8 IT Services That Could Be Outsourced

1. IT Support

When many businesses think of IT services that could be outsourced, the first service that comes to mind is an outsourced call centre. It’s not surprising. Companies around the world have been outsourcing their IT support to international call centres for decades. And while this trend may have started as a great solution for big companies, even SMEs have begun to realise the positive effects that having an IT support team available 24/7 can have on productivity and efficiency.

2. Proactive Infrastructure Support

Not every IT team has the experience needed to manage and maintain a business’ infrastructure. Even companies that have highly experienced experts struggle! The day to day running of a business’ network and servers, together with constant troubleshooting and problem-solving, often sees teams in a constant state of reaction, rather than taking proactive steps to keep systems and technologies updated. By outsourcing your infrastructure to a managed IT services company, you’ll be able to proactively monitor and upgrade your equipment before any problems have the opportunity to arise.

3. Cloud Storage

There can be no doubt that cloud storage is the need of the decade, never mind the hour. Businesses around the world are turning to both paid for and free cloud solutions for storing their critical data. But, even when you use a free cloud storage solution, the act of migrating your systems into the cloud can be a heavy burden to bear on your own. Working with an outsourced IT company can see you putting a migration plan in place. One that prioritises not only the order of data that needs to be moved and stored in the cloud, but also identifying areas that don’t need to be migrated at all.

Learn all about the impact of a well thought out cloud migration strategy »

4. Backups & Disaster Recovery

We see it time and time again. So many companies think that storing their data in the cloud means that it’s backed up. It takes a data disaster or, if a business is lucky, a human error for them to realise their mistake. That even when information is in the cloud, it’s not infallible. You still need to be backing your data up, storing multiple copies of it often across more than one data centre, to ensure that you’re covered when disaster strikes. You also need to have a plan of action for restoring those backups. And this is where disaster recovery comes into the mix. Outsourcing your backup management and disaster recovery will mean that even when the worst happens and you’re hit by an attack, a breach, or a technology breakdown, you won’t even need to lift a finger. Your backups will immediately start being restored and your operations can continue as normal.

5. Cloud Hosting

It’s not just data that you can be storing in the cloud. Many businesses choose to move their servers and infrastructure to the cloud as well. They find that the flexibility and scalability that cloud hosting solutions offer are both more affordable, and far more suited to a fast-paced and ever-evolving technical world. In the same way that you can outsource the proactive management of your infrastructure, you can outsource the management of these cloud environments that can include your apps, networks and virtual servers.

6. Cyber Security

New threats to your business are being uncovered every single day. As technologies advance, so do the techniques that attackers use to infiltrate them. For a business to maintain its own cyber security, they would need to have a team of experts on call practically constantly. Managing their technologies, installing updates and upgrades, and dealing with a wide range of attacks. Which occur, according to the latest stats, every 39 seconds. Outsourcing your security to a highly trained and experienced team of experts with the latest technology at their disposal makes far more sense than hiring an internal team to constantly be monitoring your systems for attempted attacks.

7. Cloud PBX

With more and more teams working remotely, the way that office phone systems work has transformed. Rather than having an on-site PBX controlling and assigning calls, outsourced Cloud PBX (or Cloud VoIP as it’s also known) has become a vastly superior solution. It allows employees to make and receive calls from anywhere in the world, seamlessly, without your clients even knowing that they aren’t in an office environment.

8. IT Consulting, Roadmapping & Guidance

Businesses often feel that finding the right technologies to meet their goals is an internal project. Who could know their business better, after all, than the founder or CEO? But it isn’t a project that you need to undergo on your own. IT companies like Solid Systems have experience with a wide range of systems and technologies. This makes working with them to find the right solutions for your business, and putting together a roadmap for implementation, a form of outsourcing that every company can find value in.