There are many issues to consider when choosing between in-house and outsourced IT support. It is important to mention that the overwhelming majority of companies today have some sort of IT support requirement, and these requirements are integral from the smooth and seamless running of day-to-day operations.

It's not enough to think about the overall IT requirements of the company but also the individual needs of every department within the organization. It is fairly evident that most businesses require some dedicated IT support, but the main issue is in regards to whether to build an in-house team or go for an outsourced option.

Below, we'll provide a short rundown of pros and cons of each option, be it an in-house or an outsourced IT support department.

In-House IT Support

In-house IT support refers to your IT department located inside your business. It also implies that you will have to hire the people necessary to run this department and that you will have full control over them and their actions.

There are several benefits to building your IT support team. For starters, an in-house IT support can provide you with quick backing when it's most needed. Likewise, such a group will also have a more intimate knowledge of your IT infrastructure, giving the opportunity to fix problems quicker. Finally, you can pick and choose the members of this team to best fit within your company culture.

On the downside, however, it can take a lot of time before you put together the right team. The costs of forming and maintaining such a group should also not be underestimated, taking into account the cost of hiring, employment, benefits, downtime, ineffectiveness, or turnover. There is also the issue of working hours and how off-hours IT problems will be handled when nobody is there, etc.

Outsourced IT Support

An outsourced IT support implies that any IT problems will get fixed externally. In other words, a partner company will look after all of your systems and will mostly fix any emerging issues remotely.

One benefit that immediately becomes apparent with outsourcing your IT support is the cost. In most cases, you will be charged monthly and provided with a breakdown of what services you are getting. You will not have to worry about hiring or managing this team, as well as all the costs that come with it.

It's also important to mention that these outsourcing companies specialize in IT support, meaning that they usually have more tools, resources, talent, and experience in dealing with these sorts of issues. In most cases, you will also have access to 24/7 support, so that any problems that may arise during your off-hours will be handled. And in addition to around-the-clock support, you will also have similar monitoring that decreases the chance of outages happening in the first place.

The disadvantages of an outsourced IT support team mostly depend on the company you partner up with. These include issues such as the terms and conditions of the contract as well as any unexpected costs located in the fine print. Another downside is that they are not on-site, meaning that if there's a hardware problem, the issue will not be resolved immediately. However, many MSPs such as Managed Solution offer on-site support and can proactively visit to ensure there are no issues or be readily available if and when one arises.

Conclusion

The decision of whether you should go for an in-house or an outsourced IT support team ultimately boils down the individual needs of your company. An in-house team will be more intimate with your system, but they will cost you much more and could limit the skill sets equired.

An outsourced IT support team, on the other hand, will be far less expensive, have more expertise and flexibility and will provide you with 24/7 support. If you do decide on the latter, we strongly suggest that you carefully read the entire contract, the services you will receive, and make sure that they align with your needs.