On outsourcing IT and communication services

Outsourcing IT and communication services has strong arguments in its favor (productivity, more time for strategy, flexibility) and a few against it (slower adjustment, longer response times, people who change), and some of the drawbacks can be reduced through the contract.

In July 2020, we talked with Diana Șerban, a communications specialist, about the things to keep in mind before you outsource a service. Starting from her article in Adevărul, a Romanian daily newspaper, we’ve gathered the main arguments below.

“In times of crisis, company owners’ first thought is to make their budgets more efficient.” Some simply cut costs, others look for ways to be more efficient, and one of those ways is outsourcing the services that third parties can provide.

Before making this decision, most of us wonder whether we can keep the same quality of work with an external team, whether it’s communication, IT or other services.

Arguments for

External teams are more productive

An external team works on dedicated projects, with fixed deadlines, and is judged by its results. To keep its contract and its reputation in the market, it has every interest in finishing projects on time and exceeding the client’s expectations.

You can focus more on strategy

When execution (copy, visuals, video) is taken over by an external team, you have more time left, as an entrepreneur or marketing manager, for strategy and for the year’s important goals.

Flexibility

An external team’s workload can be adapted to the project, the goals and the budget, although not all providers accept this approach. You pay the team only for the period it works, unlike employed staff, who have to be paid all year round.

Arguments against

Slow adjustment to the company’s vision

Because it isn’t always up to date with what’s happening in the company, an external communication team may require more effort from the entrepreneur or the communication person before it understands the company’s mission and vision, which it then has to build into its projects.

Longer response time

Compared with an in-house team, an external team may respond to a request within 24–48 hours, so a task or a goal may get done more slowly.

Higher turnover of people

In an in-house team, you have direct access to the people working on the project. In an external team, the people you started a project with may be replaced by other colleagues right in the middle of it.

How do these arguments apply to IT outsourcing?

In IT, the same arguments still hold, but the drawbacks can be reduced through the contract: written response times, people who know your company and documentation that stays with you, no matter who works on the project.

• Response time. An IT outsourcing provider must have its response times written into the contract. At RezolvIT, we answer the phone within 15 minutes, respond remotely within one hour and get to your office within 2 – 4 hours, depending on the plan.
• Adjusting to your company. A dedicated IT manager, depending on the plan, and the monthly report keep the external team connected to your company, so your IT provider knows your people and systems.
• People who change. It matters that everything the provider knows about your systems is documented: access, configurations, passwords. When we take over IT from another provider, we draw up a written plan within 24 hours, covering the handover of access and documentation and the changing of passwords.
• Flexibility. A fixed monthly plan covers what you need, and a contract with no minimum term and 30 days’ notice leaves you free to change providers if you’re not happy.
• Your IT person. Outsourcing doesn’t necessarily mean letting them go: we can work alongside them and stand in for them during vacations.

You’ll find more arguments in our article on 5 reasons why outsourcing is a good idea. If you want to see what outsourcing would look like for your company, we start with a free IT audit, which also gives you the exact price.

You’ll find Diana Șerban’s full article on adevarul.ro.