With the labor market increasingly taxed by the Great Resignation, Outsourced IT services are increasingly in demand. Add in this decade’s rapid spike in cybersecurity woes, and it becomes an even more desperate picture. Hardest hit are small businesses whose profit margins are under pressure from inflation and that are struggling to hire and retain talent.
According to the 2020 Cybersecurity Workforce report, the IT industry is currently in need of 3 million qualified cybersecurity workers. 64% of the cybersecurity professionals surveyed say their organization is impacted by this cybersecurity skills shortage.
Until recently, most businesses have been able to skate by on bare-bones cybersecurity. Relying on a single software solution or firewall to keep them safe. Cybersecurity can no longer be an afterthought – even for micro-enterprises. If you deal with information, you’re dealing in gold – and it is absolutely critical to safeguard your organization, workforce and clients.
Consider what security measures you have in place, and then consider how rapidly an issue would be remediated by your team. If you don’t have a cybersecurity expert on staff, or haven’t consulted with one, chances are there are big gaps in your security. Outsourcing IT for cybersecurity doesn’t mean you have to replace your current IT staff. On the contrary: a provider can support and augment your team, so you have the best of both worlds.
Outsourcing allows small and large businesses to leverage economies of scale for their IT needs. A recent study from Computer Economics found that security was the fastest growing IT role being outsourced. It’s little surprise, as more companies recognize they can’t insource the right skills to address these varied and complex threats and keep their companies safe. That makes security a priority for outsourcing.
By choosing to leverage external resources, these companies can refocus on their core competencies and offload the external pressures created by an ever-changing IT threat landscape, increasing complexities presented by technology and the scarcity of IT employees who can navigate these challenges at a fair price.
There are several benefits to outsourcing IT, especially when it comes to improving your security.
Here are our top 5:
Expert Cybersecurity, Affordable IT Services
Outsourced IT security management calls for expertise in diverse skill areas, typically requiring multiple specialists. At the same time, there is a market-wide shortage of these skills. Hiring and retaining workers with the requisite skills to protect your company is expensive and uncertain. In contrast, you can access a team of such experts by outsourcing and pay flat fees with relative certainty that your IT team is going to be there, protecting you around the clock.
Focus on your core business
Outsourcing your IT even partially can free up critical resources to focus on the core of your business. Your existing IT team can manage infrastructure and all those “keeping the lights on” tasks or turn their attention to strategic initiatives to make your business more effective and competitive. For example, outsourcing your IT security allows your staff technicians to focus on high-impact projects that lead to the success and growth of your business.
Informed policy guidance
The IT threat landscape is always changing, and companies that don’t have a full, expert grasp of the extent of these security risks can’t adequately address them. Creating effective security policies takes in-depth experience that most IT generalists don’t possess. For instance, the IT staff in your company may not be able to accurately assess the effectiveness of your existing security policies or how well your company is keeping up with compliance requirements you’re required to follow.
Unbiased checks and balances
Your IT security is best outsourced, because it ensures some necessary degrees of separation between your company and your security checks and balances. Processes like security assessments and recommendations can become sensitive territory when managed internally. Outsourcing puts it in the hands of neutral parties who are fully vested in protecting your organization and can offer verification of that protection.
Comprehensive security coverage
Most companies focus on infrastructure security measures, like firewalls, anti-virus and spam filtering, but fail to address internal threats or physical security risks, like inappropriate data access or removal and employee security lapses. These actually represent a large risk to organizations. Employees removing confidential information on a USB key or a busy manager clicking on a phishing link can have catastrophic results. The nuances of these internal threats rely on trained security professionals. It’s not something you can have a regular IT person scout for with enough success to detect all the vulnerabilities.
With an outsourced IT provider, you can address security from all angles, covering your bases and providing safeguards and protections your internal IT staff often don’t have the experience, training and skills to implement and oversee. Given that 60% of small businesses suffering a serious cybersecurity incident go out of business within 6 months, outsourcing your IT security could be one of the most important decisions you make as a business owner.
The Outsourced IT Provider Fort Worth Trusts for Cybersecurity
We’ve provided outsourced IT services for companies throughout Fort Worth to improve their cybersecurity, get compliant with regulatory mandates and weather the storms of the 2020s. By partnering with VersaTrust, you get the benefits of a fully compliant IT and security team at the fraction of the cost of having an in-house IT team. At VersaTrust, we work with you to continually improve your IT and cybersecurity as your business grows.
