IT outsourcing: what is it and what does it eat with?

FYI: The post is designed for executives involved in IT and IT outsourcing.

Outsourcing is needed to :

1. relieve staff (in our case, IT staff) from routine and non-core tasks;
2. to concentrate employees on the main business functions;
3. reduce the financial burden on the company.

To achieve all of the above is quite possible - if you approach outsourcing correctly. This post is about :

• how to prepare and start an IT outsourcing campaign;
• How to choose a reliable supplier;
• what you can and cannot give to IT outsourcing.

1. Preparing for IT outsourcing
Assess your company's readiness for IT outsourcing:

• Understand the main processes for managing IT services
• articulate specific and feasible goals for change;
• answer your question: "Does managing the IT needs of the company satisfy me?"

This analysis will help to avoid difficulties in the future and make the work of the contractor as productive as possible.
Then calculate the cost-effectiveness. Experience shows: in theory, customers know that IT outsourcing can save money, but in practice, not everyone can correctly calculate the cost of owning their own IT service.
The costs of maintaining IT infrastructure are divided into three main groups :

1. direct salary costs for IT professionals;
2. direct and indirect costs of organizing the work process (cost of jobs, including space, costs of training and staff development ...);
3. other costs (risk management, organization, communications, infrastructure ...).

But savings are savings, and the main resource of each company remains its employees. At that moment, when a decision was made on IT outsourcing, the work of the IT department is changing dramatically. The company's IT specialists are re-qualified as managers, whose main task is to manage the service provider.
Transformation into a manager is not suitable for every technical specialist. In order not to lose valuable personnel, the customer can transfer his employees to an outsourcing company. This will reduce “personnel risks”, as experienced employees of the company, while improving their qualifications, will continue to be involved in the provision of services.

2. Outsourcer selection
The entire business depends on IT infrastructure. Of course, you need to be serious about choosing a supplier and outsourcing IT.



Select several service providers and contact their customers: are they satisfied with the work done? An IT outsourcing company must have at least 3 satisfied customers who confirm that it can be dealt with.

Have you decided on a partner? Now we need a clear and understandable agreement. The key indicator for the decision to conclude a contract is the Service Level Agreement. The diagram indicates what is included in it.



3. What can and cannot be given to IT outsourcing?
It is not possible to outsource the entire IT system as a whole. Let's find out what is worth giving and what needs to be left inside the company.

To begin with, we will determine the excess load that you can get rid of:

Service Desk. This is the standard and most popular service among customers. In case of failures, Service Desk allows you to quickly receive and route calls, timely eliminate technical problems and restore the lost pace of work. Satisfied users, the absence of technical problems and the reduction of the cost of servicing the requests of end users by 2 times - this is what the company will get when it outsources Service Desk. In our case, customers are provided with a responsive Service Desk based on a truly human attitude.

IT infrastructure management. Labor productivity directly depends on the successful operation of IT infrastructure. Outsourcing it will increase productivity indicators, make expenses more transparent, and also save on indirect costs - license purchase, maintenance, rental of premises and utility bills.
Application management and job support. A good outsourcer will reduce the cost of ownership of business applications and increase the efficiency of jobs. Moreover, by transferring application deployment automation to the contractor, you will reduce the cost of expensive specialized software.

However, under the scrutiny of the internal IT service, all the most complex and important should remain:

Design and development of the architecture.The entire life cycle of the company, its past and future plans are known only to those who work directly in it. In addition, the company itself reacts faster and more efficiently to changes in its business environment. Therefore, the design and development of architecture should take place “inside”. An IT outsourcer can help, but not own the process.



Critical Services. This is the part of the IT system that is responsible for the key business processes of the company. Opportunities to quickly change the service in accordance with the market situation, as well as development trends and business specifics are better visible from the inside. If the internal IT service is involved in critical services, the company gets a more structured service and can manage it effectively.

4. And one more thing
Properly built IT outsourcing provides the client with not only partial risk insurance for failures of the IT infrastructure, but also a manageable level of service. These are the advantages of outsourcing that will allow any company to constantly be on top.