3 Signs It’s Time to Outsource Your IT

IT and outsourcing are such a clichéd matching that you may as well be asking for cookies and milk. However, they’re a perfect pair for a reason: IT needs are often so complex, tedious, time consuming and requires keeping up with changes that it’s simply not possible for most businesses to DIY. Even if you manage or own an IT-centric company yourself, it’s impossible to be an expert at every niche, nook and cranny. Many startups and small businesses try to take care of IT themselves, but that can only last for so long.

There will come a time when you need to outsource IT, and that can be a major change. Every company starts small, and there may come a time when you’re such a massive corporation that managing your IT assets requires you to have an entire department. However, until that happens, the in-between stage is going to require you to rely on someone else. Here are the major signs you need to outsource immediately:

1. Your analytics are bleak

Worse, you’re not even sure where you stand with analytics. Your online presence needs to constantly be improving, from social media figures to website visitors, conversions, click through rates and the quality of traffic leads. This is a full-time job easily and nobody can do this along with other tasks. If you don’t know your analytics or the numbers are subpar, that’s a huge red flag.

2. You’re not mobile ready

Not that there are more people using mobile devices than desktop to peruse the web, it’s crucial that you’re mobile ready. This may include a mobile version of a site, an app, or both. If you’re not mobile ready, then you’re missing out on the vast majority of consumers (and not just in your field). Your competition is mobile ready, so you need to keep pace.

3. Your SEO could use an overhaul

If you don’t even know what search engine optimization is, then you’re in trouble. It’s how search engines like Google determine where you are in the ranking when someone queries your key words or phrases. You need to be at least on the first page of results if not in the top three. Otherwise, you may as well not exist.

The biggest sign of all that you need to outsource? It’s often simply that you haven’t outsourced any IT management at all. Everybody needs some help, and going it alone is a fool’s mission.