What is outsourcing?
Nowadays, outsourcing is increasingly used in different business sectors around the world. Any company, even small ones, can outsource.
What does outsourcing mean for companies?
Outsourcing, or outsourcing a resource, means entrusting processes, tasks or internal projects to external service providers. The invention of this word dates back to the eighteenth century, in Italy it began to assert itself as an outsourcing towards the 80s when many agencies realized that it was necessary to invest and concentrate on the core business, simplifying business management.
At the beginning, outsourcing was restricted to the manufacturing sector, but today it’s a distinguishing feature of corporate strategies: from maintenance to logistics, from cleaning to security, from personnel management to administration and finance, from services related to advertising, to marketing, to communication, up to IT services.
Outsourcing of IT services
One of the possible IT outsourcing operations consists in having the partner carry out specific operations currently in charge of the CED employees (help-desk, configurations, installations, etc.), so as to be able to free up valuable internal resources on the company’s core business goals.
It’s also possible to completely outsource the management of the information systems of a branch office, of a part of the organization or of the same company, in case of extended absence of the internal manager.
Which prominent figures can be outsourced:
- Corporate IT manager
- IT branch manager or branch office
- Help Desk Specialist
- Privacy Consultant and Legal Informatics
- Application analyst
- Windows system administrator
- Linux system administrator
- Software programmer
- Brand Marketing
- Creative design and web design
- Content marketing
- Graphic design
Expected IT outsourcing activities:
- Analysis and implementation of applicative procedures
- Hardware and software maintenance
- System assistance, installation, workstations and configuration of network servers
- PC installations, workstations and local networks
- Product support
- Database design and administration
- Taking charge of the operating system
- Creation and development of websites and/or web applications
What are the advantages of outsourcing services?
Opting for the outsourcing of information technology means relying on efficient technological systems to facilitate the workflow and business activities.
The main advantages of outsourcing are:
- Reliability and professionalism: thanks to outsourcing, companies can rely on partners who already have specialized and certified personnel
- Reduction of fixed costs and focus on the core business: thanks to the outsourcing of personnel and technology management, the company is able to change the structure of business costs by transforming a large part of fixed costs into variable costs, creating scale economies.
- Saving on information technology and infrastructure: outsourcing allows companies to also download infrastructure and equipment costs to the outsourcer. The external subject will provide the necessary to supply the company with the product or service. In this way, the company will have easy access to the most advanced technologies by making smaller investments, with obvious benefits in terms of optimizing the design, development and distribution of new products and services.
- Constant technological updating
- Analysis and predetermination of the type of service and costs
- Greater operational flexibility
