Networks. Cloud. Emails. Applications. Licensing. Onboarding. Provisioning. Data archiving and protection. Cybersecurity. If you’re like most small- to mid-sized businesses operating in most industries, technologies like these aren’t your primary focus. That is, information technology (IT) is a support function, not a primary driver of business value. However, at the same time, the technologies of IT are:
- Complex
- Difficult to keep up with as advances proliferate
- Expensive to finance — including not just hardware/software, but also talent
- Time-consuming to manage
Consequently, a growing number of executives are turning to a new business model that enables them to focus on their core business while offloading the challenges, complexities and risks of IT management: Enterprise IT-as-a-Service.
What is Enterprise IT-as-a-Service?
Enterprise IT-as-a-Service is precisely as it sounds. This is the transfer of a company’s day-to-day IT processes to a third-party provider.
Deloitte says that everything-as-a-service (XaaS) — transitioning services from a purchase to a service — is becoming commonplace and in many cases standard practice across a wide range of commercial endeavors. XaaS is essentially business outsourcing.
Business outsourcing started slowly, initially covering only basic processes. Payroll, for example, was one of the first business functions to become widely outsourced. But today that list has expanded to include HR, accounting/bookkeeping, social media management, customer service call centers, event management and much more.
Today, as technology becomes not only more capable and widespread but also more complex and expensive, a growing number of companies are turning to IT-as-a-service. This can begin in discrete domains such as data management, cybersecurity or cloud services. But increasingly, it is expanding to include everything from technology infrastructure-as-a-service (all of your hardware) to software-as-a-service (all of your software) to disaster recovery to the whole of all IT processes.
Why outsource IT?
IT-as-a-service is becoming widely accepted. The questions executives are asking themselves include:
- Do we have the skills and expertise necessary to ensure the company is investing in and operating with an optimized set of technologies?
- Are our current IT platforms scalable — are we able to flex with rising or falling demand, ensuring we aren’t holding on to too little capacity or at other times, paying for excess capacity?
- Are we fully aware of the continually expanding sets of cybersecurity risks — are we certain our business is using leading-edge tools and strategies to prevent breaches, ransomware and related risks?
- Are we spending time worrying about our technology — that could be spent focusing on our core business?
What are the benefits of IT-as-a-service?
An IT-as-a-service provider can help address all of the above and more. IT-as-a-service can help businesses:
- Keep up with change. One of the key challenges businesses face is to keep pace with change. Thanks to the pandemic, Business Insider says all sorts of businesses have had to “drastically change” their technology footprints, embracing new technologies like videoconferencing, eSignature technology and enhanced cybersecurity. recently been forced to step up their digital game. Even so, according to Forbes, “flexibility and agility are must-haves” even as “legacy systems simply can’t change fast enough” to keep up with the level of digital transformation taking place today.
- Access digital talent. Keeping up with core IT needs is challenging enough. Now add the growing list of digital core requirements needed to be in business in the first place. No small- or mid-sized business can afford to keep on staff all of the talent necessary to stay on top of the complete set of fast-evolving and enabling technologies.
- Access proven solutions. Individual companies have only their own experience to rely on. However, an IT-as-a-service provider can see a range of solutions as they pertain to a wide range of businesses and industries. Technology outsourcing is a provider’s core business, and so they are far better positioned to understand the challenges and opportunities present across a wide swath of technologies.
- Obtain scalability and flexibility. As your business needs evolve, an
IT-as-a-service provider can scale up or down. Services can be added, expanded, or reduced/downplayed as needed. Your technology costs essentially shift from a fixed capital expense (Cap-ex) to a flexible/scalable operating expense (Op-ex) model, greatly enhancing your business focus and agility.
How can Taylored Systems help?
Taylored Systems has been in the business of IT outsourcing for over three decades. As these technologies have expanded and evolved, so have we. Today we understand not only the technologies themselves but also the best practices for maintaining quality, communication, IT performance and ultimately customer experience and satisfaction.
We can help you understand the opportunities and help establish the right service level agreements needed to foster a successful relationship.
Whether you’re seeking to offload only a portion of your IT, perhaps cloud, cybersecurity or data backup, or the whole of your IT systems, at Taylored Systems, we can help you design, implement and manage the services that are right for your business.
When you’re ready to talk, contact us.