In business nowadays, one has to have IT systems designed to assist in the operations of the business. It is usually a capital outlay, in the form of a purchase of hardware and you have to have the system on-site. This is an expensive decision that one needs to consider before undertaking.
An attractive option is finding an outsourcing company which would serve all the information technology requirements of the company. This would require that the external company provide a design, propose a process to maintain and operate in accordance with the company’s specifications. The upside to this is that there would be a small investment in information technology personnel and equipment for the company and in the long run, the capital outlay on soon to be obsolete equipment would prove more costlier than the expense of engaging a third party. The downside though would be the lack of direct control by the company over the software and its applications and changes need to be planned and forecasted beforehand. Also, by providing control over to a third party, the management and security of the information and the system are put in risk since the ownership cannot access it at times that it needs.
Similar to this, the option of having the management of the technology housed on-site and have the hardware overseen by a third party may also be considered.
In this realm, affordable over all costs for managed solution hosting is the better alternative. This can be achieved by using a data network center with hardware provisions for a secure and reliable system with many different platforms and applications available. What the hosting company provides are tools and expertise to manage the programs and systems on the host’s hardware but the labor is provided by the company’s very own IT department.
Simply put, the business can have the option to engage a company which provides all the software appurtenant to its operations without need to invest in expensive hardware. The company can even dictate the operating platforms that the system runs on for ease of convergence between the company’s own and the hosting company’s systems. In this option, the company can access any particular part of its business at any time and maintain effective control over all the aspects of the information processed.. Changes can easily be made since the programmers are already onsite. This added flexibility allows the business to undertake changes without need of red tape and lost opportunities due to waiting time.
