PureTechs

PureTechsOutsourced IT vs hiring

Guide · Outsourced IT vs hiring

Hire an IT person, or outsource the department?

Every growing office in Mumbai reaches the same question: hire someone to “handle IT”, or hand it to an outsourced IT team. Here is an honest comparison — including when hiring is the better choice.

The short answer

If you need someone physically at desks all day, every day, hire — and consider outsourcing the specialist work behind them. If what you need is a network, firewall, servers, backup, Microsoft 365 and security that are designed, maintained and documented properly, one person rarely covers all of it; an outsourced IT department does, under a written contract.

Who this is for

Owners and managers of offices with roughly 5 to 150 users who are choosing between an IT hire and an outside IT team — or who already have one IT person and are not sure it is enough.

Side by side.

FactorHiring an IT personOutsourced IT department
SkillsOne person’s experience — often strong on desktops and printers, thinner on firewalls, servers and cloudA team: desktop, network, firewall, server, Microsoft 365, backup and security
Leave and exitsWhen they are on leave or resign, support stops and the knowledge leaves with themCover continues, and the documentation stays with you
DocumentationDepends on the individualNetwork diagram, IP sheet, asset list and records are part of the contract
MonitoringUsually reactive — problems are found when someone complainsMonitoring and preventive maintenance on a schedule
PresenceIn the office during working hoursRemote first; on-site visits as the contract defines
Cost modelSalary plus statutory costs, training, tools and replacement hiringA contract quoted after a survey of your actual setup
ManagementYou manage, review and retain the personYou manage one contract and one named engineer

When hiring makes more sense

  • Desk-side work is constant — a large office that needs someone physically present all day
  • You build and run software in house and need a developer on staff
  • Your processes require an employee on site for compliance or security reasons

When an outsourced IT department makes more sense

  • You need network, firewall, servers, backup and Microsoft 365 done properly, not only desktop fixes
  • Support cannot stop when one person is away
  • You want monitoring, maintenance and documentation, not only reactive fixes
  • You have one IT person who needs specialist backup behind them

What decides the cost either way

  • Number of users, devices and sites
  • Whether a server, NAS or firewall runs in the office
  • How much on-site time is needed each month
  • Whether hardware parts are covered
  • How much a stoppage costs you — billing, Tally, email or dispatch

The honest middle

Many offices do both: keep one coordinator on staff for daily desk-side help, and use PureTechs for the network, firewall, servers, security, backup and escalations — plus cover when that person is away.

Straight answers

Questions we hear about this.

Is outsourced IT cheaper than hiring an IT employee?

It depends on your size and how much IT you run. Compare the full cost of a hire — salary, statutory costs, training, tools and replacement when they leave — with a contract quoted for your actual setup. PureTechs quotes after a survey, so the comparison uses real numbers, not guesses.

Can one IT person handle a whole office?

For desktops, printers and user help, often yes. Designing and securing a network, firewall, servers, backup and Microsoft 365 needs more specialist skill than one person usually has — and nobody covers those systems when that person is on leave.

Can we keep our IT person and still outsource?

Yes. A common setup is an in-house coordinator for daily desk-side needs, with PureTechs handling the specialist and escalation work.

Who owns the documentation if we switch?

You do. With PureTechs, the network diagram, IP sheet, asset list and admin access are documented and handed to your business — they do not belong to a person or to the vendor.

Next step

Talk to an engineer, not a sales desk.

Tell us about your office. You get an engineer’s reply on WhatsApp, not a form response — and a price only after the scope is clear.