Flexibility is one of the greatest advantages of outsourcing IT. Outsourcing can be an ideal solution in an environment where you’re looking for every opportunity to reduce ongoing costs but your business future depends on increasing service levels and quality. The costs of outsourcing IT can bend with you as market conditions or your internal needs change.

Outsourcing IT offers maximum scalability.

You can migrate all IT functions or just one or a few selected services. How much you choose to manage remotely, virtualize or assign to the cloud depends on your immediate needs and long-term goals. And specific service levels can ebb and flow as necessary depending on your day-to-day operations. That’s critical if you’re in an industry that is highly seasonal or you’re expecting a major growth spurt.

Pricing models offer cost flexibility.

The usual format when outsourcing IT is to pay only for what you get. This can add up to tremendous savings over time. Typically providers divide their services into categories and base your monthly fee on which types of services you use and to what extent. Pay close attention to how services are bundled, as each supplier may handle that differently and you’ll want to make adequate comparisons.

You can also find fixed-cost plans that offer predictable monthly costs. Understand, though, that if your usage exceeds contracted levels, you’ll be billed extra. It could be significant.

Some vendors will trade lower rates for longer contracts. And you’ll find some that offer other flexible alternatives, too. Shared risk options can present additional opportunity, for you and for your outsourcing partner. For new products you develop together – or simply for exceptional performance – you can share the financial rewards. On the other hand, you should establish penalties for failure to meet minimum performance standards.

The best pricing model will provide the lowest total cost of ownership as it relates to your company’s financial circumstances, cash flow needs and long-term plans. You’ll want to discuss this in detail before signing anything.

You can pay for outsourcing IT services in advance, or after the fact. That enables you to meet your CIO’s and CFO’s budgetary plans as well as your company’s cash flow requirements. 

Outsourcing IT enables you to get out from under hard costs for purchasing hardware, software and upgrades. You can wean your company from aging legacy systems while things are still going well, rather than waiting till service reliability or quality starts to decline. You can stop devoting high-salaried IT staff to maintenance and support. Instead you see service-based costs that give you better control while keeping your organization agile.

Lack of preparation and foresight can cost you plenty.

Failure to thoroughly analyze your current situation before moving toward outsourcing IT could easily result in contracting for services you don’t need. An initial assessment allows you to see in detail where you stand, uncovering gaps and short-term needs and identifying what’s needed to reach future corporate goals. It also enables you to establish benchmarks against which to evaluate outsourcing progress once your new solution is in place.  

Proper planning and execution also helps you avoid the potentially catastrophic results of deteriorating IT functionality throughout your enterprise. Flexible costs and other key benefits of outsourcing IT can assure more reliable, consistent uptime, better protect your data against everything from hackers to full-scale natural disasters, and give you peace of mind knowing business will continue almost as usual even if a disaster occurs. 

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