Monday, nine in the morning. The office internet is down, accounting can't print, and the director's email won't open. Your only IT person is on holiday with their phone switched off. Sound familiar? Most small and mid-sized companies in Baku have had a morning like this at least once.

Afterwards, managers tend to ask the same question: should we hire a second IT person, or hand the whole job to an outside company? In this article we look at both options honestly, including where each one falls short.

What is IT outsourcing?

Put simply, your computers, network, servers and software are looked after by a service company under contract instead of by an employee. It usually works as a monthly subscription. You pay a fixed fee based on the number of users and devices, and the scope of work is written into the contract.

It doesn't have to be all or nothing. Some companies outsource all of their IT. Others hand over only servers and security, and keep someone in the office for everyday tasks.

What an in-house IT person really costs

When people work out the cost of an in-house IT specialist, they often look only at the salary. The real figure is noticeably higher:

  • salary, plus the employer's taxes and social insurance contributions;
  • holidays and sick leave, when the company is effectively left without IT;
  • training and certifications, because technology changes every year;
  • software for monitoring, backups and management;
  • the time it takes to find and train someone new when that person leaves.

There's also something that's hard to put a number on: nobody is equally good at everything. A strong network engineer may be weak on cybersecurity, and someone who runs servers well may know little about 1C. Yet a small company usually expects all of it from one person.

The case for your own IT person

To be fair, an in-house specialist has real advantages.

  • They're always there. Printers, cables, a laptop for the new starter: if there's a lot of hands-on work, having someone down the corridor is convenient.
  • They know the company from the inside. Who works with what, and why a particular program was installed.
  • They work only for you. You set the priorities directly.

In companies with a large office, a lot of daily on-site work or specialised internal systems, an in-house IT team often remains the main option.

The case for outsourcing

A team, not one person. A service company has separate people for networks, servers, security and software, so your problem goes to whoever knows that area best.

No holiday gaps. If one specialist is away, someone else steps in. Support doesn't stop.

Problems get fixed before you notice them. A good outsourcing partner keeps a constant eye on your servers and backups, and deals with things like a filling disk or an expiring licence before they cause downtime. A lone in-house IT person is usually too busy firefighting to get round to it.

Predictable costs. The monthly fee is set in the contract. As your team grows, the service grows with it, and there's no one to recruit.

Knowledge doesn't live in one person's head. Passwords, the network layout and licence renewal dates are all documented. It's surprisingly common for that information to walk out of the door when the only IT person leaves.

The downsides of outsourcing

It wouldn't be honest to skip these:

  • The service company may not be in your office every day. Most issues are handled remotely, and on-site visits follow an agreed arrangement.
  • At the start, the partner needs time to get to know your company.
  • With a weak contract, response times can drag. That's why what gets done, and how quickly, should be in writing.
  • You're giving an outside company access to your systems, and that takes trust.

So which should you choose?

There's no answer that fits everyone, but a few questions make the decision much easier:

  1. How many users do you have? In a company of roughly 5 to 50 people, a full-time IT employee often isn't fully occupied, yet can't cover every area alone either. That's where outsourcing usually works out better.
  2. Do you have several offices or branches? Then remote management and monitoring come to the fore, which is exactly what service companies are good at.
  3. How much hands-on work is there in the office each day? If it's a lot, it makes sense to keep a helper on site.
  4. What does an IT failure cost you? If sales, accounting or production can't cope with even a day of downtime, relying on one person is a real risk.

The setup we see most often in practice is a mix. Someone in the office handles everyday tasks, while servers, security, backups and monitoring stay with a service company. That way your in-house person isn't on their own either; there's a whole team behind them.

What to check when choosing a partner

  • Are response and resolution times (SLA) written into the contract?
  • Which work is included in the monthly fee, and what is charged separately?
  • Are your servers and backups monitored continuously, and do you get reports?
  • Do all passwords and documentation belong to you, and can you take them back in full if the partnership ends?
  • Does the team include specialists in cybersecurity and in the software you rely on, such as 1C?

The bottom line

Choosing between your own IT person and outsourcing isn't only about price. The real question is whether your company's IT should depend on one person's memory and holiday schedule, or be run as a managed system.

Since 2017, TechLab has provided IT support and outsourcing to companies in Baku, from fully outsourced IT to a mixed model where we back up your in-house specialist. Take a look at our IT services or book a free consultation. We'll go through your current setup together and tell you honestly which model fits.