The benefits of hiring an external consultant to audit your IT infrastructure.

Introduction

We’ve seen firsthand the benefits of hiring an external consultant to audit your IT infrastructure. This is not to say that there aren't many benefits to having an internal IT department conduct an audit as well. However, there are times when they simply don't have the time or resources needed to conduct a full review and then research and recommend positive changes within their company's current infrastructure. In these situations bringing in an outside consultant can provide much more value than meets the eye. So let me share with you some of the reasons why bringing in an external consultant for this type of work can be beneficial for your company:

In many companies, Internal IT departments are like the forgotten stepchild, often not given the time or resources required to make positive changes to the company's IT infrastructure.

To understand why it's important for external consultants to be involved with auditing your company's IT infrastructure, let's take a look at some of the reasons why internal IT departments have problems:

• Competing priorities: It can be difficult for an IT department that doesn't report directly to any one executive or owner of your business (such as CIOs) because they sometimes don't get enough attention from top executives when there are more pressing matters that require immediate attention.

• Understaffed: The number one issue facing most organisations when it comes to their technology is the lack of staff members who can support it properly; this is especially true within small businesses because they often lack dedicated resources while also attempting other aspects such as marketing or sales—which means there isn't much room left over when dealing with problems related directly back towards how well-functioning everything works together altogether! For large companies understaffing is less likely however in circumstances where IT functions have been outsourced, the skill or expertise is not always retained internally, therefore in these circumstances, understaffing in those areas can occur.

Benefits to having an external consultant conduct an audit of your company's IT infrastructure.

There are several benefits to having an external consultant conduct an audit of your company's IT infrastructure.

• A cost-benefit: The first and most obvious advantage of hiring an external consultant is that it will save you money. You can save tens of thousands of dollars by hiring someone who knows what they're doing, rather than paying for the same services from an internal employee or team at your company.

• Increased efficiencies: Having a third party look at your systems and processes can help identify areas where there may be wasted time or resources, which could lead to better use of those resources in the future (such as by implementing new tools).

• Better understanding by stakeholders: Whether it's shareholders, investors or customers - knowing how well your IT infrastructure works is important not only for financial reasons but also because it impacts their perception of how good a job you do as a business leader (or employee).

Reduced disruption to current operations is another major benefit.

This is especially important for companies with busy employees and/or business processes. While internal IT staff may be able to conduct a cybersecurity assessment, it might not be enough to identify all vulnerabilities because they may only focus on certain aspects of the system or may lack the experience required for comprehensive testing. External consultants will be able to look at all of the different facets of a company's infrastructure, including its devices, applications, networks and data centres—and how those elements work together—to ensure that there are no major security holes in place before hackers can exploit them.

External consultants will also make sure that their recommendations are implemented by providing follow-up training sessions or workshops so that employees understand how their actions affect overall network security as well as provide guidance on best practices through regular check-ins after implementation has been completed (for example: monthly).

One of the benefits of hiring an external consultant to audit your IT infrastructure is that you will get unbiased and objective feedback on how well your internal IT department's use of your systems is working for the company as a whole.

The reason this is important is that when you have someone who has no direct stake in their own job or performance, they can give you a very honest opinion about whether or not things are working well or not. They don’t have to worry about losing their job if they say something negative about how one department works with another department, which makes them much more willing to tell it like it is than other people might be.

An outside consultant can also have a greater understanding of the immediate and future needs of your company when compared to what your internal IT department may be prepared for.

It’s possible that they may not have the same vision or experience as an external consultant, which can create a conflict between what is needed in the short term versus what is needed long-term. Leadership in the company may be planning a restructuring as well and do not want internal staff to know until the transformation is analysed fully. For this reason, it’s essential that you hire someone who knows both current technology and future trends so they can plan accordingly based on their expertise.

External consultants also have the benefit of being able to benchmark your IT infrastructure against other companies like yours within their network of clients. This will allow them to see if your IT is performing well or not, which is useful for making budgeting decisions.

Finally bringing in an outside consultant allows you to make a more informed decision on whether expanding or reallocating budgets towards your internal IT department is worthwhile or not.

As we’ve seen, each situation is different and can vary greatly depending on what kind of business you run. Many factors come into play when deciding whether an external consultant should be brought in: how much work does your company need to be done? How much money do you want to spend? Do you have the internal resources available to handle those tasks alone?

These are all questions that need answers before making any moves (either internally or externally). If done correctly, it will help shape your future investments in digital transformation by making sure they’re working for you.

Whether you decide to bring in an external consultant or not, it's important to know if your company's investments in IT are working well for you.

If you're thinking about bringing in an external consultant to audit your IT infrastructure, make sure you understand the benefits of doing so.

Giving yourself the opportunity to have someone outside of your company evaluate how well your investments are working for you can help ensure that nothing gets left behind when it comes time for a future evaluation. All too often we rely on our own knowledge and judgement when it comes to evaluating our systems and infrastructure, but there's no better way to find out what's working than by getting a third party involved. The right external review can give them:

• A holistic picture of how well their investments are maximising productivity across all aspects of the organisation;
• A fresh perspective on existing processes and procedures;
• The ability to evaluate whether or not new acquisitions will be cost-effective;
• And perhaps most importantly, an objective assessment from someone who isn't personally vested in any of these things (including past decisions).

Conclusion

While it can be difficult to find the money for an external consultant, it's worth looking into. The benefits of hiring an external consultant are numerous and can help you make better decisions about your company's IT infrastructure. We hope this article has given you some insight into what it takes to run a successful business through an e-commerce platform!

If you are interested to understand what elements you might need to examine during an IT infrastructure and system audit - we invite you to read this article for more information…