Outsourcing is a practice that has been in place for decades. However, it appears to be more relevant than ever since the coronavirus pandemic. In fact, the annual growth rate for the outsourcing market is expected to be more than 8 percent over the next several years.
By outsourcing IT services, you can cut costs and make your business leaner and more efficient. However, this is something that is easier said than done.
There are several mistakes that one can make when trying to outsource IT support and services. And these mistakes can lead to you wasting money and time and damaging your business overall.
Luckily for you, we are here to help you know what mistakes to look out for so you can avoid them and make sure you outsource successfully. So keep on reading and we’ll show you the top IT outsourcing mistakes to avoid.
1. Focusing on Solutions Instead of Problems
When your company is growing and transitioning, it is easy to get swept up in all of the digital hype. You might become enamored by the newest tech and want to get a machine that seems like it comes with a lot of bells and whistles.
However, you should pause before you make any big moves. What IT leaders should do is strive to invest their time in figuring out what business problems they are trying to solve or what outcomes they want to realize.
You need to figure out these details out before hiring a firm for computer and IT support.
This also means that you need to bring your IT users and peers into the conversation.
By bringing in voices from various parts of the IT spectrum, you’ll be able to get different perspectives and better understand your challenges. When you outsource, you want to start with the areas of your business that need the most help.
You can then work with your provider to find the best services to suit your business needs. Doing this is going to help you avoid working with bad IT companies.
2. Relying on an Outsourcing Template
While you can certainly learn from others, you also need to understand that no two businesses are the same. Each company is unique and has its own issues and concerns.
You don’t want to simply lean on another company’s approach.
Instead, you want to make sure that you are critically looking at how to execute outsourcing transactions that are going to add value to your unique business.
In order to execute outsourcing best practices, you need to figure out the risk profile, financial framework, and scope of your company. You also need to have a strong understanding of your company’s culture, goals, and objectives.
Once you have a solid understanding of what you’re trying to achieve and what IT services you will need, then you can look to reach out to IT support companies.
3. Underestimating the Human Impact
A lot of business and IT leaders fail to plan for the major change that is needed in an outsourced environment. In fact, this is one of the most common IT mistakes.
Because of this, they usually will face barriers to reaching their desired goals. A lot of the time, leaders will assume that their current company can handle the new IT service delivery model until they suddenly realize that’s not the case.
You should never assume that your current staff is the right team to manage the services. There are important relationship skills that are needed to work with a third party. While some people can learn, there are other people who won’t.
Just having one difficult team member can slow everything down.
As an IT leader, you should honestly and actively address stakeholder needs and concerns. You need to make sure that key employees have a secure transition process.
It’s a good idea to implement retraining programs and not be afraid to bring in new talent when it can be useful to your business.
4. Not Enough Focus on Transition
It is very important that you do your best to make sure that the transition from your retained IT organization to the service provider goes smoothly.
When you fail to plan for this transition properly, your company might suffer from delays or loss of benefits. You could also face business disruption and even lose the confidence of stakeholders.
Outsourcing providers and clients should start any engagement with a clear understanding of the baseline environment. This includes contracts, volumes, service levels, systems, processes, and exceptions.
You should come up with contingency plans and do your best to make sure that key work activities are not disrupted.
As an IT leader, you want to plan ahead for things that come with long lead times. This can include technology that is going to need to be acquired or built. You also might need to add in time to hire and train new employees.
Most importantly, you want to build a strong transition team that can handle surprises and keeps things moving. This team should consist of creative problem solvers who have a deep understanding of the company and the purpose of the outsourcing.
Knowing Common Outsourcing IT Services Mistakes to Avoid
Hopefully, after reading the above article, you now have a better idea of the common outsourcing IT services mistakes that you need to avoid. As we can see, there is a lot to consider when it comes to utilizing the best IT support and services for any company.
By making use of problem solvers and having a deep and intricate understanding of your business and your company’s needs, you should be able to steer clear of the above mistakes and help your company grow.
If you’d like to learn more about how outsourcing IT services can benefit your business, then contact us today and see what we can do for you!
