AskSid

I was asked from an owner of a manufacturing company if he should Outsource his IT department which consisted of two full time IT resources. One resource was the IT Manager (salary 75k) and the other was a network technician (salary 35k). I explained this isn’t a question I could answer unless I did some analysis on his company and the tasks his IT staff were currently performing. I spent two days interviewing the owner, CFO, COO, Office Manager and a few other key personnel in the organization. It became clear that there was frustration within the organization regarding the performance and personalities of the two resources within the IT Department.

Next I performed a technology audit of the business reuirements driving the IT Departments activities and matched them with a Skill Inventory I performed on the IT resources. One key factor that helped my eventual decision to recommend outsourcing was the owner sharing with me during his interview that the company was not planning any capital upgrade projects or changes in their current strategy in the near future. His thoughts were that he would be in maintenance mode for at least the next two years and just wanted to keep everything running.

Another key factor was the current maintenance and support strategy was very reactive in that the IT resources were constantly reacting to problems or system interuptions and didn’t have the time or ability to implement a proactive strategy. I explained that this occurs frequently especially if the IT staff has not kept up with the latest technology and has the personality of not asking for help. This creates a downward spiral because the technology landscape is so much more complex today than a few years ago. Whereas a phone and a fax were the key ingredients five years ago, today it is email, website, internet connection, accounting system, manufacturing systems and how all the data flows in and out of the company. Because of these gaps between the business requirements, capabilities and the need to just maintain everything for the next two years I strongly recommended outsourcing.

I estimated that for about 1/3 to 1/2 of the current costs they were spending they could Outsource their IT requirements and eliminate almost all of their interuptions and downtime within six months. My estimate was wrong because they were able to accomplish the outsourcing and a more stable environment within three months and 40% of their previous spend. Awesome!

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Sid Kato
President and CEO
Array Systems - Orange County IT Outsourcing Networks

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