The Pros and Cons of Outsourcing Application Support

What is Outsourcing?

Outsourcing is defined as the process of allocation certain tasks to a specialized external service provider that may be located in the same geographical region or in a different region / country / time zone. Many times, organizations cannot handle all their processes internally, as they may lack the skilled resources or may need expertise for a specific application / process temporarily or it may be a cheaper option to go with outsourcing.

Application Support

Application Support can be divided into technical and functional support. While technical support is targeted more towards resolving code level errors, functional support handles user management and user queries regarding the functioning of the application.

Some of the pros and cons of outsourcing Application Support are listed below:

Pros

1. Reducing Overhead:
   With outsourcing, an organization reduces overhead as there are fewer resources and equipments required. Hence, the time required to hire resources and train them is considerably saved. Also, organizations can make financial savings by outsourcing depending upon the analysis of cost to benefit ratio.
2. Cost management:
   Most of the companies outsource services in order to reduce its cost related to hardware, servers and other maintenance work. Hiring a low cost support centre can be a very good idea as similar type of support with skilled resources may be available in a region where maintaining resources is comparatively less expensive as labour is cheaper.
3. Increase in Focus:
   Outsourcing gives more time for organizations to focus on their core activities. This is because the services which have been outsourced can be completed more efficiently as the support centre may already have the required expertise.

Cons

1. Language Barrier:
   If the support centre is located in region where the language spoken is different, then this might pose a problem is providing support to customers. There also might be cultural differences which might be a barrier. To avoid such problems, an organization must carefully select the area of the support centre, for e.g. an area where the spoken language is the primary language required for support and the region is culturally similar.
2. Security Issues:Company information may be at risk if it is entrusted to a third party located in another part of the globe. To secure the data, organizations must take necessary steps that ensure the confidentiality of information for e.g. signing non-disclosure agreements with the support centre or performing third party vulnerability assessments to ensure the system cannot be hacked into.
3.  Time-difference:
   If there is a vast difference between the time zones of the two regions, this might pose a problem to customers as critical services might go down at a time when the support is not available. Hence, it is essential to agree on the hours of support and the type of SLA’s before the contract is signed. For applications which are financially critical – it may be beneficial to have a 24/7 support centre.

Outsourcing Application Support has its pros and cons. A company must evaluate all of these and chose the location and services appropriately according to its needs. It is preferable to outsource only the services which are not critical to the organization. If critical activities are outsourced, appropriate measures must be taken to avoid any down-time or security threats.

About Author:

Dimpy Thurakhia is a consultant in Systems Plus Pvt. Ltd. Within Systems Plus, she actively contributes to the areas of Technology and Information Security. She can be contacted at dimpy.t@spluspl.com