IT Infrastructure: What to outsource?

The more I read and listen about the issues companies face in managing their IT Infrastructure, the more I get convinced that outsourcing IT Infrastructure services is the right thing to do. Last time I talked about my reasons supporting this move in any small or medium corporate.

So the next question arises, what to outsource and what not to?

The answer is simple. Let’s break down IT Infrastructure services into sub-services:
- Monitoring & Support: PC’s, Servers, Middleware, Database, Network & Applications
o Onsite Support, mainly for PCs and mission critical issues
o Remote Support
- Audits: Application Audit, Server Audit, Database Audit, Network Audit, Security Audit
- Consulting: Performance Engineering, Infrastructure Planning and Implementation
- Policies: IT Security, Network Setup, IT Access, IT Asset Management & Control

For each these services, the next step is to check if you answer the following questions as a “YES”:
1. Do you need global experience on a particular service?
2. Do you require 24/7 support for your Systems?
3. Do you need ongoing support?
4. Do you need an unbiased viewpoint?
5. Do you have cost pressures?

And these questions as a “NO”:
1. Do you have time and bandwidth to manage a multi-skill IT team in-house?
2. Do you have in-house knowledge base and expertise?

If that’s the case than you can outsource that particular section/service without any hesitation.

Simple isn’t it?

Ok..so now we know when to outsource your IT infrastructure services and what all to outsource. Next we are going to talk about where and whom to outsource.

“The journey of outsourcing is interesting if it results in value addition”

Outsourcing your IT Infrastructure

IT infrastructure is a broad term used for the complete IT setup of the organization including Hardware, Networking, Internet Services, Policies and Software. The broad definition encapsulates several services that are critical to the Business continuity of any organization as well as the long term growth strategies. Thus IT Infrastructure must be maintained and managed at an ongoing basis with extensive long term planning.

Outsourcing the IT Infrastructure services lets you broaden your IT team with subject matter expertise thereby enhancing the capabilities of your IT to meet the challenges faced by the Business. It also means that your organization is future ready from the IT perspective.

Example, if you need to get to access the health of your IT Infrastructure, hiring an expert for Infra Health Check will allow you to have a impartial view of the health of your IT Infrastructure thus providing you with Gaps and solutions for filling up the gaps in short and long term.

Similarly when it comes to selecting a platform for your next big software/web solution, an expert in Web Platform Selection can surely help you visualize the short and long term benefits and consequences of selecting a particular platform viz-a-viz an alternate platform. Thus giving you valuable insights and saving a lot of time, rework and above all valuable dollars.

As a large organization you surely have all the resources and bandwidth to manage the IT Infrastructure with a holistic view of the organizational success. So one may argue why a large organization should outsource IT Infrastructure Services?

Well the answer simply lies in the fact that IT Infrastructure is not our core strength. So why spend all the time and energy managing something that an expert organization with specific focus can easily do for you at probably the same or lower cost. Provided the vendor selection process is well defined and caters to all the specific needs of your already large and growing organization needs.

On the other hand if you are a small or medium size business, outsourcing your IT Infrastructure Management becomes a necessity for the following reasons:
1. You don’t have expertise. So hire an expert.
2. Your internal IT team has limited bandwidth in terms of time and knowledge. So let an expert help you with assessing you existing scenario, organizational needs, finding gaps, suggesting and running with a long term plan. This will ensure a boarder perspective your needs and planning that matches your growth plans and potential.
3. Hiring in-house staff for various skills like Audits, Security, Hardware, Servers, Software, Web etc will drain your IT budget.

So the decision, if thought from these perspectives, is a no brainier.

What all can you outsource? Well this is what we’ll discuss next.