Your business is growing, your technology needs are expanding, and you’re facing a critical decision: should you hire internal IT staff or outsource your IT? This is an extremely important decision that will impact your budget, your operational efficiency, and your long-term scalability.
Many business owners assume that building an internal IT department gives them more control and better service. However, the reality is more complex. The decision requires careful evaluation of your expertise requirements and specific growth trajectory.
What Does an In-House IT Department Look Like?
Have you been thinking you’ll just hire one or two technicians? Even with a competitive salary, it’s unlikely that so few IT technicians can handle all the tasks and responsibilities required for a well-functioning IT department. A comprehensive in-house team is actually much larger.
The total cost can quickly exceed $300,000 annually for a small team, and that’s before factoring in the time needed to recruit qualified candidates and the risk of gaps when employees leave.
Core Staff Positions
- IT Manager or Director to oversee strategy and operations
- Systems Administrator for server and network management
- Help Desk Technician for daily user support
- Network Security Specialist for cybersecurity protection
Additional Considerations
- Salaries, benefits, and ongoing training costs for each position
- Office space and equipment for your IT team
- Software licensing and professional development expenses
- Backup coverage during vacations, sick days, and staff turnover
Why Outsourcing Your IT Makes Strategic Sense
If you outsource your IT, you’ll gain a fundamentally different approach that addresses the limitations of internal teams while providing superior value and expertise.
Immediate Access to Specialized Knowledge
Instead of hoping your single IT person knows everything, you gain access to an entire team of specialists. Network security, cloud migration, data backup, and help desk support each require different skill sets that are expensive to maintain internally.
Predictable, Scalable Costs
Outsourced IT providers offer flat-rate monthly pricing that scales with your business needs. You avoid the overhead of salaries, benefits, and equipment while gaining access to enterprise-level tools and expertise.
Coverage and Redundancy
When your internal IT person takes a vacation or leaves the company, your support disappears. On the other hand, if you outsource your IT, you’ll maintain continuous coverage and detailed documentation of your systems.
Proactive Approach
Rather than waiting for problems to occur, outsourced IT providers monitor your systems continuously, apply security updates, and identify potential issues before they impact your business operations.
How to Make Your Final Decision
Before you make a final decision on whether to outsource your IT, read through our simple checklist to ensure you’re making the best choice for your business:
Business Size and Complexity:
- Companies with fewer than 50 employees rarely have enough IT work to justify full-time internal staff
- Organizations with specialized compliance requirements may need dedicated internal oversight
- Rapid growth phases benefit from the scalability of outsourced solutions
Budget Reality:
- Calculate the true cost of internal staff, including recruitment, training, benefits, and turnover
- Compare this to predictable monthly costs from outsourced providers
- Consider the cost of downtime when internal staff are unavailable
Risk Management:
- Evaluate your tolerance for single points of failure in critical IT functions
- Consider the cybersecurity expertise required to protect your business
- Assess the impact of staff turnover on your operations
Strategic Focus:
- Determine whether IT management aligns with your core business objectives
- Consider whether your leadership team has the expertise to effectively manage IT staff
Outsource Your IT Support with Unity IT
Unity IT provides comprehensive managed IT services that eliminate the complexity and risk of building internal IT capabilities. Our team delivers proactive monitoring, advanced cybersecurity protection, and strategic IT planning for a predictable monthly investment.
Ready to explore how outsourced IT can strengthen your business operations? Partner with Unity IT to discover the advantages of a professional IT partnership.