More and more companies are using, or considering to use, outsourced IT services. The reasons involve cost and expertise. Can they maintain or even enhance their IT systems by outsourcing, and save money in the process? This win, win outcome seems to good to be true but it is possible when the IT outsourcing company they choose deploys outsourcing to India as part of its service mix.

In recent years the outsourcing option has gained in popularity for companies large enough to actually maintain their own IT section as well as smaller companies without such capacity. The IT outsourced option can provide a number of benefits. Principally it concentrates the real IT experts upon what they are trained, namely maintaining and enhancing IT systems. This allows the company staff to do their trained jobs, namely helping their company to business success.

At the start of the outsourcing trend UK-based companies may have only relied upon IT support company based in their own country, but increasingly the benefits of India outsourcing have been recognised. The low costs achieved from such strategic deployment of staff resources mean savings that can be passed on to the outsourcing customer.

With the negative connotations of sub-continent-based call centres, for example, members of the public and business people alike have instinctively reacted against the notion of business IT support coming from so far away from Britain. But this can be overcome if the India outsourcing is confined to the backroom IT technical issues. A combination of these with UK-based help desks and customer relations means the best of both worlds for outsourced IT services.

Using this mix of service deployment still often offers zero compromise in terms of the range of support. Desktop and server support should come as standard, with quick response being one of the key factors in the choice of supplier.

Design, installation and system configuration should be accompanied by constant consultation with the client, which forestalls future problems. And the monitoring of any new system also helps prevent IT issues later.

Disaster recovery strategies may include online and Symantec back-ups, and should definitely include data recovery and the provision of a temporary back-up server should disaster strike. Outsourced IT Services should not mean the increase of security and operational risks. The exact opposite should be the case.

The cost-reductions mentioned above can also be increased if the outsourcers you recruit also hold the ability to source the best value in software and hardware. The equipment to best fit the business needs and at the best price.

The design capabilities of outsourcing companies have been looked at already. Other areas in which companies outsourcing to India or elsewhere can expect services to include are SEO, email and hosting solutions and other business process outsourcing (BPO) elements.