Outsourcing helps IT departments
November 29, 2019
Konica Minolta in a recent post has been analysing with an increase in outsourcing IT to managed services, will there ever be the point of internal IT departments becoming obsolete.
In its post, Konica Minolta says that while it is certainly true that service providers have demonstrated their ability to take on a widening scope of tasks, including areas that traditionally within the domain of internal IT departments such as service desk and infrastructure management, this is not a zero-sum game. The role of internal IT within the organisation has evolved rather than become cannibalised. As organisations progress through various stages of digitalisation, their IT departments face a growing number of tasks and challenges in different fields.
Beyond the demands of business as usual, IT professionals are key in shaping and managing new digital processes, bridging the gap between technology and people, and ensuring that digitalisation aligns with business goals.
Konica Minolta says that outsourcing is therefore helping to relieve growing pressure on IT departments. Delegating certain arduous and repetitive IT tasks to partners is a successful strategy for unburdening internal IT professionals, allowing them to focus time and resources on higher value transformational projects. Hence, it is not surprising that for example in the field of IT security nearly 40% of companies in Germany already rely on the support of two or three managed security service providers and 54% of companies are turning to external IT security providers.
Overall, managed service providers are fulfilling a vital role – and partnering with a digitalisation specialist such as Konica Minolta is a valuable way of accessing crucial guidance and consulting.
Across the board, IT systems are the foundation for success in today’s business environment. SMBs are no exception to this, with IT now the backbone of virtually all operations and relied on to manage increasingly complex company activities in every department.
Kieron McDonald, ITS Sales Development Specialist, Konica Minolta Business Solutions Europe commented: “Through our close relationships with our customers and our long-term experiences within the industry, we have seen that IT professionals particularly in SMBs struggle to keep up with technological advances, as they simply lack the necessary resources to take on everything at once. IT staff are often burdened with repetitive arduous tasks such as server management or application updates and therefore simply do not have the time to plan the next steps for an organisation trying to digitalise its processes. A strong and reliable partner like Konica Minolta can be key in providing the support needed so they can focus on core competences and business objectives. With our extensive portfolio of IT services and our broad network of top-tier partners amongst IT suppliers, we can deliver what IT professionals need so they can focus on designing the future of their company IT.”
Rather than replacing a company’s internal IT department, an external solution provider can serve as an extension of the in-house team, providing complementary services and solutions tailored to their needs. As well as addressing tactical everyday demands by taking on specific tasks, Konica Minolta, for example, enables IT departments to be drivers of digital transformation within their organisations. This is achieved through expert consulting that helps each business take a holistic view of their present and future needs and find the best possible solutions for their particular situation.
McDonald added: “Konica Minolta aims to help IT professionals focus on what is really important – designing the digital future of their companies and helping the wider workforce gain the greatest advantage from technology. We take this role as champions of users’ needs very seriously, and it’s something we know our customers’ IT teams also want to focus more on. The fundamental principle is that technology needs to adapt to the needs of users and not vice versa!”
Konica Minolta concludes that even as more businesses benefit from managed IT services, fears for the demise of the internal IT department are ill-placed – managed IT services can never become a substitute for having IT professionals within an organisation. However, as the burden of managing business-as-usual functions decreases, in-house IT staff will be increasingly dedicated to using existing resources more efficiently and effectively. And for smaller businesses, this ability to reduce the strain on internal resources is a game changer – particularly as delivering and maintaining a sophisticated and secure environment through internal resources becomes ever less feasible for the majority of companies.
As a result, it is smaller companies and SMBs that can often gain the most from outsourcing. A close relationship with a reliable and experienced IT partner such as Konica Minolta delivers the services necessary to free IT professionals from repetitive maintenance, enabling them to proactively drive the strategic direction of a company’s technology environment.
To read the full article on IT Management and outsourcing, click here.
Categories : Around the Industry
