IT Cost Savings in a Pandemic and Beyond

Technology changes quickly.  As a result, productivity, efficiency, and collaboration have improved. In the best of times keeping up with this ever-evolving landscape can be challenging, time-consuming, and costly.  However, in this unprecedented time, businesses are forced to make decisions in a compressed timeline that often does not allow for proper cost and risk analysis. Stephen Minton, program vice president in International Data Corporation’s Customer Insights & Analysis group released a statement in late March with a very pessimistic forecast on IT spending, “Overall IT spending will decline in 2020, despite increased demand and usage for some technologies and services by individual companies and consumers. Businesses in sectors of the economy that are hardest hit during the first half of the year will react by delaying some purchases and projects, and the lack of visibility related to medical factors will ensure that many organizations take an extremely cautious approach when it comes to budget contingency planning in the near term.” 

What could be viewed as prudent or even necessary from a short-term budgetary standpoint may be detrimental to operations in the long term, creating difficult times when the economy restarts. From a restaurant utilizing a point-of-service system, a non-profit that stores donors in a customer relationship management database, to nearly all businesses utilizing internet and email, IT is the backbone of an organization. According to recent International Data Corporation research, the average employee was losing 12.4 hours a year due to server downtime and 6.2 hours a year for network downtime. Unplanned downtime costs organizations $58,118 for every 100 users. For organizations and businesses with razor-thin margins, this can be devastating. 

The point is that this pandemic has forced most businesses and organizations to examine costs and make hard choices. But are they making the best choice if they are sacrificing the integrity of their technology systems to save money? More than ever, protecting your assets while getting the highest return-on-investment (ROI) is paramount while we navigate through this global uncertainty. Outsourcing your IT to a Managed Services Provider (MSP) will help you to save money while protecting your critical systems and assets.  

Outsourced IT Support is More Cost-Effective 

With Managed Services, organizations can reduce operational costs and conserve capital. This is crucial in the current environment, helping you manage today and plan for tomorrow and beyond. Managed Services Providers (MSPs) have developed standards and procedures that allow them to keep your systems up and running at a lower cost per employee. International Data Corporation has found that for every 100 users, just under $400,000 could be saved annually by utilizing an MSP. Let us examine a few ways that an Outsourced Managed Services Provider (MSP): 

• Fixed costs: Outsourced IT provides you with predictable monthly costs for consulting and support whether you are on a contract or pay month-to-month. The costs associated with maintaining an internal IT team can often be untenable for many organizations. According to Gartner, the common industry ratio of IT employees to end-users is 70 to 1. Factoring in salary, benefits, and PTO, organizations that employ 50 staff will be paying upwards of $70,000 yearly for a single IT employee. Contrast that with an MSP where you get a team of experienced engineers and technicians that cover everything for around $3000 per month, depending on specific needs and complexity. Those are significant savings that can be applied elsewhere. 
• Depth and breadth of knowledge: Does your internal staff have expertise in security? Do they have a deep understanding of system administration or troubleshooting collaboration tools? Outsourced IT brings multiple skill sets to your business, eliminating those inevitable knowledge gaps that exist with a fixed internal solution. MSPs have a functional toolset and process that they provide as part of their service. This provides real savings in time and money by removing the need to develop in-house or utilize yet another specialized outside resource. 
• Ability to provide 24/7/365 service and support: What hours do you need IT assistance? Does your IT staff scramble to cover all bases when someone is sick or otherwise out of the office? An internal team is going to be limited by their ability to respond at any hour, often requiring additional salary and planning of resources to accommodate business needs. This is not a problem for a larger team that outsourcing provides. MSPs provide real-time monitoring and proactive support to prevent problems, not just to fix them. This allows staff to maintain efficiency and productivity by focusing on core missions. 

There is no doubt that uncertainty affects all aspects of the economy. We all need to manage the challenges today, but with an eye for the future when we resume activities. Predictable monthly costs, proactive monitoring, and access to immediate expert-level consulting and support are but a few of the ways that organizations can transform operations and maximize ROI. Feel free to use our Cost Savings calculator to see how much you can save by moving to Wellforce for Managed Services. 

• Wellforce’s managed services help customers save up to 40% on their annual IT spend. Use our Cost Savings calculator below to see how much your organization can save.  
• Wellforce’s managed services help organizations thrive during and after the pandemic. By partnering with Wellforce, organizations can recognize immediate IT cost savings.  Find out how much you can save with our cost savings calculator below.