Offshoring IT : Is it worth it?

Every business has the potential for greatness. However, this search of excellence can be hampered by a lack of funding, personnel or even direction.

There is no point operating a business with a good idea if the infrastructure around it isn't working though. This is why some organisations consider outsourcing different departments, such as IT. It's a cheap option - but is it more trouble than it's worth?

Here are three reasons how offshoring can negatively affect your business:

1) Security

Whenever you outsourcing, a portion of your information and data has to be released to the overseas company you are working with. In relation to the IT department, this could include passwords, encryption data or important contracts.

This means that you are trusting another company for security - not always the wisest move given the spate of data breaches in recent years. 

2) Commitment

It is likely that the outsourcing company managing your IT department is also working with many other similar organisations at the same time. As a result, they can't concentrate on the problems in great depth or commit a lot of devotion towards your business. 

Overall, it is much harder to manage business processes with another company than internally.

3) Hidden costs

Funding your own IT department is rather simple. Just recruitment costs and technology developments are required on an ongoing basis.

However, if you go down the outsourcing route, you might be in for a bit of a surprise come payment time. There are often hidden payments and the initial fee and final cost may differ considerably. 

It is recommended to keep your IT department locally sourced. As well as keeping costs down, it is easier to run and problems can be dealt with internally rather than from a business located halfway around the globe.