Outsourcing your information technology department is one way to ensure your company is always running smoothly and efficiently.
Outsourcing gives your company access to industry expertise and an increased talent pool designed to save your bottom line so that you can concentrate on your core business.
Outsourced IT providers play a critical role in a company’s success because they can provide best-in-class functionality to clients for less than it would cost the clients to build internally.
What are IT Consulting Services?
IT consultants help clients plan, design, install and support the technology used by organizations. Typically this includes hardware and software inclusive of network or cloud infrastructure and security, in addition to end-user devices.
Furthermore, the benefits of consulting in IT are ideal for small businesses and medium-sized businesses as fully managing a business’s information technology requires proactive IT strategy and support rather than reactive, on-site support.
Additional benefits of hiring an IT consulting service include:
- Receiving expert IT support and timely services
- Improving efficiencies and business outcomes through optimized processes
For more need-to-know benefits, NetGain’s Director of Professional Services John Adams has shared these five benefits of IT consulting services.
What are the Benefits of Hiring IT Consulting Services?
1. Cost and Time Savings
By having an IT consulting firm handle your IT, you don’t have to commit to a full-time employee and supply 401k, PTO, health benefits, and other opportunity costs. In addition to being cost-effective, you will have a reliable resource available to assist you 24/7/365.
Oftentimes small and medium-sized businesses don’t have enough work for a full-time IT employee, or IT team, and end up paying their IT employees even though they are not actively working on IT issues.
What are the benefits of hiring an IT consultant?
With an IT firm handling your technology needs, you are paying for what you need, when you need it, all without the hassle of having another employee on your books.
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2. Enhanced Focus on the Core Business
Business leaders often lean on IT consulting firms to manage the technology side of their business while they focus on the advancement of the business.
While many businesses attempt to handle their technology in-house, the amount of time, money, and resources required often bleed into an organization’s bottom line.
As a result, your focus isn’t being spent as adequately as it should be.
Among the core perks of hiring an IT consultant in this scenario is clear: gain peace of mind concerning your technology while the experts work to make technology be on your side for a change.
3. Identifying Critical Areas of Improvement
IT firms have experience in various technical environments in multiple types of business.
The knowledge IT firms gain by working in different industries and different environments will benefit you.
Instead of having an internal IT with only a couple of perspectives, you have a team of engineers that can use their vast experience to recommend new changes that can positively affect your IT and business processes. You may never know if a technical process in a healthcare business could possibly benefit your financial business.
IT firms have seen technology being used in different businesses and are constantly using that expertise and experience to recommend and implement technology that will help your business run more efficiently.
4. Benefit From Experience and Expertise
Among the many benefits of IT consultants are their experience and expertise.
IT consulting companies have a wide range of talent in their fold. Seasoned and experienced engineers spread their knowledge to the rest of the engineers to provide insight on implementation struggles, troubleshooting techniques, and methods to quickly resolve any issue.
This provides an even more well-rounded team of engineers that can resolve your issues quickly. Not to mention the ability for engineers to have a team of senior engineers behind them to assist with solutions or any problems that may arise.
5. Increased Security, Software Maintenance, and Support
Most IT consulting companies have security departments and deep relationships with large partners like Microsoft, HPE, Arctic Wolf, etc.
If you wish to increase your security footprint, it is much easier to go with your current IT provider as they are already familiar with your infrastructure, users, and business model, and can provide an ideal solution that fits your needs.
Additionally, when you consider how the average cost of the data breach is $4.24 million, having your IT security strengthened is not necessarily a bad decision.
IT consultants often have partnerships with technology companies, and can offer better pricing and get expedited support when needed. Having one company that can handle your networks, systems, software maintenance and security is ideal for business relations and accounting purposes.
How IT Consulting Helps You Stay Competitive
Some business owners consider adding to their in-house staff instead of hiring an IT consultant, technology service provider, or managed service provider because they may not be familiar with how the process works. Companies understand the role of a full-time employee much better than a mysteriously titled “consultant.”
However, strategically bringing on an IT consultant can be a cost-effective way to save time and money. A consultant can add a tremendous amount of value so that your company remains competitive. With the right consultant, companies can add a missing skill set when they need it, for as long as they need it, saving money in the process.
For example, if there is no one in the company with the necessary level of experience or depth of knowledge for a particular role or project, it’s time to bring on a consultant.
Let’s assume you were trying to assess the cost of cybersecurity and disaster recovery and no one on your team had done that before. In order to gain peace of mind, this would be an excellent opportunity to consider bringing on a cybersecurity consultant with experience and expertise for this particular project.
When hiring an IT consultant, you want to find the right person for your business. You should not only focus on the specific expertise a consultant has but look for someone who fits within the culture of your organization.
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Drive critical IT decisions forward with expert advice from NetGain’s IT consultants. |
Bring Experience and Expertise to Your Business With an IT Consultant
When looking for the right consultant, one with experience and expertise, it’s also important to define your goals ahead of time, and not just over the next quarter, but the next few years. What kind of support are you going to need? Do you just want to maintain short term, long term or do you need someone strategic, to help you with forward-looking advice?
If you make the decision to hire an IT consultant, start by researching a few companies to see which one is the right fit. It’s important to take this decision seriously to ensure you are hiring the right firm, and therefore the right consultant, to support you.
By asking some important questions, such as inquiring about the firm’s retention rate and how they describe their culture, you will gain a better understanding of what they stand for. You want a firm and a consultant who doesn’t approach their clients with a one-size-fits-all mentality.
Leveraging an IT managed services provider means that you are establishing a partnership between two businesses. As we have seen over the last year, technology is constantly changing, and must be constantly updated in order to best help your business.
As such, your MSP should collect data constantly on both your business technology, in addition to how they are serving you. This allows both parties to stay on track, so you can stay up-to-date, meet your business goals with the help of technology, and ensure you are getting the best service possible.
As a leading MSP, NetGain offers IT consulting services that influence informed decisions about technology while ensuring your business has a trusted partner to propel your IT projects forward.
For more information about how your business can reap the benefits of IT consulting services, contact us today.
