Choosing whether or not to outsource your IT department can be a difficult decision to make. There are many concerns for any business decision—this applies to IT as well. If you’re a small-to-medium sized business, having a U.S.-based managed IT services provider (MSP) handle your IT can improve the operating efficiency of your company. They do this by preventing and handling tech disasters, allowing you to focus on the aspects of your business that you care about. And lastly, they act as knowledgeable tech consultants. They recommend the most efficient ways to integrate new computer tasks into your workflow.

Run your business securely—with ease

You don’t specialize in technology, so you don’t have the skill or the experience in dealing with digital bad guys. With the vulnerability of operating online, you wouldn’t dare do anything to jeopardize your business. Technology backup and security matters to you. External IT support providers have been helping businesses recover from, and prevent, all kinds of tech mishaps since the beginning of the computer age. It’s their job to work with a variety of clients and situations, including operating your business from the cloud. When you work with a qualified external IT provider, you benefit from a range of experience and flexibility that often exceeds common IT hires.

U.S.-based IT providers are often the better choice

Why the ‘U.S.-based’ distinction? Because you are more likely to receive a satisfactory level of service. While choosing a company based out of the U.S. may seem like a good idea, it’s not that simple. It increases the risk of creating more IT problems for your business. You want your IT department to be able to grow with your company. But, oftentimes, offshore IT providers cut corners and don’t operate with scalability in mind.

Offshore providers often don’t save on costs

Among companies that utilize offshore IT providers, the majority claims that it’s a ‘somewhat effective’ solution to save costs. ‘Somewhat effective’ solutions aren’t what you’re aiming for. Not when you’re likely to deal with providers that have a reactive attitude towards dealing with IT. You want IT providers with a proactive attitude that will improve the efficiency of your business.

Time zone differences are a hassle

While the performance of offshore IT companies is low, it’s important to remember the time zone difference. At important times of the day, you risk not being able to communicate with your IT provider. By working with a U.S.-based MSP (IT provider), you’ll be able to communicate when it matters.

Local IT providers can manage physical technology

This last distinction comes as no surprise. The local IT provider has the advantage of being able to go to your location to perform maintenance or solve problems with physical devices. Problems with physical devices, routers, and servers are often too complicated to be solved by a phone call. The luxury of having an IT team that can visit your site is incredibly valuable.

There is a solution for every IT situation

Outsourcing IT doesn’t need to be a black-and-white solution. It’s not one or the other. If you have an IT team already, you don’t need to get rid of them. External IT providers (a.k.a. managed IT services providers) are all capable of integrating with your in-house IT team. We provided this service for one of our clients, The Maritime Aquarium At Norwalk. To help ease the burden for their small IT team, they hired us. To read their testimonial, visit our success stories page. Our IT Outsource specialists respect the in-house IT teams we work with. Not only do we work collaboratively, but we also share our experience and knowledge. The last thing we want to do is displace your internal IT team.

Quality Matters

The last advice we want you to end with is this—quality matters. The efforts of IT teams are often invisible. But, the consistency and effectiveness provided by quality providers are worth the increased rates. When tech disasters aren’t happening left and right in your company, it means you have a quality IT team. It’s not that you don’t need IT. It’s that your IT team is doing their job right. They’re preventing disasters from happening in the first place. If you’d like to know more about how managed services providers (a.k.a. IT providers) can benefit your business, just give us a call. We’re sure to help.