Spending on information technology (IT) could reach $4.5 trillion this 2022. Come 2023; industry experts believe that amount could exceed $4.63 trillion! Those figures prove that IT services have become integral to our day-to-day lives. After all, no one can go online or pay their bills via the web without them. Worse, essential services might become unavailable, and business operations may also halt.
So if you have a business yourself, it pays to have an IT team you can rely on at all times. Fortunately, many information technology services can be outsourced for less. We’ve listed the top ones below, so read on to determine which ones to get for your business.
Web Development
As of 2021, the World Wide Web was home to a staggering 1.88 billion websites. Web developers, in turn, are the people behind the creation of such sites.
If you don’t have a website yet, you can outsource the task of doing so to a web developer. The pro can provide both web design services and web content development. You can also enlist the same expert for future site maintenance and management.
Web Hosting
Once you have a website developed, you need to rent or buy a “space” for it on the web. You can opt for the latter by outsourcing your hosting needs to a web host company.
Your chosen web host then provides your website a place to store all its contents. That includes all the pages, files, codes, and images of your site. Your host also ensures your platform is viewable to visitors more than 99% of the time.
IT Support or Help Desk
IT support or help desk services provide users with resolutions to computer-related problems. For example, suppose one or more of your business PCs are freezing or rebooting randomly. With IT support outsourcing, you only have to dial a number to connect with a specialist. The expert then walks you through troubleshooting steps to resolve your concerns.
IT support services also assist with hardware and software installation. So, if you ever need to hook up new computers or install new apps, you can call them for assistance. In addition, you can ask them for help in choosing the best peripherals or apps for your business.
However, a reliable IT support team can do more than fix what you might have broken. The pros can help keep downtimes and outages at bay by ensuring all your apps are up-to-date. They can also detect potential problems and address them on the spot with remote access.
Cybersecurity Protection
Cybersecurity protection, such as remote monitoring, is another IT service you can outsource. Remote monitoring involves the virtual and continuous tracking of hardware, software, and networks. It’s particularly beneficial for real-time surveillance of cybersecurity threats.
It’s very important to keep an eye on your IT assets, as cybercrimes are becoming costlier. For instance, the average data breach in 2021 cost a whopping $4.24 million. That’s an almost 10% increase from the previous year. Worse, experts forecast that upward trend to continue this 2022.
With remote monitoring, you can rest easy knowing IT pros are on their toes for threats. Moreover, they provide 24/7 services. That can give you peace of mind knowing you have protection all-day long.
Outsourced cybersecurity protection services also include active virus protection. That involves installing and maintaining anti-virus software in all your IT assets. Some IT support companies even provide anti-phishing and email protection tools.
Data Backup
Aside from becoming costlier, the number of reported data breaches is also increasing. For instance, there were 1,862 cases of data breaches in 2021, whereas there were only 1,108 in 2020. If you suffer from a data breach, you’re at risk of data loss and theft. Unless you have backups in place, you may no longer be able to retrieve your lost data.
Thus, it’s wise to consider outsourcing data backup services to an IT or a professional data storage company. Doing so ensures you have experts creating regular copies of all your data. You can also rest assured that your backups are in a safe and secure data center or try out different types of strategies, like air gap backup, further protecting your data from cyber threats or disasters.
Disaster Recovery
Calamities like fires and floods can lead to the loss of IT infrastructure. Likewise, terrorist and cyber attacks can result in significant IT asset losses. Losing even a part of your IT infrastructure means you also lose access to it.
That makes preparing for such disasters a must, which you can do with disaster recovery. It’s a method of regaining IT access and functionality following a disastrous event. The core of disaster recovery is data replication (AKA data backup). However, those backups should be in a place far from the location of the disaster. For instance, they can be in an off-site data center, stored in the cloud.
The good news is that you can outsource both data backup and disaster recovery services. They allow your outsourced IT team to access your cloud-stored data immediately. After that, they can roll it out remotely to your other computers not affected by the disaster.
So, with the help of disaster recovery services, you can cut the time needed to get your business back online.
Managed IT Services
Do you want to enjoy all the services and IT support outsourcing benefits listed in this guide? If so, you can consider going for managed IT services. It packages all your IT-related needs, from web development to disaster recovery.
You can also get turnkey solutions to address only the specific IT services you require. For instance, let’s say you only need an IT help desk, cybersecurity, and data recovery. In that case, you can hire a managed IT company to deliver only those services.
Consider These Information Technology Services That Can Be Outsourced
As you can see, many information technology services can be outsourced. Web development, cybersecurity, IT support, data backups, and recovery are only a few.
You can outsource them separately, but you can also get them all through a managed IT company. Besides, outsourced IT services already cost less than hiring an on-site team. All that should be a good enough reason to consider outsourcing.
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