How can you integrate your IT resources and processes?

1 Assess your current IT state

Before you engage an IT outsourcing provider, you need to have a clear understanding of your current IT state. This includes your IT goals, needs, challenges, risks, and opportunities. You also need to evaluate your IT infrastructure, systems, applications, data, security, and governance. By conducting a thorough IT assessment, you can identify the gaps and areas that need improvement, as well as the best outsourcing model for your business.

2 Choose a suitable IT outsourcing model

When selecting an IT outsourcing model, consider your business objectives, budget, and level of control. Staff augmentation involves hiring external IT professionals to supplement your in-house team for specific projects or tasks. Project-based outsourcing is when you outsource a complete IT project or function to an external provider. Managed services are when you outsource the ongoing management and maintenance of your IT infrastructure, systems, or applications to an external provider. Cloud services are accessed over the internet from a cloud provider who offers various options such as software as a service (SaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), or infrastructure as a service (IaaS). Ultimately, you must decide which model is best for your business needs and expectations.

3 Communicate and collaborate with your IT outsourcing partner

Once you have chosen an IT outsourcing model and provider, you need to establish a clear and effective communication and collaboration process with them. This involves setting the roles and responsibilities, expectations and deliverables, timelines and milestones, quality standards and metrics, feedback and reporting mechanisms, and escalation and resolution procedures. You also need to ensure that your IT outsourcing partner understands your business vision, values, and culture, and aligns their IT resources and processes with yours.