Why "Traditional" Outsourced IT Support Works Entirely In The Consultant’s Favor, Not Yours

A question I often get is "Our issues are very minimal for us to engage on a retainer, why Can’t we just pay you to come and fix things when they break?” While that is a legitimate question if we were talking about your car or fridge, it is definitely NOT the right approach for a critical and dynamic IT environment that your company depends on; you DEFINITELY don’t want to wait until something “breaks” before you try and fix a problem. One virus or hacker attack or one slip-up can cause permanent data loss, extended downtime, bad PR, loss of customers and sales, and a host of other expensive problems.

Conflict of Interest
Additionally, under a “break-fix” model, there is a fundamental conflict of interests between you and your IT firm. The IT services company has no incentive to stabilize your computer network or to resolve problems quickly because they are getting paid for every hour worked or per visit; therefore, the risk of unforeseen circumstances, scope creep, learning-curve inefficiencies and outright incompetence are all shifted to YOU, the customer. Essentially, the more problems you have, the more they profit, which is precisely what you DON’T want.

Incompetent Help 
Under this model, the IT consultant can take the liberty of assigning a junior (lower-paid), technician, to work on your problem who may take two to three times longer to resolve an issue than a more senior (and more expensive) technician may have taken to resolve it. There is no incentive to properly manage the time of that technician or their efficiency, and there is every reason for them to prolong the job and find MORE problems than solutions. Of course, if they’re ethical and want to keep you as a client, they should be doing everything possible to resolve your problems quickly and efficiently; however, that’s like having your German Shephard watch over your Grilled Meat. It is just not a good idea.

Unpredictable IT Costs
Second, it creates a management problem for you, the customer, who now has to keep track of the hours they’ve worked to make sure you aren’t getting overbilled; and since you often have no way of really knowing if they’ve worked the hours they say they have, it creates a situation where you really, truly need to be able to trust they are being 100% ethical and honest AND tracking THEIR hours properly (not all do). Third, it makes budgeting for IT projects and expenses a nightmare since your IT bill may be zero one month and thousands the next.

Reactive vs Proactive Support
Until this point, we have only focused on reactive support which is what most businesses expect from IT service providers because that is all, most give. However, to get the most out of IT, a proactive and strategic outlook is required.  IT systems NEED regular monitoring and maintenance to protect against the 80,000+ brand-new malware attacks that are released every day, not to mention accidental hiccups in data backup, employee error, hardware failure, sabotage from disgruntled employees, etc. The list is long.

IT Guy vs IT Partner
Most importantly, in a world that is more and more digitally driven, the need to have someone in your corner that understands where your company is heading in the next three years and how technology can help get you there cannot be understated. The alternative is doing nothing as you watch your technology survey competition blitz past you or you gamble and invest big on technology today only to find that what you bought does not work well with the direction the company is taking tomorrow. You need an equivalent of a conductor, of an orchestra, in your corner. Someone that can mould your technology to achieve the sound and balance you want and go over the minutest of details to ensure the desired, collective interpretation of a “symphony” is achieved. You need an IT partner.

Find out more
In case you require more meat to this bone, feel free to check out our recently published report, “Nairobi’s Business Owners’ Guide to IT Support Services”, which outlines 21 revealing questions to ask your IT support firm BEFORE giving them access to your computer network, e-mail, data, and more.