5 Reasons to Choose a Local MSP Instead of Outsourcing Overseas

Business infrastructure is ever-evolving. This makes it a difficult area to manage. You want to avoid the interruptions in your day-to-day as much as possible, which is exactly where IT infrastructure management services come in. The provider that is responsible for these services tailors the network, storage, and systems infrastructures to your business’s needs.

Outsourcing can be a great option when it comes to your budget. Rather than having to expend extra resources to train your in-house staff, you have a team of qualified IT professionals at your disposal. However, taking your IT overseas is not always what’s best for your business, or for those you are outsourcing to. Let’s consider how outsourcing your IT infrastructure management services to another country could be more of a risk than a benefit.

Providing Others with Access

One of the major roles of IT infrastructure management services is that your network’s threats are identified. When you outsource overseas, you are giving away a portion of your control by providing another team with access to your business infrastructure and data systems. If your provider has access to sensitive data, there is the possibility that you are putting your organization at risk. For example, HIPAA-covered transactions of Protected Health Information (PHI) only apply in the United States. You will need to investigate whether the offshore provider employs security measures that are as robust as your own. Protocols need to be set to prevent the theft and abuse of intellectual property, especially with prosecution being difficult.

Privacy Laws and Regulations

Copyright and intellectual property laws differ between countries. Despite the United States having strong legislation to protect intellectual property, offshore providers may not enforce it. Something to keep in mind is that legal documents overseas won’t protect you. According to the FBI, Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) do not hold outside of the country. Once you leave American jurisdiction, the results of enforcement are simply not predictable and odds of a breach are increased. Although your company may be based in the U.S., your data will be subject to the laws of the country where it is being stored.

Effects of Cheap Labor

Moving your services to countries like India, which is the most popular destination for outsourcing, lets you take advantage of cheaper labor with lower overhead. But more executives are realizing that the reduced cost of outsourcing does not necessarily equal an increase in performance. Those providing your IT infrastructure management services overseas may not feel incentivized to be efficient, even though you will be expecting streamlined business operations. Understand that you get what you pay for. Working with non-unionized workers that don’t need training may be cost-effective for a time, but costs could actually increase if your business grows outside of the typical one-size-fits-all service model.

Language and Cultural Barriers

If the language where your business is based is not the same as the person handling your IT infrastructure management services, communication can be challenging. When a customer calls about an IT problem, they are oftentimes already frustrated and want to the conversation out of the way. Your services should be capable of providing a rapid response to any IT-related crisis, but this may not be achieved if your international representative doesn’t know how to respond to that crisis. This poses the risk of dissatisfying customer service, which reflects on your brand. Cultural barriers can also bring about disconnects with your team. If you have not worked internationally in the past, you may not know how to get across your intending inflections. Both ends have to make sure to be extremely clear with every point they need to make.

Erosion of Company Loyalty

Outsourcing increases competition by bringing in new entrants to industries where labor tends to be expensive. However, your in-house team may not want to have their duties outsourced. Knowing that they could lose their job to someone overseas might discourage them and negatively impact their productivity. After all, in practice, it is easier to address concerns with people who have similar IT training to you. And who, of course, are physically present. Your team members may even decide to leave your company due to not being treated fairly. The elimination of certain jobs from the domestic workforce results in the fragmentation of the supply chain.

Keep your outsourcing onshore. By leveraging a United States service provider, you will be working alongside teams that are governed by the same laws, speak the same language, and will be ultimately easier to manage. Centre Technologies offers a comprehensive IT solution that aligns your technology to your business goals. Give us a call so we can discuss the IT infrastructure management services we can provide you with today.