Like outsourcing itself, IT advisory services are entirely scalable. They can help you analyze and address virtually any type of IT challenge, from investigating across-the-board transformation to zooming in on one nagging deficiency. And if you choose the right IT advisory services, they will be entirely flexible, too. They’re there to help you achieve your IT goals.  

Along the way, you should expect to get keen insight based on years of high-level IT and business management experience – expertise that comes from working within companies much like yours in size and complexity. You’ll get reliable, unbiased  recommendations and a cost-conscious attitude that keeps your budget firmly in mind.

Here are four questions IT advisors can help you address:

1. Should you, or shouldn’t you?

If you’re considering outsourcing, you can’t make competent, effective decisions without the right data. IT advisory services can be especially valuable to guide you through a step-by-step process that enables you to establish a comprehensive baseline of current functions and services and identify every tangible and indirect expense that drives your total cost of ownership.

They’ll help determine what general solution designs and pricing models might work best for you. You’ll fully understand your internal gaps as well as marketplace opportunities that can effectively resolve your most pressing challenges while helping you achieve long-term goals and expectations. They’ll pull all that together to construct a business case you can rely on to make further decisions.

Even if you decide not to pursue outsourcing right now, you’ll have a crystal clear picture of where you stand, and that can help your C-team make more intelligent decisions about all sorts of key business issues.

2. If you should, what?

Moving forward with outsourcing requires a deeper examination of delivery models and providers, to design a high-level solution specifically tailored to meet your current needs and position you to capture future opportunities. It’s complicated and time-consuming, but the right IT advisory services can help you make sense of it all.

You can examine options to completely transform your IT operations, but even outsourcing a few select services can make a huge difference in your ability to curb operations costs, expand services and improve quality. You can address specific weak points such as disaster recovery planning to build confidence in your ability to operate even when bad things happen.

3. And who’re you gonna call?

The most excellent solution you can craft will need an equally excellent vendor to bring it to life. Top-quality IT advisory services know the “who” as well as the “what” within the outsourcing marketplace. They know that you’ll need the right services, at the right price, from the right people to achieve success. Negotiating a contract that’s strategically and financially valuable takes skill. This is another area where your IT advisory services can be outstandingly useful.

They’ll help you find a provider you can work with harmoniously, too. That’s more important than you might think, because most IT outsourcing arrangements fall short due to failed relationships rather than failure to meet technical performance standards.

4. What about the folks or functions left behind?

Even if you opt for wholesale transformation of your IT operations, you’re not washing your hands of everything IT. And if you choose selected services, you’ll still have IT functions and staff to manage in-house. IT advisory services can help you get the most from your retained services and people, with streamlined processes, stronger governance policies and procedures and other details that will drive greater efficiency and effectiveness while reducing costs.

Taking a radically different approach to your IT operations could be the answer to resolving some of your thorniest problems. You won’t know until you look into it, and that can be a lot of complex, confusing work. IT advisory services can smooth the way, helping you address challenges large and small to keep your organization running smoothly, competitively and profitably.

Photo credit: WillowW via Wikimedia Commons