Ensure your business thrives amid economic headwinds
IT OUTSOURCING: THE BEST RECESSION DEFENSE
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contents
Receive immediate support
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Access modern IT
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Enhance cybersecurity and resiliency
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Mitigate staffing challenges
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Improve efficiency and reduce complexity
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Control your cost and time
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Outsourcing IT in a recession: what you need to know
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How do I get started?
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OUTSOURCING IT IN A RECESSION: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Did you know?
Jonathan Silverman Director of insurance solutions, Microsoft
Insurers are recognizing the value of having access to unlimited compute capacity for risk modeling and . . . making substantial cost savings with infrastructure related to the risk modeling workload.
Outsourcing should extend beyond a simple vendor relationship into a comprehensive partnership
As economic headwinds form, businesses of all types and sizes are searching for ways to cut costs, streamline operations and maximize efficiency. In the event of a recession, adequate preparation is the key to not only keeping your business alive but enabling it to thrive. Although it may seem counter-intuitive, outsourcing key business functions during a recession can offer a lot of benefits. Your first instincts when preparing for a recession may be to eliminate external vendors and pull operations in-house. But outsourcing IT functions enables you to become more flexible in your cost structure and breathe new life into your operations during otherwise uncertain times. When properly selected, outsourcing to a Managed Services Provider (MSP) can provide competitive advantages and a trusted partner to help fortify your business into the future. Continue reading to learn the top reasons why outsourcing should be the first thing to consider during a recession and how a partnership with FIS Managed IT can help solve your business’ unique IT needs and challenges for years to come.
Insurance companies are more aware than ever of the wealth of information at their disposal. Their ability to extract value from data using advanced analytics has become critical to competitive advantage.
For actuaries, the pressure is on to gain greater insights from big data and rapidly transform modeling results into business intelligence.
use IT outsourcing, which is also a powerful tool for SMBs (ISG)
$519bn
Businesses are expected to spend on IT outsourcing in 2023, a 22% increase over 2019 (Deloitte)
92% of the top 2000 global companies (G2000)
Rick Yuan Head of actuarial modeling and transformation, AIA Group
We needed to run a projection tens of thousands of times to come out with a range of possibilities. One solution was to purchase more hardware, but the obvious winner was move to the public cloud. The beauty is you can tap that capacity when you need it and switch it off when you’ve finished the calculation.
CONTROL YOUR COST AND TIME
Monitoring complex systems, keeping them maintained and managing consistent updates takes time and drives up costs. Outsourcing to an MSP partner gives your business the ability to reduce costs and reallocate resources to more strategic areas. Outsourcing enables you to utilize predictable, planned expenditures for better decision-making, which is especially critical during an uncertain macroeconomic climate. Converting CapEx to OpEx and only using the resources you need when you need them, is especially helpful while your business is weathering a stormy marketplace. While IT budget reduction is still a top priority, it’s no longer the primary benefit of working with an MSP. With a trusted managed IT services partner handling infrastructure planning, improvements, maintenance and unplanned work, your staff are freed up to focus on business growth and strategic objectives.
With so much costly, inflexible IT to manage, your on-site infrastructure could be holding you back.
46% of respondents to a CompTIA survey cut their IT budget by 25% or more; 13% cut their budget by more than 50% (CompTIA)
Saving money is still a top priority, (Fortunly, 2022)
Freeing up resources to focus on core business objectives is the most widely cited reason companies outsource IT functions, (Fortunly, 2022)
at 49%
at 45%
IMPROVE EFFICIENCY AND REDUCE COMPLEXITY
David Elliott Architecture manager for financial services, Amazon Web Services
For insurers, the question isn’t "if" (they will migrate existing applications to the cloud) – it’s how fast they can move and what are they going to move first?
