The Most Common Struggles Facing Accounting Firms When Hiring Internal IT Staff

In this day and age, many accounting firms face challenges when it comes to hiring staff – especially those specializing in IT management.

The most common struggles facing accounting firms when hiring internal IT staff are also the most persistent, but also very common for other industries. Here are the most common hurdles that accounting firms face when hiring internal IT staff:

1. You get less for your money. When accounting firms choose to hire internal IT staff, the (approx.) $60,000 salary associated with the average information technology professional with 5 years’ experience now buys your accounting firm one person and not the team of IT professionals it normally would, and who offer invaluable expertise and knowledge. (This is great when you look at the bills from your IT provider and see that you have probably spent the same in their consulting bills for only a fraction of the billable time.)
2. Unforeseen costs. There are hidden additional costs when a business elects to hire internally. And, although the costs associated with training new staff can be significant when you have an outsourced IT partner, training is no longer the company’s challenge. A good IT partner ensures that the skills of their team are up to date. Combine this with costs associated with procurement of equipment that includes SmartPhones, laptops and other supplies, and it can quickly add up. And then there are the added payroll expenses associated with healthcare, insurance, and others logistical expenditures.
3. Limited expertise. Outsourced IT partners can offer a wealth of knowledge and great resources when needed, offering networks of partners who can help from different geographical locations and even remotely, across town.

When a company decides to hire their own staff, this experience often becomes unavailable to them and they are stuck with just a single person or a very small team with limited expertise. As a result, when certain skills are required which are beyond the skills level of their staff, it becomes an additional expense that, generally, the right managed services partner can extend to a company as a built-in part of their program.

4. Unchallenged staff. Keeping your hired help busy and challenged can be a pitfall if you’re not careful. What happens at the average company when interesting challenges stop happening for your IT techs?

Boredom, is what, and it can be disastrous.

What generally occurs with in-house staff who succumb to occupational boredom? They choose to leave to seek out new challenges. When a company loses a member of their own internal staff, the intellectual property and invested knowledge inherent with that position goes out the door with them.

This leaves a huge void in the understanding of your IT systems and network layout. They decide to adopt “make work” projects – and when this occurs it can be disastrous as well. With a trusted IT partner or managed service provider, this knowledge is retained and companies can continue to function despite any staff departures.

Many in-house IT techs make work projects the result of boredom and complacency because of a lack of interesting challenges. When your internal IT staff are busy creating new projects, attention to the immediate, daily needs of your IT systems and network suffers. These elective projects are largely distractions that can put fundamental systems at risk. Your IT partner, on the other hand, doesn’t worry about finding stuff to do on your network, and makes the daily attention to your systems’ basic requirements their main focus.

5. Different levels of dedication. When a CPA firm hires an outsourced IT services company as opposed to hiring internally, the service they receive comes from those whose main focus is on ensuring their client’s needs are being addressed in the most efficient manner possible. Internal staff are costly to train, educate, and keep, and they often have a wandering eye occupationally, so to speak.

Most qualified IT partners, on the other hand, remain focused on the larger picture, ensuring everything is taken care of in their customer’s IT networking environment including:

• Vendor Relations and Management
• Proper IT Budgeting and Resource Allocation
• Proactive IT Services and Network Monitoring
• Educating and Collaborating with Internal Staff
• Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Planning

There are more challenges and lessons to learn when hiring in-house IT staff, to be sure. These are merely some of the overarching concerns for CPA firms when wrestling with the question of outsourcing IT vs. hiring internally.

Who’s Your NYC Accounting Support Partner?

With all the specialization, certification, and other requirements that go into both becoming and hiring IT staff internally, the better choice is clear – you need a mentor who can provide reliable support when it comes to your IT network.

You have enough on your plate dealing with customer relations, internal projects, staff policies and the like. We can free up some of your human resources costs for other projects – or, we can augment your current staff quite ably as well.

Whatever scenario you choose, Krantz Secure Technologies can expertly handle your NYC IT support.

Contact us at (212) 286-0325 or ITsolutions@krantzsecure.com to book a complimentary review of your accounting firm’s IT networking and support requirements, and ease the challenges that accounting firms face when hiring internal IT staff.