The global COVID-19 pandemic has dynamically transformed the way startups and enterprises operate. Practically every company is revisiting and revising its budget to put itself in a position of financial stability. There is an added focus on revenue-generating activities and mitigating the effects of COVID-19 through IT outsourcing services.
According to CompareCamp, the international outsourcing market was $92.5b in 2019, and we can expect BPO to reach $262.2b in 2022 globally. These are fascinating figures, and something worth looking into. In this post, we shall explore IT outsourcing as an approach to survival during COVID-19 for both startups and enterprises.
IT Outsourcing Trends
WFH is the new reality for most companies as almost everyone performs their job duties online. The truth is: with the variety of available technologies today, businesses were already progressing towards remote working. It is just that they found themselves embracing digital transformation sooner than expected because of COVID-19. Apart from addressing more complex IT demands, ensuring business continuity is vital due to this sudden change. This means capitalizing on key areas to reduce costs and strategizing so that human resources can improve efficiency and productivity. The solution is to work with top IT outsourcing companies.
Why? Let’s find out next.
Working Smart
From IT to sales, marketing, HR, and accounting, outsourcing offers limitless opportunities to help your company work smarter, not harder. SMBs lacking the capital for dedicated, in-house departments such as finance, HR, and software engineering will find this useful. Outsourcing brings valuable, one-time opportunities arising from the disruption of the pandemic. Organizations can create a pool of extra funds by eliminating the expenses they would otherwise incur of managing activities that IT outsourcing companies can handle. This leads to greater potential for growth and you can innovate products or services that effectively meet customer needs. There is no need to hire and train new employees that would increase investment in additional office space and equipment. Not to mention how outsourcing as a COVID-19 survival strategy makes better use of existing talent and increases team morale.
There are other benefits of IT outsourcing and reasons why you should opt for it as we shall see next
Access To Latest Technologies
In addition to saving time and money, what can IT support outsourcing do for you? To begin with, it offers access to modern technologies including systems and best practices. As we expect technology to evolve further in the coming years, businesses will be spending on state-of-the-art solutions for maximum success. This even applies to small business IT outsourcing that makes sophisticated technologies easily available and accessible. Companies can then encourage unique thinking, innovative capabilities, and the freedom to scale when necessary.
What About COVID-19 ?
With organizations operating in a rapidly evolving landscape during COVID-19, authorities are introducing regulatory changes and continuous tech developments. We are essentially looking into two aspects here. The first one is simple. We have to keep up with tech advancements to stay relevant and competitive. However, when pandemics like COVID-19 strike, there is uncertainty everywhere. While such situations make it difficult to take risks, we can rely on outsourcing for uninterrupted access to relevant knowledge and tools. Technology-driven business models are more responsive to evolving market demands and trends.
Also, IT partners offer next-generation tech solutions at reasonable prices so that economies can stay afloat. You can collaborate with them to build a team of skilled experts with hands-on experience in technologies that define the future of work. These include AI, ML, Big Data, IoT, and cloud computing.
Infrastructure Development
Outsourcing goes beyond reducing costs and providing access to modern tech solutions. It ensures that your in-house employees invest their time, energy, and resources in core competencies. When you outsource, you no longer have to manage tasks like daily functions, payroll, customer support, digital marketing, etc. While these play a critical role in business success, they require time to execute, so why not leave it to a trusted company? You can then focus on what your in-house teams do best.
What we have discussed so far is practical, but here’s some food for thought. When you shift to WFH because of COVID-19, building IT infrastructure for remote communication and collaboration is the top concern. Chief information, business, and marketing officers must highlight remote working training and solutions as everyone moves away from on-prem models. The answer is simple. Outsource IT to companies who are familiar with remote development and working in distributed teams. Ideally, they will have information related to industry best practices that they can replicate to set the benchmark for high productivity from the very beginning.
Remote Working
Companies are making remote working arrangements to support the future of work. When you do the same, you will integrate the appropriate information and data security measures into your outsourcing plan. This means considering electronic access control and technical controls to prevent data exfiltration from private systems.
You will also be in a position to control the level of performance you require from your service provider’s team. This is helpful especially when physical supervision is not possible. So, your IT provider can electronically track individual productivity and create an output-driven model for teams to follow. In this way, you delegate service delivery and the potential risks of reduced efficiency of a remote environment to your IT partner.
A good service provider works with you to scale up key enablers in a remote work setup. These consist of job responsibilities, workflows, communications, VPN, network bandwidth, collaboration platforms, etc. It is also possible to create an in-depth plan with your IT provider to cater to network, data center, and server support. You can ensure maximum uptime and proactively identify as well as resolve bottlenecks without affecting service quality or levels.
Talent Pool
Outsourcing IT management is one of the wisest decisions you can make. There is potential to tap into a skilled global talent pool with a lower cost base. This is useful especially if there your business needs a specific set of skills that your home country Businesses often ask about outsourcing IT pros and cons in this case.
There is no drawback even if your business needs specific skills that are not available in your country. With outsourcing, it is possible to gain access to a pool of global talent, and this is useful when you conduct operations within a certain budget. During COVID-19, companies are offering the services of resourceful experts who can accept new opportunities at reasonable prices. Your business can hire them for your projects at the best rates, and it is a win-win for both sides.
Conclusion
COVID-19 has seen a significant impact on healthcare IT outsourcing and other forms of arrangements in the short run. Even then, we can expect an increasing and sustained demand for these services in the long run as part of digital transformation initiatives. Take steps to ensure that your CIO works with your outsourcing partner to continuously improve IT services delivery and power your business forward
