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Stressed by the choice of outsourced vs. in-house IT support?

You want the option that reduces costs and increases results...

You want to expand productivity of e-mail, Web-based applications, e-commerce, and databases...

You need to maintain a complex system of multiple servers, switches, and routers...

Struggling over the choice of how to address IT support can add stress to your other management responsibilities.

5 questions to consider when weighing your options for IT outsourcing:

Does your organization have existing staff with appropriate skills to manage, troubleshoot, and devote time to your computers and networks?
- Can and should that staff be reassigned to the IT department?
- What impact will that have on other work getting done?
If you have available staff but their skill set is not right for effectively managing IT, is retraining a possibility?

Would working with an outsourced IT service provider bring a level of skill to the organization that cannot be duplicated easily in-house?

How would outsourcing affect the speed at which issues are resolved and improvements implemented?

What are the costs, both in dollars and time of outsourcing versus going in-house?

Techcare IT Outsourcing is different: we can work with you to evaluate the costs and benefits of outside IT consulting compared to an inside IT staff.

Like you, many of our small business clients around Chicago have faced a complex set of options – and sought our analysis to make the right choice.

Here are two charts that can guide you. (Put in your real costs to make the comparison of the two support models even more customized to your organization.)

Cost Comparison Chart
	Small In-House IT Department	IT Outsourcing Provider
Recruiting costs	Yes	No
Hiring costs	Yes	No
Salary	Yes	No
Benefits	Yes	No
Lost productivity for time spent on IT vs. other roles (if applicable)	Maybe	No
Training	Yes	No
Management	Yes	No
Developing IT policies and Quality Control procedures	Yes	No
Fixed monthly fee for IT support	No	Yes

Feature/Benefit Comparison Chart
	Small In-House IT Dept	IT Outsourcing Provider
Technical expertise	Limited	Extensive over a large staff
Ability to focus on core business processes and needs	Limited	High
Operating costs	High	Low, due to leverage over many clients
Performance measurement	Quarterly or annual reviews	Regular client business reviews
Accountable and responsible	Yes	Yes
Ability to respond to downtime	Based on who yells the loudest	Fast or immediate
Defined scope of work	Limited and difficult to manage	Defined terms and service levels
Support during vacation, sick or other off-times	None, or fragmented	Yes
Technology knowledge in general	Limited to current or recent work environment	Yes, extensive reach with exposure to various environments
Focus on short-term and long-term objectives	Short-term issues take precedence	Yes, both
Ability to plan and react to rapidly emerging technologies	Limited	Fast and far-reaching in scope
Consistency and quality of services	Limited	High
Flexibility and agility	Limited	High

Find the right resource at the right time for your business with Techcare IT Outsourcing

Get IT consulting and support from a mix of people with specific skills and expertise – at just the times you need
Immediately address vulnerabilities (such as exposure to Spyware and Malware, Denial of Service attacks, viruses, data loss, Spamming, and PC hijacking)

We understand that technology and IT consulting issues can add up to as much as 60%-70% of the annual IT budget in many organizations – you can turn to us for help in reducing costs and increasing results.

Techcare IT Outsourcing makes sense as your Chicago-based small business expands.

Contact Us and learn how Techcare IT Outsourcing can save on your IT support costs, and also give you access to IT consulting services formerly reserved only for larger corporations – like 24/7 support, remote monitoring, and premium vendor discounts.