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Business outsourcing. When should IT leaders ask for help? 08 oktoober 2024 11 detsember 2024 4 Minutes read Posted By Brother Nordics Global Technology Solutions and Services Provider Brother Nordic A/S 08 oktoober 2024 11 detsember 2024 4 Minutes read What’s on your to do list for the coming months? Accelerating your company’s digital transformation? Getting a grip on the cloud? Working out how generative AI can help your customer support operations? Faced with so much new technology holding so much promise, IT leaders could be forgiven for feeling overwhelmed. Even the most talented and resilient leader can only stretch budget, people, and their own bandwidth so far. It’s no surprise then that many leaders outsource large parts of their operations, both to enable them to tap into cutting edge expertise and to allow them to concentrate on those issues where they can really make a difference. But while it’s easy to focus on the “big” strategic topics, such as AI or cloud, it’s important to remember that day-to-day tasks, including managing print services, still need to be carried out. These may be suitable candidates for outsourcing too, but the impact and benefits may be far more immediate. Where should ITDMs start? Brother recently commissioned in-depth research with research-partner, Savanta, to understand the challenges real world SMB tech leaders face. This in turn highlights which areas might be ripe for outsourcing. The biggest single issue is security. Meanwhile, “emerging tech advancements, changes to the wider economy, unforeseen spends and security issues”1 were all reported to have affected budget management over the last 12 months. At the same time, sustainability is increasingly significant, with four fifths of SMB ITDMs saying it is important to their overall business, and almost as many citing it as a key issue for IT teams. These might be considered external issues that every organisation must grapple with. But IT leaders also face internal pressures, particularly around managing and maintaining their own teams. Staff recruitment and retention within the IT team was flagged up as “challenging” by 41 percent of ITDMs. Is it time for IT professionals to ask for help? This is a formidable range of challenges. For companies to fulfil their potential, IT professionals need to tackle all of them, all at the same time. A promising AI strategy can be torpedoed and sunk if cyberattackers can steal IP or the data on which models are trained. Likewise, staff – IT or otherwise - cannot give their best if they don’t have the basic infrastructure to do their jobs, wherever they are. And even the most able and conscientious ITDMS can’t tackle all of this on their own. Outsourcing some, or all, of these tasks is clearly one option for IT professionals looking to use their resources as effectively as possible. One major attraction is the ability to improve productivity, named by 42 percent of respondents, with almost as many citing outsourcing’s impact on security. Equally important is outsourcing’s potential to reduce costs, while two over a thirds of ITDMs mentioned its impact on speed and agility.1 These benefits have further ripple effects. Brother Europe’s CIO, Basil Fuchs, says delegating non-core tasks to external parties means companies can focus on employee development in their core business areas, which increases employee satisfaction as well. And he adds, outsourced and cloud solutions can play a pivotal role in supporting the hybrid working models many organisations are increasingly relying on. But outsourcing also creates enormous opportunities for businesses to deliver digital transformation initiatives at pace and scale, he says. “It helps businesses to fast-track their digital initiatives, drawing on the external expertise and innovative approaches of their outsourcing partners.” That’s why it’s important for organisations to consider both their broader technology and outsourcing strategies in the round. It’s easy to see why some organisations might be tempted to prioritise hot technologies like robotic process automation or AI without fully understanding their impact. But, according to Fuchs, “It is important that we balance this excitement over new technologies with practical considerations of their customer value and integration with existing systems.” By extension, Fuchs says, it’s all too easy for companies to overlook how they can optimise their office infrastructure, including the print and document technology that their employees rely on and use every day. “This oversight can lead to inefficiencies and missed opportunities for cost savings and an overall better employee experience.” What are other IT leaders doing? Over 60 percent of tech leaders are currently or considering outsourcing hosting and cloud. Almost as many – 56 percent – are either currently or planning to outsource security services. But when it comes to business sustainability management or procurement, just 16 percent are outsourcing these functions. Likewise, less than one in five are outsourcing hybrid working solutions or services, with 23 percent considering it. This might seem a bit of a disconnect, given that nearly a third of respondents say office hardware and technology accounts for “the greatest amount of IT budget spend”, while 44% said budget or forecast spend for office hardware and tech infrastructure had increased over the last year. Looked at from another angle, cost savings were a driver for “sustainable” activity for almost half of IT departments. Print-related activities have a clear role in helping companies meet their sustainability ambitions. While energy usage is the top priority for IT professionals, the second is to enhance printing management, closely followed by recycling used products. Ink/toner cartridge recycling was flagged by a fifth. Managing office infrastructure and print equipment may not be the most hyped areas. But they are challenges faced by virtually every organisation, large and small. And while staff problems are unlikely to alleviate any time soon, both public and private organisations are likely to face ever more pressure to manage costs and prove their sustainability credentials. A printing revolution? So, handing over print related infrastructure and consumables management to an MPS expert can definitely solve one set of immediate headaches. It can help IT professionals manage print infrastructure and supplies more efficiently and sustainably, while also contributing to security. And it makes for a better employee experience overall – not least for the IT workers who no longer need to worry about print infrastructure. Crucially, it also free up tech leaders to tackle other issues, such as the rising cyber threat or analysing how generative AI really fits into their business model. Sources: All statistics mentioned here have been referenced from the Savanta SMB ITDM research, "2023 Brother SMB IT Decision-Maker Study (Savanta)" Business Efficiency Innovation MPS Productivity More from Efficiency
