*This article originally appeared on EzineArticles.com and was written by Billy Curry.
Outsourcing your IT administration and maintenance is like using electricity - you don't need or want to manage the power station - you just want to flick on a switch when you want. All IT infrastructure requires maintenance, and users require access and functionality in order to perform their daily tasks.
Below are examples for the Company; the Finance Department; and the IT Manager to show simply how Outsourcing provides a measurable competitive advantage.
The direct and indirect cost of an internal, dedicated internal resource management infrastructure is generally 25 to 30% higher than Outsourcing.
Staff training requirements often aren't noticed or addressed. Outsourcing companies spend thousands of dollars a month on specialised training to ensure our Engineers skills are up to date.
Many companies hang on to loss-making IT decisions because of an emotional or political connection by the instigator. This can have a devastating effect on the company. An Outsourcing company will give you an independent report on the best business practices for your company.
Less internal equipment required - specific laptops, desktops, mobile phones etc., are not required.
Companies need to keep accurate costing records in relation to User Vs Network issues. With outsourcing these reports are available to the CFO, and decisions can be made on the company's overall requirements.
Allowing for annual leave and public holidays, internal resources need to be available for approximately 46 weeks per annum, and a large proportion of that time is spent performing menial tasks that aren't measured or reported on. Outsourcing those tasks means you have an accurate costing. More importantly resources can be better managed to deal with core requirements.
Pre-emptive maintenance is one of the key factors of healthy infrastructure; however these "menial" monthly tasks are traditionally the first to be dropped when internal teams are concentrating on core activities.
IT Managers should work "on" their company's Information Technology - not "in" it. Too often this isn't the case, as they find themselves becoming an "IT Doer" not an IT Manager.
As an IT Manager how much of your time is spent managing the day to day requirements of the network or your administration team?
How much of your administration team's time is spent performing menial tasks on the network or for your users?
If you and your team had 70% to 80% of this time given back to you, would your Company, your users and your network benefit?
Would it be advantageous to have access to a greater pool of expertise and technical resources?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, then it's worthwhile how to bring a competitive advantage to your IT Infrastructure equation.