When it makes sense to outsource your IT support

Most companies do not hire an IT person because they planned to. They hire one because something broke twice in the same week.

That is a reasonable reaction, and it usually produces the wrong structure. A single technician has to be a network engineer on Monday, a security analyst on Tuesday and a printer specialist on Wednesday. Nobody is all three, and while they are on holiday, nobody is any of them.

The maths most owners never do

Compare the full cost, not the salary:

• Salary, employer contributions, equipment and training
• The days they are unavailable, and what stops during those days
• The specialisms you buy in anyway, because one person cannot cover them
• The knowledge that leaves the building when they do

Under roughly fifty employees, that total usually buys a whole team on a subscription instead of one person on a payroll.

When in-house is the right answer

Outsourcing is not always the answer. Keep it in-house when:

• Your product is the infrastructure, and it changes daily
• You are regulated in a way that requires named, on-site staff
• You have enough scale to hire three people rather than one

The arrangement that actually works

The failure mode of outsourced IT is treating it as a call centre. It works when the provider holds documentation, monitoring and the equipment roadmap — not just the phone number you ring after something breaks.

Ask a prospective provider what they will do in the months when nothing goes wrong. The answer tells you whether you are buying maintenance or just repairs.

Our IT support and maintenance works as an in-house team would, with the specialisms already in the room.