“Managing my IT infrastructure is super-easy,” said nobody ever. That’s why a fever dream of optimism may have led you to consider outsourcing your IT infrastructure to a clever alpha-geek babysitter who can take all those infrastructure owies away.
Outsourcing IT infrastructure – is it even a thing? You can bet your sweet Aunt Lucy it is, but first, you gotta think hard about it. So hard the whole office reeks of smoke from the fire of your brightly burning imaginations. To help you decide, let’s take a closer look at the benefits and considerations of outsourcing your IT infrastructure.
Wait Up – What’s IT Infrastructure Anyway? Is It As Complex As I Fear It Might Be?
IT infrastructure is a non-lazy way of saying, “All the IT stuff you use for business.” And, yes, it’s super complex because it’s made up of all the components and systems you need to keep the IT aspects of your business running. Some of it is yours. Some of it isn’t.
Here’s a handy cut-out-and-keep guide to what IT infrastructure is actually made of:
Yup, there’s a LOT. Managing IT infrastructure is gold-medal level, GOAT, top-tier challenging with cherries on top. But that doesn’t mean it’s too complex to outsource, and you could get a whole piñata of bonus loveliness just waiting to shower you with benefits. Let’s take a look.
Outsourcing IT Infrastructure: Solving Those Pesky Problems
Outsourcing your IT infrastructure management and ops can solve a lot of problems. (Hint: you gotta choose ever-so-good-at-it people, i.e., us! #shamefulplug).
Experienced any of these days lately?
Problem 1: Things Keep Going Wrong
Frequent downtime. Slooooow systems. New hires waiting weeks to be onboarded and venting on Glassdoor about it. Difficulties integrating that fun new tech your hero companies keep Instagramming the heck out of. Zoom meetings that are surprisingly good mime shows (or more like digital seances). Whoops! Maybe that extra cabling tripped Dolores in Accounting, and now you’ve got injured people, a bad rep, and a lawsuit?
When things keep going wrong, your IT infrastructure probably needs a thorough spring cleaning and a good, old-fashioned tune-up. One of the first things a decent IT-Infrastructure-As-A-Service will do is:
- Review your IT infrastructure for the nasties.
- Clean it up.
- Optimize it so it’s fit for business purposes.
If they’re super good, they’ll surprise you with a wishlist of recommendations to make it even better.
Problem 2: Things Change. All The Time. All At Once.
When anything changes in your business, your IT infrastructure needs to change to stay aligned and/or get ahead. Maybe customers want to buy in a different way. Maybe it’s RIP office ’cause your team has gone completely feral. Maybe the CIO whispered those three little words, “Let’s get HIPAA,” into your delicate earflaps. Managing IT infrastructure to rise to the challenge of perpetual change is a full-time job. And you’re already working, like, 43.6 hours a day, amiright?
But what’s that screeching noise? That’ll be your shoulders reluctantly ratcheting down from your earlobes because now someone else is taking care of all the horizon-scanning, future-proofing, and generally keeping your IT infrastructure updated on constant changes.
It’s useful because:
- You don’t need to keep yourself up to speed with what’s new in tech because it’s all done for you.
- You’re the proud parental unit of a bouncing baby infrastructure that’s now built for change – whether it’s the ability to scale up or down at will, integrate new sales software, or go fully remote. Or something else.
Problem 3: Cybercriminals Get Bored, Lucky or Serious. Continually. It’s A Drag, But One You Need to Address.
The curse of IT is that there’s always someone who wants to use it for evil. Professional cybercriminals will always try to throw a wrench into a security loophole of that software you’ve just shelled out a fortune for. They’re systematically testing for infrastructure weaknesses in one of a gazillion fun-for-the-whole-family ways. Managing the security of IT infrastructure is a meal in itself. A meal that’s too chewy or gross for just one pair of teeth, especially a pair of teeth that don’t know squat about security.
Protecting your IT infrastructure from cybercrime and keeping it compliant with any number of acronyms, like SOC 2, HIPAA, or PCI DSS, is commonly outsourced because it’s kind of a normal thing now and super-easy for you to see and enjoy the benefits. Your shiny new IT infrastructure outsourcing people will:
- Ensure that your IT infrastructure components remain correctly configured, from the topology of your entire ecosystem all the way down to sorting out a teeny corporate smartphone.
- Monitor the perimeter of your IT ecosystem and flag & fix security vulnerabilities.
- Maintain a tight grip on access control, using identity management protocols like multi-factor authentication (MFA).
- Manage all the updating and patching that ever was and ever shall be.
- Apply denylists, forced passcodes, and antivirus software.
Problem 4: Speaking Of One Pair Of Teeth, You’ve Also Got Only One Pair Of Hands
SMEs, start-ups, mom-and-pops, mom-and-moms, etc., don’t always have the budget or personpower for a full set of IT smarts in their company. No IT team? Maybe just Sammy de-spahgettifying cables in the basement? Or maybe just Shawn, your co-founder, who wants to cloudify everything and thinks they’re too good to de-spaghettify anything?
Outsourcing your IT infrastructure gives you new hands, brains, and other parts to help with more than just connecting the one IT thing to the other IT thing. Give your outsourced IT infrastructure buddies your business strategy to chomp on, and the strategy person in their team will tell you what kind of IT infrastructure you’ll need to make that strategy happen. Nice! (Extra brains come standard.)
IT Infrastructure Outsourcing Sounds Easy, Right?
Nope. It’s not super simple. That’s because, as with outsourcing any major business operation, you’re trusting important stuff to a third party. There are considerations you simply must factor in, so stuff this pretty diagram into your brainbox:
Outsourcing IT Infrastructure: Stuff To Think About
You’ll need to think through:
- Your business goals. What do you want out of outsourcing? Higher levels of security? Better performing systems? Compliance? Strategic tech advice? MDM and a helpdesk? All of the above? Be clear about what you want.
- Reputation & experience (theirs, not yours). Do your homework. Is your potential outsourcing provider experienced? How long have they been in business? What do their clients say about them?
- Capability. What services do they provide to other companies? Do you have any specialist needs, e.g., you work in healthcare and need HIPAA? Do they understand your industry sector & business requirements?
- Clarity. Here’s where your Service Level Agreement defines the expected level and nature of services.
- Transparency. You’ll be looking for a clear pricing model. No hidden surprises, please.
- Operations. How would your supplier transition into your operations? How would they cope with an IT disaster (theirs or yours)? What’s your exit strategy if they suck? Think through communications and cultural fit.
Outsourcing Your IT Infrastructure Shouldn’t Make You Wince
Outsourcing your IT infrastructure should be in the top 3 of your IT Goodies That Will Really Help Business Stuff List (No. 1? Mobile device management, obvs). It’s complex, yes, but also totally doable. If you’re at all tempted or just want to talk it through with a semi-biased-but-not-pushy expert, then give us a call. We’re here to help.
Ignition is Silicon Valley’s best (and friendliest) IT security, compliance, and support team. Contact us now – chatting about IT support and cybersecurity is our favorite thing to do!