The 8 Most Common IT Outsourcing Problems for Resales

Outsourcing has become an important element in reducing costs and competitiveness.

The IT Outsourcing service means outsourcing the management and control of IT-related systems. The trend towards outsourcing can be explained by the developments visible in the market today.

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With the market in contraction and the economy completely unstable, it is normal for managers to look for solutions to reduce operating costs and optimize the company’s production processes.

This IT outsourcing service has many positive points, but the negative points also cannot be ignored. Below are some of the most common IT Outsourcing problems that deserve and should be highlighted:

1- Standardization
When the company decides to use an IT Outsourcing service, it is necessary that the systems, practices and methods used by the parties are aligned from the beginning. It may happen that the customer himself has to convert his system to a market standard, or that the supplier himself can also provide the solution with some modifications and satisfy the needs of the consumer. Whatever the situation, the challenge and complexity will have to be addressed to integrate the systems.

2- Security
The security of your data and information may be vulnerable, as many may have access to it. This is why company information becomes sensitive. To avoid problems, it is necessary to have a well-trained team regarding the service of this information, to develop a good relationship with the service provider and that confidentiality clauses are well explained in the contracts. The issue of security is one of the major disadvantages of Outsourcing, as it allows third parties to have control of data and information.

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3- Supplier quality thanks to cost cutting
The main motive of companies is to make profits and many times, to achieve them, it is necessary to reduce handouts and this can become a trap, since this involves hiring unqualified professionals or even overloading functions. In the short term, this strategy will show the shortcomings that these attitudes can bring to the service. Therefore, it is important to select suppliers who use good market practices in their operations.

4- Alignment
A complete understanding of the business by the supplier is essential, understanding its requests and expectations, because if the communication between supplier and customer is not clear, the final result will hardly be as expected. In the past it was believed that outsourcing the technology area meant freeing oneself from responsibility for personnel and direct costs. Therefore, in practice, it is not difficult to find situations where the contractor intervenes in the operation to resolve administrative and personnel issues to keep the operation healthy.

5- Know the supplier’s limitations
Many companies hire outsourced IT support providers believing that all their problems will be solved and everything will be resolved automatically. Therefore, even when hiring a supplier with a good reference and reputation, challenges remain. It is also very common for cars and computers to break down. For this reason, large companies have agile and forward-thinking internal IT departments to address limitations that arise.

6- Communication
It is important that suppliers have the ability to communicate in a technical but clear way, being didactic in explaining problems and their solutions. A big problem occurs when suppliers do not have a long-term strategic vision and are not aware of business objectives. With this comes increased costs and a much greater time expenditure to complete objectives and this can discourage the team. It is necessary to be able to count on suppliers who know how to express themselves in clear terms and who know how to make themselves understood.

7- Discretion in information
Entrusting all your data and documentation to outsourced servers can be a big problem. If necessary, the server must be changed to a new one. The company must ensure that it has an information confidentiality agreement in place to avoid data loss.

8- Strategy alignment
In order for problems to be minimised, there needs to be good communication between the supplier and the customer, this ensures that expectations are clearly communicated and failures are minimised. Furthermore, without adequate communication, strategic plans cannot be included in future technology investment planning and, with this, the business side of the company would suffer.

There is no doubt that outsourcing IT support is positive and brings many advantages, but it is necessary for the business area to carefully observe the limits mentioned above, with a lot of patience and good analysis criteria, weighing the pros and cons. This is because choosing the right supplier with market experience and a well-prepared contract tends to minimize possible operational risks.

Over the years it is necessary to make comparisons with other suppliers and also an audit, to find out if everything is within expectations, to verify that the money invested gives the promised result. Once the validation of the provision of the services offered by the supplier has been carried out, this must always be monitored. The quality of IT support outsourcing will need to be constantly validated and, where necessary, questioned.

Sources:

http://forums.techsoup.org/cs/community/b/tsblog/archive/2017/04/25/common-pitfalls-of-using-owned-it-services.aspx
https://gaea.com.br/entenda-o-que-e-outsourcing-de-ti-e-conheca-os-beneficios-dessa-pratica/
https://www.profissionaisti.com.br/2016/10/terceirizacao-de-ti-solucao-ou-problema/
https://www.teclogica.com.br/outsourcing-vantagens-e-desvantagens/
http://www.linceservicos.com.br/4-erros-contratar-outsourcing-ti/