All companies, from small to large, transfer part of their work to third parties. The leaders in this matter are American companies: the top five outsourcers include corporations such as Apple, Nike, Cisco, Walmart, and IBM.
It would be extraordinary if the trends in the IT service market were different. The changing distribution of budgets evidences the popularity of outsourcing solutions. More recently, in 2016, 10% of the IT budget accounted for outsourcing, and by 2017, this figure has grown by 3%. There is no exact data for the past year, but we can safely say that the dynamics remain positive.
Packaged services: response to the market demands
After studying the most progressive experience of Western colleagues, in October 2018, Infosecurity and Softline came up with the idea of forming packages of the most relevant services, starting from infrastructure and ending with brand protection: outsourcing; expert technical support; managed printing; SOC (Security Operation Center); business-critical information infrastructure security; penetration testing; and brand protection.
This is a unique offer for the Russian market. First of all, no one offers that many packages capable of fully satisfying all the business needs. Most competitors offer only three types of services instead of seven.
Secondly, Softline has a large presence in almost all regions of our country and an extensive partner network simplifying communication with consumers.
Let's talk more about outsourcing—the backbone of corporate infrastructure support. In this package, we provide the client with our computing capacities and human resources (engineers). To put it simple, we perform part of the routine duties of the IT department. Several important factors make such a decision the most profitable and effective.
Cost reduction
A rule of thumb: any person or division that does not generate profit is dead weight. The position does not matter: it can be applied to an accountant, personnel manager, or system administrator. Keeping in-house specialists seems cheaper than outsourcing their duties only at first glance.
In fact, keeping any employee in-staff requires supporting a lot of related infrastructure and resources: a PC and office space; a person capable of repairing the equipment in case of an unexpected crash; an HR officer and an accountant that keeps the books; and a line manager, supervising the work of a specialist. If you calculate the cost of infrastructure needed to perform the tasks of a “non-profitable” employee, it suddenly turns out that transferring functional responsibilities to third parties will be 2-3 times cheaper.
Within the package of services, Softline assumes responsibility for the calculation and payment of salaries, taxes, HR record management, as well as personnel management and control.
Experienced employees
Where to find the employees? This is the most challenging question for any manager. Of course, it is possible to have a look at the labor market. But who will guarantee that novices will have sufficient competences to solve problems? And the most important thing is that the availability of necessary knowledge does not ensure success without a wealth of experience.
The specialists of Softline and Infosecurity are well-prepared: they have solved the whole range of the most common tasks numerous times. For the client, this means that everything will be done efficiently and quickly. Speed is the crucial factor directly affecting efficiency. After all, any newcomer who does not have enough experience will spend a lot of time searching for an optimal solution to the problem, which means downtime and losses.
Focusing on important tasks
When most processes have been streamlined, only two types of tasks remain: the global and the regular ones. The first refer to infrastructure optimization and are aimed at increasing productivity. The second involve responding to the arising problems. Unfortunately, problems never stop occurring in the real world. Therefore, you have to keep responding to tickets, calls, and messages, figuring out why the antivirus does not work instead of engaging in lofty matters.
As a result, specialists are overloaded, while the development processes remain at a standstill. As a result, the business owner has only two options: either infinitely “inflating” the staff, trying to cope with routine tasks and creating new difficulties in the meanwhile, or transferring outsourcing part of the functions, freeing up the time to solve fundamental problems.
Reducing staff turnover
All the above gives rise to another business problem: the growth of staff turnover. Just try to imagine the feelings of an employee who has fallen into a vicious circle of routine. Answering the same questions every day, without any prospects for professional and career growth... Very soon, tired of working in a spin cycle, they will begin looking for a new place of work where they would have better career opportunities.
When an employee leaves, it is always stressful for business. The vacant position needs to be replaced by someone, and, which makes it even worse, the beginner needs to be trained. It is not a sure bet that he will cope with the assigned duties—and failure means a new waste of time and money that could be invested in development.
Why risk letting your employees burn out emotionally if you can delegate the routine to professionals and focus business resources while solving more relevant problems?
