IT outsourcing - what is its essence?
Typical application scenarios for IT outsourcing are, for example, external operation of data centers, outsourcing of server administration, provision of IT specialists, use of an external IT hotline or even complete IT outsourcing.
When should you use IT outsourcing?
IT operations and application support are becoming increasingly complex for many companies due to increasing complexity and requirements for regulatory compliance, scalability, availability and security. This is because IT architectures must be constantly supported, monitored, maintained and, if necessary, evolved. With the help of IT outsourcing, companies have the opportunity to transfer these tasks to external service providers and thereby save effort and money on computer service. This means that IT outsourcing is by no means only relevant to large corporations, but is also attractive to small and medium-sized enterprises. For example, if a company cannot afford to maintain a large in-house IT department, IT outsourcing may be a cost-effective alternative. Especially for technologies that require special know-how, IT outsourcing makes sense for companies.
What are the benefits of IT outsourcing?
- Time savings (operation, maintenance and further development of IT are outsourced)
- Cost savings (savings on personnel and IT resources)
- Special know-how from optimally trained IT experts
- Compliance with regulatory and safety requirements
- always the latest hardware and software
- Ideally, scalability and high availability
- IT consulting services
What should you consider when outsourcing IT?
The most important thing in IT outsourcing is having a reliable service provider that meets your requirements, such as quality, availability, compatibility, security and compliance. You should clarify the details of cooperation with the service provider in advance and provide for as many contingencies as possible in the contract. This is the only way to ensure that you are covered in case of doubt and protect your company from any breach of contract by the service provider.
What are managed services and operational services?
With IT outsourcing, you can either completely outsource your IT processes and technologies (Managed Services), or bring external IT specialists into your company on a temporary or permanent basis (Operational Services). In the case of so-called operational services, IT experts are also directly on site in your company. Other characteristics of outsourcing such as on-demand, PaaS and SaaS are described in more detail below.
What does "on demand" mean?
On-Demand (or onDemand) means that the software is used on demand from external providers for a fee, i.e. actually rented. These external providers also ensure that the software is always updated. In addition to payment methods, both approaches also apply to free and open source systems. In addition to applications, where such use is also called Software as a Service (SaaS), especially in a cloud environment, there are comparable models for hardware (Infrastructure as a Service [IaaS] - conceptually increasingly related to computing power), development and runtime environments ( Platform as a Service [PaaS]) or as a general package for all these IT aspects (Everything as a Service [XaaS]). Other, less common acronyms refer to additional specialized aspects of this service environment, including Application Platform as a Service (APaaS), Backup as a Service (BaaS), Communications as a Service (CaaS - for communication services such as telephony and conference systems), Desktops as a Service (DaaS), Databases as a Service (DbaaS - for databases), Hardware as a Service (HaaS - for mobile devices, as well as switches , routers, servers, etc.), Monitoring as a Service (MaaS - for mobile devices, as well as switches, routers, servers, etc.). ), monitoring as a service (MaaS - especially in the field of IT security).
What is PaaS?
Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) is when, for example, database or software services are used through the cloud of an external cloud provider. You can access the services through the appropriate interfaces. The cloud provider is responsible for modernization, system administration and maintenance of the infrastructure. Another benefit is that users can access the cloud service from anywhere and also from their mobile phone.
