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IT Consulting in San Francisco: The Good and the Bad

IT Consulting in San Francisco

For small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), IT consulting in San Francisco is the perfect solution for their IT process needs. Nevertheless, outsourcing has its challenges. Companies should carefully assess the risk-benefit ratio before deciding if partnering with a third-party provider is the best approach.

Risks

Data

One of the biggest concerns companies have about outsourcing is loss of control over data. When someone else takes the reins, what happens to the data? This is a valid question which should be addressed in the contract. Before subscribing to any service, you should go over the stipulations and ensure the following items are covered:

  • Ownership of data – Your company should retain complete ownership of data during the contract period. The provider shouldn’t have access to it unless when necessary— and with your permission.
  • Location of storage – Some companies want their data not to be stored offshore. If your company holds sensitive data (e.g. financial information), it’s reasonable to want it stored within the United States.
  • Data migration – How is the data handled at the start and end of the contract? There should be definite guidelines on how data will be uploaded to and extracted from the system. Also, any copies on the provider’s end should be destroyed.

Processes

Another risk is the nature of your company’s processes. Not all processes can be outsourced, so there’s the matter of identifying which you can assign to a provider and which you should keep within your company. Or sometimes, a provider can handle only a certain set of processes, leaving you to find another provider to pick up the slack. However, working with multiple providers is a bigger hassle than just working with one.

The best way to address this risk is by choosing a provider that offers a comprehensive set of services. Fortunately, some providers of IT consulting in San Francisco can deliver a wide variety of services, so you can choose one to preside over all your processes. Also, a capable provider can help you plan out an IT strategy so that you won’t have to make decisions on your own.

Benefits

Cost savings

With the aforementioned risks, what makes IT outsourcing in San Francisco still worth the effort? Perhaps, the biggest benefit for companies (especially SMEs) is cost savings. Investing in one’s own infrastructure and team is an expensive venture, one which many companies can’t afford to do so even if they wanted to.

But with outsourcing, companies can manage their IT processes for a reasonable subscription fee. It does involve trusting a third-party provider, but this shouldn’t be a problem if the terms of service clearly define the limitations of the provider’s scope.

Business continuity

Since most providers offer their services via the cloud, they’re able to leverage the storage capacity and high availability of cloud platforms like Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform. If an unexpected emergency happens— like a power outage or a full-on natural disaster— services may be shortly interrupted, but data is not lost.

Is your company interested in IT consulting in San Francisco? Then check us out at OneClick Solutions Group. We cater to companies in the Bay Area. Contact us today for more information.

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