IT Departments Continue to Be Outsourced

View full size image

Organizations looking to trim their bottom line have accomplished that goal by outsourcing some or all of their IT needs, new research reveals.

In a study by CompTIA, the nonprofit association for the IT industry, nearly half of the surveyed businesses and organizations that rely on outside providers for at least some of their IT services said they have been able to trim their expenses by at least 25 percent. Thirteen percent said they've slashed annual IT expenditures by at least 50 percent.

The remaining half also reported at least some savings in their annual IT costs.

"This is compelling evidence that managed services, even when implemented on a small scale, can deliver significant cost savings, freeing up cash for other business needs," Carolyn April, director of industry analysis for CompTIA, said in a statement. "More importantly, these savings are accomplished without impacting the availability and reliability of the technology solutions the company relies on to conduct business."

While cost savings are the top factor in deciding to turn to outside IT providers, more than half of those surveyed said they're doing it in large part to free up internal IT staff for work on projects that are revenue-generating for the business.

Overall, the study reveals that 89 percent of those outsourcing some of their IT needsare satisfied with their experience. Performance and up-time, agreeable contract terms, a secure environment and the flexibility to easily and quickly add new services all contribute to their satisfaction, the survey shows.

The majority of those surveyed plan to go even further with outsourcing; more than 60 percent said they plan to increase their spending on outside IT services over the next two years. Network administration, website hosting, maintenance and help desk, IT support and security— like firewalls and anti-virus issues — are among the IT needs that companies intend to move to outside providers.

CompTIA’s Trends in Managed Services study is based on surveys of 400 IT and business professionals involved in IT decision-making and 364 IT channel firms in the U.S.