5 reasons why IT infrastructure should be outsourced in the2020s.
As a consultant in the IT sector, I notice one thing: many companies, even very small ones, will still be operating their IT infrastructure themselves in 2021.
By IT infrastructure, I essentially mean the following components:
- A virtualization platform (e.g. VMware or Hyper-V).
- The associated backup solution and backup storage.
- Various virtual servers, including mostly VMs for Active Directory, mail servers, file servers, application servers and much more.
- Network infrastructure consisting of switches, routers, firewalls and access points.
- Various clients like workstations and notebooks.
IT infrastructure suffers silently, but it suffers!
Now you may ask, hey Yannick, what’s the problem?
Most IT environments consist of similar components that cause few problems in normal operation and are (sometimes I would say unfortunately) very resistant to misoperation and misconfiguration. There are a thousand ways to operate an Active Direcotry incorrectly, however, it will be noticed relatively late, since the AD will mostly work in the direction of the user. Through misconfiguration and improper operation, more and more problems arise over time, and sooner than you think, massive security problems. Especially in smaller companies these problems often only come to light when there are massive problems or a security gap.
What are the reasons for this behavior?
- Executives underestimate the costs of a powerful IT department, especially with regard to training and external consulting.
- An internal IT department does not mean that no investments and software and hardware are necessary.
- Companies with a small IT department cannot maintain specialists for each specialist area.
- The question of infrastructure availabilities and liability in the event of security problems can be difficult to resolve internally.
- The long-term motivation of internal IT employees diminishes because IT is only a tool in the overall picture of the company and not the core competence.
Time for efficiency!
On the one hand, IT infrastructure is a very complex matter with many components that require real expert knowledge. But as I wrote above, from the user’s point of view, IT infrastructure is only a basis on which the operationally required applications run. The complexity of the components is high, but most infrastructure consists of similar components. What is needed here is a team of professionals who have deep knowledge of all these components. Likewise there are completely mad places, at which the pysical part of these components is very well kept: Datacenters!
Companies should simply outsource their IT infrastructure to experts and demand a runnable platform for their application as a product. Whether on prem, in the data center or in the public cloud, companies should not waste their valuable time and resources running a rather sub-par IT infrastructure, but hand over this task to experts. I strongly suspect that most companies do not operate their own power plant either, but purchase electricity from the grid. The operation of an IT infrastructure can be just as brilliant an example of a society based on the division of labor as the supply of energy.
Use your valuable internal IT experts to improve your core business: optimize your ERP systems, develop your own Industry 4.0 applications or digitize workflows!
