2 Things to Consider Before Hiring IT Staff

As businesses grow, so do their IT needs. While it may have been possible to make due with minimal attention to IT systems when your business only had a few employees, there comes a time when more IT help is needed. At this point, you’re faced with the question: should you hire IT staff, or choose to outsource your IT support?

It’s an important issue. After all, your IT systems can either contribute to the smooth running of your business or bring things screeching to a halt. So, what’s the right move?

Here’s the reality: outsourcing IT support is nearly always the better call for growing businesses. Let’s take a look at two things to consider before hiring internal IT support.

1. Skill Set

When businesses consider hiring an internal IT employee, they often seek an individual with a skill set best suited to the current needs of the company. That’s great – for now. The problem, of course, is that the businesses making these hires are often growing, and will likely have different needs sooner rather than later. When businesses hire for the short term, they’re usually left scrambling to hire again much sooner than they expect.

Conversely, if businesses hire with an eye towards their future IT needs, their new employees are generally overqualified. That means that they’ll end up twiddling their thumbs in the short term – likely while being paid at levels that their utilization doesn’t justify.

The solution, of course, is to outsource IT support to a managed IT services provider. Managed providers like Swift Systems provide businesses with access to an entire bench of IT specialists that are available whenever they’re needed. Instead of struggling to find and develop the right skill set, businesses can rest assured knowing that their IT needs will always be met with the perfect match.

2. Cost

The second component to consider when hiring an internal IT employee is cost. Simply put, managed IT support providers are less expensive than hiring internally.

That fact is true in regards to upfront costs, but the disparity becomes even more pronounced when the hidden fees of internal employees are considered. First of all, there are the benefit costs that internal employees incur, like paid vacation time. Besides those, though, there are often training costs, too – especially if you’ve hired a skill set that will need to be expanded as the company expands.

The catch-22 when it comes to training is this: when you train your IT employee, not only are you often paying for the training itself, but you’re also increasing the value of the employee you train. That means that you’ll end up paying them more in order to keep them on staff. Eventually, it’s likely that you won’t be able to afford them, and they’ll leave for greener pastures where they can use their newfound skills to obtain their market value.

Often, the “greener pastures” that IT specialists find are managed service providers. Managed service providers can afford to pay them market value for their skills, while making sure that those skills are correctly utilized. The best managed IT service providers help to align IT skills with the places they’re needed at a cost that benefits the businesses involved.

That’s why using managed IT services is more cost effective – you get the services you need at a price that is lower than a standard IT salary, instead of paying for skills that your company won’t use often.

So, there you have it: the two things you need to consider before hiring internal IT staff. If you’re ready to choose a managed IT support provider, get in touch with us. At Swift Systems, we take pride in meeting all of your IT needs as your true technology partner.

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