What happens if you have a team of IT personnel who look after your networks and technology day to day, but need to supplement them with outside experts or seasonal coverage? In other words, how do you manage things if you have employees and vendors looking after your hardware and software?
This is a situation we work with quite frequently. Although clients tend to assume that we take on all IT responsibilities as part of a managed services agreement, we can also work alongside existing staff. In our experience, there are four things you can do to make the arrangement work for everyone.
#1 Find the Right Combination of Talents
This sort of arrangement is all about finding the right talent stack. Usually, that involves having in-house employees look after everyday systems, or perhaps a few proprietary or industry-specific tools. Then, your outsourced vendor can cover other roles. For example, you might want someone to help for special projects or network security updates.
The specific division isn’t important. What matters is that your business gets access to the right expertise.
#2 Know Who You’re Paying for Each Role
It goes without saying, of course, that you’ll want to know which employees or vendors are looking after specific responsibilities. Doing so can help you save money, of course, but also ensure that roles aren’t overlapping. Ideally, you’ll want to delegate specific aspects of your IT setup as cleanly as possible.
In other words, make it clear which person or vendor you are paying for which specific job or outcome.
#3 Foster Cooperation in Both Directions
This carries on from the last point. When both your vendor and your team know what they are responsible for, there isn’t any reason to compete or argue. And so, you can encourage both sides to cooperate with one another.
You want to create the conditions for seamless integration within your larger talent stack. That means everyone working from the same playbook and toward the same goals.
#4 Make Sure to Keep Everyone Accountable
By taking the time to find the right experts and define their roles, you shouldn’t run into any problems. If you do, however, it’s important to keep both vendors and employees accountable for their own departments.
Over time, you may change the composition of your team, or assign tasks and responsibilities one way or the other. In order for that to work, though, you have to know how to trace any problems back to their source.
Want an IT Vendor Who Can Work With Your Existing Team?
In some situations, blending in-house employees with outsourced vendors can be the perfect IT strategy. To hear more about how it works, or get a quote for the specialties and coverage you need, contact us today.