IT infrastructure is complex and requires extensive knowledge of constantly changing technology. Companies must be able to efficiently manage processes and utilize tools most effectively, while ensuring comprehensive security. A trusted MSP can help simplify everything from cloud infrastructure to embedded cybersecurity. Exceptional IT infrastructure also requires proper management and ongoing maintenance, which a good MSP can provide 24/7/365. One of an MSP‘s core responsibilities is proactive monitoring of IT infrastructure and associated networks, and replacing equipment and tools before business and service disruptions occur. Proactively monitoring IT systems can be time-consuming and difficult to manage in-house without the expert staff, premier tools and best practices that a reputable MSP can provide.
But beyond lockdown conditions, there are more reasons than ever to run your organization’s most powerful systems in the cloud.
In 2020, unprecedented global circumstances have shown us all the benefits of hosted IT for business continuity and remote working.
88% of respondents state that standardization and efficiency of processes is a top objective in investing in outsourcing services (2021 Global Shared Services and Outsourcing Survey Report; Deloitte)
Successful deployment of managed services can reduce IT costs by 25 – 45% and improve operational efficiency by 45 – 65% (Global Managed Services Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts [2022 – 2027], Mordor Intelligence LLP)
Chief risk officer Major insurance company
The accommodation of large data sets, highly demanding algorithms and the hardware for instant computational resources make the cloud ideal for large-scale data analysis.
MITIGATE STAFFING CHALLENGES
Outsourcing is a great way to avoid the productivity and morale impacts associated with layoffs. Cost and time savings on staffing and HR activities translates into one of the largest outsourcing benefits for many outsourcing buyers. Partnering with an MSP eliminates hiring and training costs and enables employees to focus on key business objectives. It allows companies to mitigate employee burnout during tough economic times and give staff the tools they need to do their jobs most effectively. MSPs and outsourcers of all types remove the headaches of traditional staffing challenges and reduce or eliminate key staff risk, which is especially critical in IT operations. Outsourcing relieves the concern about losing critical IT support staff, leaving your business high and dry without replacements. With the right MSP partner, you’ll receive 24/7 IT monitoring and support.
Managed cloud services give you the power and scalability of a sophisticated actuarial modeling and risk management platform, but reduce the challenges, costs and risks of provisioning infrastructure and managing the underlying IT.
identify talent acquisition as a top internal challenge in meeting their organizations’ strategic priorities (US Global Outsourcing Survey 2022; Deloitte)
say outsourcing lets them access skillsets that aren’t available in-house (Fortunly, 2022)
50% of executives
About 46% of buyers
The IT talent pool has gotten smaller: 3.5 million cybersecurity jobs will remain unfilled in 2025 (Cybersecurity Ventures)
ENHANCE CYBERSECURITY AND RESILIENCY
The volume and severity of cyber-attacks have exploded in recent history and continues to grow. Organizations of all types and sizes have been targeted and breached in higher numbers, and no business is immune. Financial and reputational risk exposure, ransomware, patching vulnerabilities, data breaches, dark web, social engineering, phishing and staff security awareness and training are among the top security concerns businesses face today. Working with an MSP to manage cybersecurity and IT resilience gives you 24/7/365 monitoring by security experts, advanced threat detection and response capabilities, and access to the latest network security software and firewalls. Outsourcing cybersecurity to a trusted partner provides many organizations with a higher standard of security than they could provide in-house, and in turn the peace of mind and confidence that their business is secured from a volatile cyberthreat landscape. Unplanned outages and downtime lead to lost revenue and lower productivity. An MSP ensures business continuity across all types of infrastructure, from cybersecurity to management and design of cloud environments to network solutions and much more.
Consistent system monitoring curtails operational disruption and reduces downtime expenses by as much as 50% (CompTIA, 2021)
on ransomware by 2031 (Cybersecurity Ventures, 2022)
turn to external service providers, in full or in part, for their cybersecurity capabilities (US Global Outsourcing Survey 2022; Deloitte)
81% of executives
over $265 billion annually
Victims are expected to spend
ACCESS MODERN IT
A good MSP provides expert staff, best practices and processes, premier digital tools, and actionable insights and intelligence that would be impossible for many businesses to obtain themselves. When you work with an MSP, you can trust them to comprehensively assess, modernize and manage your infrastructure to ensure your mission critical tasks and resources run smoothly. Traditional in-house IT staff are often “generalists” in the IT world. Many times, they are spread too thin responding to support and maintenance issues from across the business. You can more rapidly adopt IT automation, change management and operational optimization by partnering with an experienced MSP whose core function lies in these areas.
