IT Outsourcing for Small Business

September 18, 2008
What do you do when off-the-shelf software just isn’t what you need, or if you want to integrate a couple of different systems – say QuickBooks with your shipping application or your customer database with a new Web-based system? Unless you happen to be a programmer, or have one on the payroll, the chances are you’ll outsource the project.

“I didn’t do it myself because I didn’t know how – I am not a programmer,” said Oscar Camarena, finance director of Mission: Renaissance, Inc., a fine art instruction organization with over 100 staff. “The primary factor in deciding to outsource – we couldn’t do it in house.”

That, in a nutshell, is the reason why most SMBs look outside their companies for help – they just don’t have the internal expertise. While Mission: Renaissance found a local-area programmer ‑ Barram Software ‑ a few adventurous SMBs are being tempted overseas for technical assistance.

Five Star Memories picked an Indian outsourcer called Photon Infotech as it couldn’t find anyone in the U.S that inspired enough confidence to award the contract.

“In the end, Photon was not the least expensive, but it was the one I felt could do the job,” said Matt Ryan, president of Five Star Memories, a firm with 15 employees that allows people to create memory books online. “My decision to use an overseas company was a great experience for me.”

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