Insourcing vs Outsourcing IT Services: Comparing Your IT Infrastructure Options

Sourcing IT Services to Find Your Best IT Infrastructure Options

The debate between insourcing and outsourcing IT services is often a rather heated one. While both insourcing and outsourcing have their benefits, they come with several challenges that are difficult to overlook. That is why many people are torn when it comes to deciding what option to take.

So is the best way to get your IT services? Should you insource all your services? Or is outsourcing your best option?

Before deciding on what you want for your company's IT services, you should weigh the advantages and disadvantages of both options. Here are some of the pros and cons of both methods.

What to Consider For IT Services: Insourcing or Outsourcing

When choosing your IT services, you should consider that your needs differ from other organizations and companies based on several factors. Some of the factors you may need to consider are your resources, finances, and even the expertise available in your company. Before choosing any method, you need to be sure that it will meet our objectives and needs for your IT services.

Insourcing IT Services

Insourcing is whereby a project or task is given to a person within the organization rather than giving it to other people outside the organization. Insourcing in itself can be very helpful whenever you are dealing with confidential information that requires loyal users.

Advantages of Insourcing IT Services

Insourcing may be very advantageous depending on the task or project you aim to accomplish. Here are some of its top benefits. 

1. Goal Attainment

In most cases, the employees within an organization are well versed with the goals and objectives of the organization. With this in mind, they do all that is within their power to attain the organization's purpose.

2. Better Quality

Working with the staff within your organization often ensures high-quality standards. Internal staff members are usually well acquainted with all the processes in the organization and are in a better position to produce better quality work.

3. Flexibility

Insourcing offers you the freedom to perform your activities as you deem fit. This means that you can easily change your strategy if you notice an error in judgment. Unlike outsourcing, where specific terms of service bind you, you get to decide what happens and when it does in insourcing. 

Disadvantages of Insourcing IT Services

Insourcing brings with it several disadvantages and challenges as well. However, you can quickly mitigate these challenges depending on what you aim to achieve. 

1. Is Expensive

When compared to outsourcing, insourcing can be very expensive since it involves new processes designed to suit the organization's needs. It is particularly costly considering that some of these needs may be a one-time affair.

2. Lower Level of Expertise

Because of the high costs associated with hiring staff to your organization, you may be forced to hire people with slightly less expertise. The more qualified a person is, the more salary you may have to pay them. You may end up with junior IT specialists rather than experts. 

3. Lack of Readily Available Talent 

Getting the exact members you need for your tech team is never easy. It gets even more complicated when you are dealing with advanced technologies. This makes it hard to in-source since, in most cases, your staff may not be suited for the task at hand.

Outsourcing IT Services

Outsourcing refers to getting services from third-party entities who are not members of the organization at a particular price. 

Pros of Outsourcing IT Services

There are plenty of IT service providers in the market today. Most tech experts advocate for outsourcing when it comes to IT services for plenty of reasons. Here are some of them.

1. Cost Benefits

Outsourcing your IT services may be more affordable than you ever imagined. Outsourcing allows you to procure the services of IT and tech resources and exerts only on a need basis rather than have them on your regular payroll. 

It also saves you the costs of sick leaves and holiday costs that come with regular employees. With outsourcing, you do not have to buy all the expensive services you need. You can get some services as a tenant rather than buy them. 

2. Higher Expertise

Getting the services of an expert can be rather costly. Instead of spending outrageous amounts on an expert who you may rarely need anyway, outsourcing allows you to use their services at a subsidized price. With outsourcing, you may even get more than one expert to deal with your issues at an affordable one-time rate. The key to proper outsourcing is to choose an ISO-certified IT provider. 

3. Try Before Purchase

Most outsourcing services will allow you to try them on your organization before you purchase them. This ensures that you get exactly what you need before spending your money on the services. 

On the other hand, insourcing may force you to create solutions in-house for you to use them. In such cases, you are blindly choosing the option without knowing whether it will work for you or not.  

Cons of Outsourcing IT Services

Outsourcing your IT services also comes with several risks and challenges.

1. Security Threats

Data breaches are no foreign thing. Outsourcing means letting a third party in the picture when it comes to managing your data. It gets even riskier when your provider handles a massive number of clients. Entrusting your sensitive data with outsourcing service providers might be rather tricky.

2. Loss of Control

Outsourcing may force you to relinquish control of some critical aspects of your organization to a third party. Giving control of your organization's IT management can be daunting.

3. Low Dedication

As compared to your in-house staff, outsourced staff may not be entirely dedicated to maximizing your productivity. 

Striking the Balance of Defining Your IT Infrastructure

Based on the pros and cons of both outsourcing and insourcing, it is best to consider a hybrid of both options. You could get some services from professionals within your organization and outsource the services that your staff can not provide. Either way, it is impossible to rule out either outsourcing or insourcing IT services for your organization.