Types of IT outsourcing

The numerous advantages of IT outsourcing have made this type of IT service increasingly popular with entities in the small, medium and large business sectors. Depending on the size of the company, as well as individual preferences and the scope of the planned service, it is possible to choose from different types.

Types of IT outsourcing

• Full – represents the most standard and widely used model of IT support for companies and institutions, which care about comprehensive IT support, as well as minimizing the costs associated with maintaining their own department.
• Partial – this type of IT outsourcing is based, as the name suggests, on the partial ceding of IT responsibilities to an external company. Such a solution is popular among representatives of the public and private sectors, as it is characterized by flexibility that allows activities to be adapted to current needs.
• On-demand – is aimed primarily at small companies that do not have large enough budgets to hire an independent IT specialist or constantly cooperate with an external IT company. It consists in performing IT service activities on an ad hoc basis – i.e. when ordered by the client.

The distinction of IT outsourcing in terms of geolocation is slightly different, as we distinguish:

• Local (nearshoring) – involves ceding IT support responsibilities to a company from the same local group, i.e. from countries that are neither geographically nor culturally too far apart (e.g. a company from Germany outsourcing IT support to specialists from Poland).
• Remote (offshoring) – this is a service of outsourcing IT services remotely to companies located in a different place than the company’s headquarters (usually at a great distance, e.g. when a company from Poland outsources IT services to a company from Asia).

When deciding to cede IT support to an external company, it is worth considering to what extent you want to cooperate. On this depends the indication of the scope of IT outsourcing, as well as the associated costs of the service.