IT Outsourcing Recommendations?

I would suggest calling Illumen in Denver. (www.illumen.com) They are a client of mine so I know their offerings intimately. They are a proprietary system that makes it easy for them to remotely manage your network. They can also create a system for managing your on-site needs. Contact Mischa Danaceau at 303-743-8700

Spencer,
There are several vendors; what must be evaluated is the ability to service the needs of small and midsized companies like yours. The ones that support the SME segment sometimes may not have the expertise, experience and processes. I would suggest contacting FutureFocus Infotech. They are based in India, but have offices in Chicago & Atlanta. They are a portfolio company of ours, and I would be happy to make an introduction.

Thanks

Spencer, you may also try contacting The Falkor Group in Chicago. Ben Wilson is the owner. phone is 312-602-6550. Good Luck.

Keep in mind, one of the biggest reasons to outsource IT is not financial. It's service level, i.e., a well run provider of managed-services will have solid process/procedures and a large stable of techs with broad and deep qualifications. So even if cost is the same, you are getting a lot better service than you can create on your own (certainly for a small co., anyway).

In theory, bigger companies can DIY IT for lower cost than outsourcing (I'm not sure it makes sense generally, but that's another discussion). If you are considering keeping it in-house, check out consulting-portal.com. They have a system that makes it easy to implement ITIL compliant IT processes - so you don't have to reinvent the wheel. I haven't worked with them, but the pitch I heard was impressive.

Spencer:
I served as the CFO for a 200 employee systems integrator and software sales and support company that outsourced most of its IT function. We kept one individual on staff to be an ERP application support specialist, service support for laptop and desktop issues, and to work on the development of a Sharepoint system. We outsourced network and infrastructure administration, strategic planning, security and back-up service support. We were satisfied with the outcome, costs were decreased, urgent support issues could be immediately dealt with by someone on-site and familiar to the users, and senior-level issues could be addressed by someone with the appropriate amount of experience and knowledge.

As Mark stated above, your decision should focus on what type of service level you want, meaning what in your and your employees opinions needs to be handled immediately, what can wait, what type of expertise do you want to add, etc.

Not only do you have to find a company that will provide the service, you need to interview many (not a few) of the service techs (those who will be assigned to your company or those who answer the phones) to see if

a) they are knowledgeable
b) personable
c) patient
d) regional (do they understand your local idioms)

It's great to have an outsourced help desk, but if they can't understand you and your business, think out of the box, and communicate so you understand them; they are worthless.

Having headed procurement among other duties at a relatively larger company ($4 Billion top line), I have a lot of experience with outsourcing of It application, development and maintenance. Each has its own rules and requirements. The effort is relatively large and requires careful negotiation of T's & C's and clear manuscripting of the master service agreement, the service level agreements with clear Key Performance Indicators and escalators if services are not to your satisfaction. Companies that do this work with which I have dealt include CGI, IBM (both probably too big for your co size), TCI and HCL. Good luck. If properly structured, these deals can work. I would recommend an RFP approach.