Instead of trying to maintain technology currency and stay ahead of the curve on your own, an experienced and trusted MSP can help propel your business forward regardless of the current economic climate.
42% of respondents said talent gaps are slowing IT modernization initiatives (Market Pulse: 2022 IT Talent Requirements Call for Balanced Strategy; CIO, 2022)
95% of modern applications will be built using cloud-native strategies by 2025, enabling organizations to improve customer engagement, reduce operational overhead and ensure greater resilience. (Gartner)
RECEIVE IMMEDIATE SUPPORT
In-house IT professionals can quickly become overwhelmed with the volume and complexity of today’s technology issues. But when you outsource your IT operations, you gain access to a broad range of IT knowledge and expertise. End-user help desk services, consulting, security oversight and other services are immediately available through a managed IT service provider. Whether you need help with managing some or all of your vendor due diligence activities (so that you can rest easy knowing other third-party relationships are vetted on an ongoing basis), designing and securing cloud environments from the ground up, or modernizing your current software and infrastructure, partnering with an MSP for managed IT services gives you expert and immediate support to ensure your success.
Get the level of service you need – and your customers expect – by partnering with an MSP for immediate and flexible support to overcome daily IT hurdles
Common SLA types include: Response time, Time to Notification, Time to Restore, Scope of Services, and System Uptime
Any good MSP will have well-defined service level agreements (SLAs) that define the level of support you can expect
HOW DO I GET STARTED?
Keeping up with the complex and ever-changing IT landscape is a common challenge for many organizations, especially with the potential of a recession on the horizon. But despite a potentially difficult macroeconomic climate, outsourcing your IT operations does not have to be a difficult decision, as long as you ask the right questions. You can start by identifying key areas of your business that could be outsourced, such as cloud infrastructure and management services, cybersecurity and regulatory compliance, network infrastructure, unified communications and/or general IT operations. Evaluate your IT strategy’s weak points and example your downtime and support – is issue resolution a struggle? How is your network’s health – are you in good shape? Would you know if you weren’t? Is your current IT team finding it difficult to stay ahead of rising cyberattacks? And, of course, consider your future. What do you want to achieve in the near term and in the long term? How can IT help you achieve it? Every business has different IT needs, and a good MSP can apply either a modular or a comprehensive approach depending on your situation and challenges.
It’s important to remember that MSPs provide competitive advantages to businesses through all macroeconomic climates, not just during downturns. Your MSP relationship should be a true partnership.
A few keys to success before you begin searching for an MSP: have a firm grasp on your IT priorities, understand what tasks enhanced IT support can help you accomplish, take a close look at SLAs, and ask MSPs how they approach their own cybersecurity and infrastructure strategy
Let’s solve your IT challenges together
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Outsourcing is one of the most effective ways to prepare for a recession. It reduces overhead and reliance on in-house staff to save costs. It enables scalability and access to best practices for navigating the economy. With the global scale and expertise of FIS Managed IT, organizations of all types can deploy a technology platform under one solution. We offer managed solutions for cloud, cybersecurity, risk and network services as well as unified communications and general IT support. We help our clients reduce competing priorities so they can focus on their business, improve speed to market and simplify IT modernization without resource constraints. Our mission is to propel your business forward as an extension of your in-house IT team.
HOW FIS MANAGED IT CAN HELP
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FIS is a leading provider of technology solutions for financial institutions and businesses of all sizes and across any industry globally. We enable the movement of commerce by unlocking the financial technology that powers the world’s economy. Our employees are dedicated to advancing the way the world pays, banks and invests through our trusted innovation, absolute performance and flexible architecture. We help our clients use technology in innovative ways to solve business-critical challenges and deliver superior experiences for their customers. Headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, FIS ranks #241 on the 2021 Fortune 500 and is a member of Standard & Poor’s 500® Index.
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