Managed IT Services is a great option for many companies. However, it’s often fear that stands in the way more than anything else. Fear of losing control; fear of being responsible for a bad decision; fear of being less important to the company. We’re offering you some good insights into these fears, and how they relate to outsourcing managed IT services for your business.
Certainly the decision to outsource services involves risk. Outsourcing anything in your business without carefully selecting the company to use can lead to major problems. So can mismanaging the transition. What people often forget is that sticking to existing practices also entails risk. Businesses can coast to failure. The question to ask is whether the benefits of a choice — including the choice not to change anything — outweigh the risks. As Robert Middleton, author of “Risking by Not Risking”, puts it, “”Don’t just look at the upside of avoiding [risky actions]; look at the upside of doing them.”
All choices carry risks. Inaction can lead to data loss due to poor oversight. A good decision maker weighs them rationally, rather than reacting to fear. We often find that what can prohibit businesses from outsourcing the management of IT services is linked to many different fear triggers and different roles in the company. And while we never discount anyones fears or concerns, let’s look at the top fear triggers.
Overcoming Common Fears of Outsourced Managed IT Services
1. Fear of change is the most common reason for avoiding new approaches. It’s easy to imagine a thousand things that could go wrong. Imagining what can go right takes more work. After all, if you knew all the ways an IT management company can improve operations, you wouldn’t need their expertise.
2. Fear of losing control is another factor. We all have ideas about the right way to do things, and anyone who’s running a successful business has been right a lot of the time. If the business hands over control of the IT systems to outsiders, they’ll have ideas of their own.
However, business managers need to remember that they didn’t get where they are by doing it all themselves. They’ve made smart hiring decisions and let employees figure out how to do things. Few businesses, if any, succeed by micromanagement. Outsourcing data management just takes that decision-making process a step further. The same ability to judge people and their skills comes into play.
3. Fear of a Diminishing Role: For middle managers, fear of diminishing their own importance can stand in the way. They’d rather have a growing department under their direction than hand over operations to an outside company. Sometimes this is conscious empire-building, but it can be simple fear of being left out.
They need to remember that outsourcing IT management doesn’t and shouldn’t mean handing over total control. Someone in the company needs the technical knowledge to make business decisions on technology and give the outside company direction. It can offer ways to achieve what you want, but it can’t decide what you should want. It can recommend software that will meet a business goal, but it can’t choose the business’s goals.
4. Fear of Moving Too Soon: However attractive a change seems, there are always reasons to say “Not yet!” Too many projects are going on right now. The company hasn’t grown enough yet to justify outsourcing. We should have another meeting to discuss it. While it’s a bad idea to make hasty decisions or rush through the process, procrastination can turn into paralysis. A business that’s looking into outsourcing should set a deadline for a decision and either start moving ahead or drop the project by that date.
The Advantages of Managed IT Services
Outsourcing with managed IT services offers many advantages to the company that has grown big enough to need regular attention to its computer systems but can’t justify a full-time, in-house staff. Managers who help the company to choose a highly qualified company stand to gain, not lose. They’re preparing the way for expanding operations, and they’ll free up time for people who were juggling computer management with other responsibilities.
Frank Herbert wrote in Dune that “fear is the mind-killer.” Overcoming fear to make sound business decisions is one of the keys to success.
Find out what managed IT services is all about and how it could benefit you and your business. Download our free Guide to Managed Services.
