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Except for the largest or most technology-dependent businesses, it makes little to no sense for companies to be managing their IT resources in-house. That’s when it comes to IT outsourcing, Chicago small business and medium-sized businesses alike have been calling in droves to ascertain just how and why outsourcing this crucial component of day-to-day operations makes so much business sense.

First, most businesses don’t have the scale of technology needed to justify the employment of one — if not a few — full-time employees. Networks and computers are automatic, and as such tend to perform reliably — until there’s too much human interference. In some sense, the reason many small and medium-sized businesses have IT departments is because their IT solutions are poorly designed, installed, and configured, and hence require a full-time staff to keep them up and running. By employing IT outsourcing, Chicago businesses are able to eliminate the cost of paying a staff of supposedly highly-trained professionals. In exchange, they receive a full consultation on their network and can choose to build from scratch or have their existing one optimized for their specific needs. On top of that, they receive regular, scheduled maintenance that keeps things running smoothly and addresses any of the small and sometimes unavoidable glitches that networks experience. By paying for fewer people for fewer hours and receiving greater reliability, businesses already save on costs.

But businesses also receive an additional benefit from not having to administer their IT resources themselves. Few managers are versed on the whys and wherefores of IP addresses, computer security, and operating system optimization, so they are really in no place to make an informed decision about the aptitude of the personnel they hire. Employing an outside company whose bread is earned from competency in the field ensures professionalism and expertise.

By not having to bother with the recruitment, hiring, training, paying, housing, and turnover of IT employees, businesses further free up human capital from its focus on HR and technology management to the core competency of the business, which — any part-time-techie-come-CEO can tell you — will do wonders for the top and bottom lines.

IT outsourcing makes sense for a lot of the reasons that other outsourcing makes sense: it lowers costs, improves quality, and frees up human capital to focus on core business areas. While handing over the reigns of this key piece of day-to-day business to an outsider can be daunting, it is a risk with great reward that is worth taking in this tough economic time.