IT Security Expertise: Consolidation Can Mean High Downtime Costs
Technology leadership teams are constantly challenged with ways to streamline IT expenses while navigating economic uncertainty, competition, shareholder expectations, and compliance issues. Cost reduction is a popular strategy for organizations aiming to improve profitability, efficiency, and competitiveness. However, cutting costs without consulting IT security experts can actually have the opposite effect, such as having too many security layers managed by a single technology provider.
The Dangers of Cost Cutting by Consolidating IT Security Tools
Most organizations are already stretching resources thin to try to reduce IT costs. To free up employee time, companies are looking for easier reporting mechanisms and 2-in-1 security solutions. A 2-in-1 security solution combines endpoint detection and response with managed detection and response services through one software provider. This makes it easier to save money on procurement and reporting.
However, issues can arise if there are too many eggs in one basket. It is better to treat your security tools as separate layers of defense. This way, if one tool is experiencing a major issue, the functionality remaining from the other prevents total downtime costs. Your technology leadership team may find that combining tools was not as financially advantageous as initially thought.
Cost Cutting by Consolidating IT Security Experts Can Be Even Worse
It is important for every business to regularly evaluate the bottom line, especially during inflationary periods when the cost of doing business is rising. Hiring contractors can help streamline costs, but it is crucial to understand the trade-offs in availability, accountability, and talent.
Certain roles in a company are easier to augment with managed IT services. One must carefully evaluate the performance of IT and security management to maintain quality, safety, and accountability. It is best if most functions have full-time availability and accountability built-in. Consistency and reliability in personnel are key to developing a robust security posture over time.
If an organization opts to cut costs by hiring a predominantly contractor IT workforce, it may trade off accountability (such as the quality of work and testing) and the ability to react swiftly to emergencies. For example, companies affected by the poorly tested recent release of CrowdStrike were significantly hampered without enough IT staff to physically address each machine impacted by the faulty software update. It took several days for the already stretched IT team to manually reboot each computer.
Our IT Company in Denver Can Help Find Other Ways to Cut Costs
Always look for opportunities to streamline expenses by evaluating existing technologies, software development costs, and operational cost management. There are numerous areas where hidden costs, unused tools, and legacy items may be eliminated or restructured. Leveraging an MSP (Managed Service Provider), like FocusConnect, is an excellent way to reduce costs without compromising security quality, and it can help your organization build a strong, consistent, and trusted team.
It starts with a conversation. Is your organization growing rapidly, scaling in the mid-market, or struggling with compliance management? Give our IT security experts a call and let our team be a trusted extension of yours to ensure that cost-cutting does not result in downtime.