Which IT service should you outsource and which keep in-house?

There is no company these days that can work without the constant internet connection, applications, cloud computing, CRM systems or eAccounting. All of these are provided by supplier companies, therefore, why to develop your own solutions when you can rely on outsourcing?

The biggest mistake is to think that you can do it better (or cheaper), but most companies are not aware of the advantages brought by B2B outsourcing, especially in the IT business.

Main advantages of IT service outsourcing

1. Higher quality

You must admit – an outsourcing company will bring higher service quality. IT is at the core of their business and that is why they keep innovating and following the trends. They invest money into their software, employees and security. For instance, cloud companies invest ten thousands into ethical hacking and other security tests. Will you invest the same time and money to your system? This is something you better leave for them. This way, nothing can distract you from your own core business goals.

2. Saving money

Maybe it is not immediately apparent in the beginning, especially when the bill arrives. But try to think about the secondary costs if solutions were being done inhouse. Hiring new people, months spent on development, implementation, maintenance or legislation changes tracking and implementation. Additionally, you need continuous on-going training for your employees. All of this just to have constant support for the real purpose of your business. Again, those are the responsibilities of the supplier if you choose the option of IT outsourcing.

3. No licences payments

If you rent the solution, you do not have to buy the whole system: SW, HW etc. Your supplier has all the necessary licences and those are included in the offer.

4. Easier changes

A company changes as it grows and successful firms usually want to broaden their outsourcing activities or to adapt the solution they are using (new features in cloud computing, adding new business departments to the system, more sophisticated functions etc.).

IT Outsourcing companies have a lot of experience with different types of businesses and thus – a better understanding of clients’ expectations. This is the reason why they are able to be really flexible with your requests. They can even propose new ideas that can change your perspectives. Having your own IT department may cost you to lose sight of the bigger picture and you can get lost in it. Outsourcing companies see things differently and most of the time, this is a good thing for you.

Which IT service should you outsource?

Some solutions cannot be replaced by in-house development. It mostly includes legislation related service, when the outsourcing partner focuses on a specific and strict area, which allows them to improve it regularly. We are talking about:

1. Payroll and accounting software

Payroll calculation and AP management are closely connected to local legislation, therefore it doesn’t make sense to develop your own software to handle these tasks. The market in every country you do business in offers various software solutions. This is the area that you cannot unify with one global system. For each country, you will have to purchase a different solution. There are companies that provide service in more countries, but it’s still different installation for the specific legislation.

2. CRM and project management

CRM portals for client database with contracts, prices, contacts, invoices and more information are another good example for cloud/software solutions that the market offers from various suppliers. The same applies for project management. These solutions can provide automated recalculations of costs, divide them to selected cost centres and provide valid reports.

3. Time and attendance management and HR portal (ESS)

Again, attendance management must follow local legislation, EU regulations and more rules that are applied differently in each country. Some allow absence calculation in hours, some in days/half-days. Mandatory shift breaks, overtime rules, bonuses and more are no longer your concern if you rent a solution that recalculates them for you and especially for your HR department. If the time and attendance system is user-friendly, employees get a contemporary cloud that increases their engagement and loyalty to the employer.

The same applies for the HR system (pretty often the attendance management is one of the HR portal’s features) where clients can manage their pay slip publication, business trips, company benefits, onboarding and many more HR related agendas.

Creating it on your own, your system will hardly be able to recalculate mandatory legislation in shift planning, overtime or balances while looking good and being user-friendly. Not to mention server usage and system’s security.

We named a few reasons for not developing own IT systems in-house and using outsourcing instead. But which IT service should stay under your roof?

Which IT service should be provided in-house?

There are many reasons for IT outsourcing, we named a few key situations. The result is – no need to try and develop your own IT services, trust a company that has the trust of many other players in this game. They know what they are doing and in this way, they can focus on the company’s main goals, helping them to become one of the successful ones.