Outsourcing Individual Components of IT
Are you looking to outsource your individual IT components? Here’s a handy guide from Think Tech Advisors to help navigate the benefits and best practices for outsourcing critical IT functions.
Outsourcing IT components can achieve several benefits for your organization, including saving money, controlling expenses, focusing on core operations and obtaining access to more technological resources.
While your in-house IT team most likely consists of an experienced and capable team, outsourcing grants them the ability to focus on the most important tasks.
Components of IT outsourcing
Cybersecurity
Companies can outsource IT cybersecurity to vendors that specialize in network security in order to add extra security for users and their data. These vendors may provide Vulnerability Management Software (VMS) to record and protect users’ data against security-related vulnerabilities and weaknesses.
Security assessments, patch management, application review and patch deployment tools are some of the functions provided by outsourcing cybersecurity.
Helpdesk
For growing organizations, it is extremely expensive to develop a helpdesk support team that can provide 24/7 service to both internal and external application users.
The language barrier is one consideration to keep in mind when outsourcing helpdesk support to a region outside of the United States.
Firewall management
Some of the benefits of outsourcing firewall management include around-the-clock security protection and monitoring, additional risk management and support, appliance management, and access control / log analysis.
Access control
The ability to monitor access logs and controls is another process that can be better served by outsourcing to a third party. This is especially true when having to meet regulatory and compliance standards for best data practices. Identifying and authenticating users to streamline software security is an essential need that can be served by outsourcing to another company.
Backup
Third party managed service providers have professional expertise with developing comprehensive disaster recovery plans and providing recovery services to avoid major business disruptions. They often have firsthand knowledge for important backup decisions. These considerations include the industry-standard file recovery tools and whether server and database backups should be stored on premises or in the cloud.
Mobile management
Connecting mobile devices to the enterprise network is a must for employees that are constantly on the move, such as executives, consultants, and the sales team. IT departments must make decisions that impact the entire organization regarding mobile phone and laptop compatibility and security.
Monitoring AV
Multimedia communications are integral to every single business unit, especially with the rising need for remote teleconferencing capabilities. Your organization will not have to make a costly investment in software and hardware capabilities that quickly become outdated if you outsource AV capabilities.
Patching
Patch management consists of verifying that existing software solutions are updated with the latest functionality and security features. Keeping up to date on the latest security threats and vulnerabilities is a time-consuming task for internal IT staff. Therefore, managed service providers can save time and money to ensure your software systems are secure.
External providers are more likely to have the expertise and automated solutions to have faster and more accurate scanning abilities when dealing with popular enterprise software.
Outsourcing best practices
If your organization outsources some or all essential IT functions, there are several important considerations to keep in mind. Ensuring data security, preventing cyber attacks and satisfying regulation and compliance are critical.
Ensure data security
Most importantly, your IT team must ensure that proper data security measures are being enacted. A best practice to ensure data security is by implementing careful access control and management to all users who can access the system. This might mean only granting direct system access to the managers of the outsourcing partner.
Preventing cyberattacks
While data security best practices protect against internal and external threats, cyberattacks are a separate category of IT security protection. Cyberattacks will steal your organization’s data, access confidential information or interrupt your business workflow.
To combat potential cyberattacks, develop and understand a comprehensive incident response plan that considers the entire IT infrastructure of your organization as well as any outsourcing partners. Identify and deter threats before they can occur, which is even more important when multiple organizations are handling your company’s secure data.
Satisfying regulations and compliance requirements
Data breaches and cyberattacks can invoke regulatory consequences for your organization. Furthermore, partnering with an outsourcing company introduces new compliance challenges, especially in certain industries where the legal environment becomes complicated to navigate. This is especially true when a managed service provider resides outside of your country or jurisdiction.
