcing IT?

Outsourcing refers to the practice of hiring another agency to be responsible for a specific activity, which in this case is your IT operations. Companies usually outsource IT for one-time operations, such as application development or website design, but you may also hire a managed IT service provider to regularly maintain your IT infrastructures or systems 24/7.

Speaking of which, if you're situated in Texas, and you intend to look for an IT agency to outsource, Buchanan's managed IT services in Dallas would be an excellent choice.

Advantages Of Outsourcing IT

The main benefit of outsourcing IT (or any activity, for that matter) is that you can save time and focus on other tasks, but that's not all. Outsourcing IT also has the following advantages:

• Enjoy the perks of the latest information technologies

Most outsourcing agencies use modern technologies for business operations. These may include anything from 5G to artificial intelligence to behavioral analytics. By getting the help of such agencies, you can enjoy the perks of the technologies they have.

• Reduce the overall costs of IT 

While the fees of outsourcing agencies may vary, they’re generally lower than the costs of building and maintaining an in-house IT department. After all, not only do you have to allocate a budget for the salary of your employees, but you must also buy the hardware and software they’ll use. Hence, outsourcing IT is perfect for startups.

• Round-the-clock monitoring

Outsourcing agencies usually operate around the clock, unlike in-house IT teams where your employees have limited working hours. Of course, you can hire several employees to work at different schedules to cover every minute of the day, but that’s often quite expensive and can hinder communication.

What Is An In-House IT Department? 

If you create an IT department by hiring employees and assigning them to that department, it's what people refer to as in-house IT. Basically, it's a team that's managed directly by your business. An in-house IT department can handle all sorts of business activities, such as brokering, financing, marketing, and software and hardware maintenance.

Advantages Of In-House IT 

With its definition alone, you might already have a general idea of what in-house IT can bring to your company. In that regard, here's a closer look at its potential advantages:

• You will have full control over the department

When you outsource your IT department, you usually hand over all IT-related business activities to the agency. This means you no longer have full control over that department.

On the other hand, if you create an IT team within your business out of your employees, you can still directly manage their activities and influence their decisions.

• Scaling would be easier

It's every startup's goal to grow the business. And when that time comes, you may have to scale your business operations, including the IT sector. If you're only outsourcing, you may struggle to scale the department as you have no say on how they handle things, but that's not the case for in-house IT since you can change the department as you wish.

• Outsourcing is still plausible

Yes, you can still outsource a business activity even with an in-house IT department. You can do this to save time, which would come in handy if the business backlog is full.

Conclusion 

By now, you should already know what each option can bring to your business. Since each has its respective perks, the right choice largely depends on what type of business you operate. 

Outsourcing IT is perfect for those that are struggling in terms of time and money, while in-house IT would be ideal for a business that has a bit more leeway in those regards. You can even go for the hybrid type of IT and opt for a combination of the two. At the end of the day, the decision is all up to you, so make sure you take your time in choosing from either of them.