Pre-COVID, many of us had the luxury of operating in stable industries nestled within stable economies. In such an environment, it still pays to have a long-term IT strategy in place to ensure you’re able to flow around crises and manage change. However, it’s easier to get away with a less robust strategy (or if you’re really cheeky, no strategy at all).
Post-COVID, this luxury is gone for most industries. Market instability is the flavour of the day, and businesses that attempt to forge on without an IT strategy are struggling. Even without global supply chain issues, inflation, and general financial instability, the structure of the working world has drastically changed due to the influence of the pandemic.
Regardless of your industry, you’ve likely had to enact at least some of the following COVID-inspired changes to your IT ecosystem:
- Allowing safe, secure, and effective remote work for your team;
- Switching to a cloud-first computing methodology to ensure the new remote or hybrid model works smoothly;
- Seeking out new IT talent to help with both ongoing support and one-off projects (complicated by the Great IT Resignation and resultant IT staff shortages).
With such extensive structural changes comes a greater need for IT support. This is where IT outsourcing comes in. Whether you have a dedicated in-house IT department or not, a local Managed Service Provider or IT support company can help you manage the huge changes needed to not only survive but thrive in the post-pandemic world.
Let’s take a detailed look at how IT outsourcing can help your business.
Benefits of IT Outsourcing in the Post-Pandemic World
1. Effective use of time and allocation of resources
IT outsourcing is as flexible as you need it to be. You can hand every aspect over to an external IT support company, or you can work on a hybrid basis, having internal staff handle core aspects while the external team manages specific projects or IT strategy development.
By outsourcing some or all of your IT needs, you can ensure that every job is in the hands of the person most capable of completing it in a timely and effective manner. If you have in-house IT staff, they’ll be free to focus on the core daily tasks that require their full attention. Meanwhile, your management team will have time to focus on developing and executing your business strategy as you manage the rapidly changing conditions of the post-pandemic world.
Your overarching business strategy and IT strategy should inform each other. This is the best way to ensure you’re able to build a strong organisation that’s capable of adapting and thriving in uncertain times.
2. Round-the-clock IT support for remote teams
For employees and freelancers, one of the most valuable aspects of remote work is the flexibility it allows with scheduling. While it makes sense to allow your team to work at the times that suit them best (so long as targets and deadlines are met), this does come with some extra complications.
Let’s say, for example, that a team member is working on a project while visiting family in the UK. If they encounter an IT problem in the middle of their workday, they may be unable to progress any further until the next morning, after your in-house IT department has had a chance to address the issue on Australian time.
By contrast, if you outsource your IT support to a Managed Service Provider like Invotec, your team will benefit from 24/7 support, ensuring unnecessary holdups like this never occur. While limiting IT downtime is crucial for all businesses, it’s especially important when you’re operating with a remote team. Two hours of downtime can translate to a full day of missed work when you factor in timezone and scheduling differences.
3. Cybersecurity to match the latest emerging threats
Operating a remote team also comes with extra cybersecurity risks as every home office and remote workstation provides another potential attack vector that could be exploited by bad actors. Add to this the fact that cyber threats have grown by a staggering 81% since the pandemic, and it’s clear that data protection and cybersecurity should be at the top of your IT wishlist.
While your in-house IT department may be able to handle your cybersecurity needs, it’s crucial to avoid overburdening them. It’s also worth noting that outsourcing IT to a company that specialises in cybersecurity will give you the best possible protection from the latest emerging threats. Such companies are staffed by highly trained and certified IT consultants who work with multiple clients, meaning they are always ahead of the curve.
With ransomware attacks on the rise and targeting businesses of all sizes, the stakes have never been higher. So, it pays to have your cybersecurity handled by specialists who have the resources, certifications, and up-to-date skills needed to keep your data, your assets, and your profits safe.
4. Seamless communication across multiple platforms
Unified Communications (UC) have never been more important than in the post-pandemic world. Even in countries where travel restrictions and lockdowns have been lifted, stay-at-home orders are still a very real possibility, and residents are expected to self-isolate when symptomatic and/or testing positive for COVID-19.
Against such a backdrop, it is crucial to have seamless, unified access to voice, video, and text-based communication, cutting-edge conferencing tools, and other applications for connection and collaboration.
IT outsourcing is a fantastic option for businesses looking for a bespoke UC system designed to suit their unique requirements. Unified communications as a service (UCaaS) saves you from having to spend hours researching platforms and getting bogged down in all the confusing details. Instead, your IT service provider can recommend, install, and manage the ideal UC package, giving you a strong foundation from which to drive innovation and collaboration.
5. Precisely filling gaps as they arise
For most businesses, the best aspect of IT outsourcing is its combination of affordability and flexibility. If you don’t have the need or the budget for 24/7 IT support, for example, you can simply bring in an IT service provider to support your in-house team during key projects or high-workload seasons.
Whatever IT needs you have to fill, you can sit down with a managed service provider and go through the options available to suit your budget. Once you’ve agreed on a package, you can look forward to a reliable fee that will never jump up unexpectedly. As your business grows and evolves, your IT outsourcing service will make way for these changes, giving you the freedom to scale up or down as needed.
Do you feel like the flexible nature of IT outsourcing might be a good fit for your business? Invotec is here to help. You can call us on 1300 468 683 or scroll down and use the quick and easy contact form below. Our friendly IT experts are always happy to answer questions and offer guidance.
