Analyst firm Gartner conducted a survey of companies to determine what their IT budget priorities were going into 2016. Of the companies that participated, 95% prioritized increasing efficiency and business processes, with 43% of those companies defining that as a major priority. In addition, 91% of surveyed companies prioritized the goal of reducing IT costs.
Unlike many other corporate departments, such as sales or service, IT often provides no direct contribution to a company’s profits. Nonetheless, an efficient IT department can significantly increase the smooth operations of profit-generating departments or, conversely, can hamstring those departments if it fails to function as it should.
What it ends up coming down to is a question of whether a business should handle its own IT needs internally or rely on Third Party Maintenance Providers (TPM) to manage IT services. This question is a very simple one to answer once you understand what a TPM is and what services and benefits one can provide.
What does a Third Party Maintenance Provider do
A Third Party Maintenance Provider is simply an organization that provides IT services and support that fall outside of a company’s normal skill set, or on a scale that a small to medium-sized company might struggle with.
This is especially the case in the corporate IT market where a TPM can bring a wide range of skills and infrastructure expertise to bear on behalf of the client organization. IT infrastructure services that a TPM can provide include data center management, IT as a Service (ITaaS), desktop computing support, hyperscale data centers, and more.
Why you need a Third Party Maintenance Provider
While many executives like the thought of keeping everything internal, for many small to medium-sized companies the reality is that they simply cannot compete with larger competitors handling everything in-house.
One of the many limiting factors is cost. Recent statistics show that the average IT worker earns anywhere from $61,000 to $99,000 per year, depending on the specific job description and title. Multiply that across an entire department and it quickly becomes apparent how expensive an in-house IT staff can be. Even companies that invest in an expensive, in-house IT department often find that there are still gaps in the department’s skill set that can leave the company at a competitive disadvantage.
In today’s economy, few things are as important as quality IT support. Although it may not contribute to a company’s bottom line, it nonetheless can have a profound impact on a company’s success or failure.
To learn more about the many benefits of an employing a TPM, download our infographic: