Quick summary
Discover how outsourcing IT can help Australian businesses reduce costs, meet local cybersecurity regulations, and enable internal teams to focus on core priorities for long‑term growth and efficiency. Especially as rising cyber threats and increasing business demands challenge internal capabilities. The question is no longer if businesses should use outsourcing, but when and how to best implement it.
IT services for many businesses, including yours
IT teams today are facing a perfect storm. Fast-moving technology, rising cyber threats, and mounting business expectations are stretching internal capabilities to the limit.
For many organisations, the question is no longer if they should outsource IT—but when.
Outsourcing isn’t just about reducing costs. It’s a strategic decision that can accelerate growth, reduce risk, and help internal teams refocus on what they do best. So, how do you know when the time is right?
Here are six telltale signs that
outsourcing your IT function could deliver real business value, along with insights from Canon Business Services ANZ (CBS) experts on what to watch for.
1. You’re stuck in firefighting mode
From reactive to strategic: Break the cycle
If your IT team spends most of its time patching systems, responding to tickets, or scrambling after outages, there’s a problem. Without time to plan or innovate, IT becomes reactive—focused on survival rather than strategy.
“There seems to be no clear strategy, or not a very well-defined one,” says Adrian Capolino, CBS Head of Technology Solutions “It becomes too many tactical decisions versus the strategic thinking that helps align where the business is heading.”
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trusted managed service partner doesn’t just fix issues. It co-designs a roadmap aligned to your business goals, freeing internal teams to focus on innovation and transformation.
In many organisations, IT teams spend so much time reacting to incidents or user issues that broader innovation efforts get pushed to the side. Legacy systems add complexity, and without modern automation or monitoring tools, small issues can snowball into costly disruptions.
As Adrian puts it: “People get caught up in the doing rather than the planning.”
Outsourcing can introduce modern tooling, dashboards, and ITIL-aligned service processes that bring order to chaos. It also allows CIOs and CTOs to shift their posture from ‘keeping the lights on’ to ‘driving business value’. That mindset shift, supported by an
experienced MSP, can help reframe IT as a strategic growth lever rather than a cost centre.
2. You can’t attract or retain top IT talent
When skills gaps become business risks
Cybersecurity. Cloud architecture. Data governance. These are specialist skills, and finding (and keeping) the right people isn’t easy. Even with a strong culture, recruitment pipelines are thin, and burnout is a real concern for small IT teams expected to be “always on.”
“This comes up constantly,” Adrian notes. “A lot of clients want to move to the cloud or transform how they operate but they don’t feel their teams are capable or have the right expertise.”
Outsourcing provides access to a full bench of specialists without the overheads. It’s not about replacing your team—it’s about complementing it with the right skills, at the right time.
Staff shortages in cybersecurity and cloud engineering aren’t just frustrating. They’re risky. Without up-to-date expertise, organisations become vulnerable to
emerging threats or fall behind competitors adopting modern architectures.
“Having a team that can burst into your partners. That’s a big thing,” Adrian explains. “Don’t just rely on your internal team. Use a partner or outsource provider to help fast-track and achieve a lot more.”
A good MSP doesn’t just fill gaps—it builds capability. That might mean augmenting your team with Tier 2/3 support, embedding cloud engineers for project work, or providing guidance on emerging tech like
AI and automation. Instead of one or two new hires, you get access to an entire ecosystem of skills and certifications.
3. Costs are rising, but value isn’t
When your IT budget becomes a black box
Board pressure to justify
IT spend is increasing. But many organisations are still paying for infrastructure or software they don’t fully use or maintaining costly legacy systems that deliver diminishing returns.
“A lot of customers think they have high IT costs,” Adrian explains. “It might be because the board is saying, ‘Our IT budget is getting too much, something has to change.
Outsourcing can bring much-needed clarity and efficiency. With a managed service model, you get predictable costs, clearer value, and fewer surprises, plus the opportunity to consolidate vendors, reduce tool sprawl as well as investigate the
adoption of Automation and AI capabilities.
IT spend often increases incrementally, with new licenses, duplicated platforms, or under used infrastructure quietly eating into margins. Without visibility or regular optimisation reviews, it’s easy for costs to outpace value.
Managed service providers can offer detailed reporting and usage insights—shining a light on what’s actually being used, and where savings or consolidation can occur.
“We’ve seen clients paying for entire platforms they’ve barely touched,” says
Ricki Gavazis, Head of Cloud & Infrastructure Services. “A fresh set of eyes can help identify those inefficiencies and build a leaner environment going forward.”
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4. Downtime or cyber risks are creeping in
The cost of ‘good enough’ security keeps rising
Unplanned outages. Inconsistent backups. No formal disaster recovery plan. These are the cracks where cyber threats can take hold—and reputational damage can follow.
2024 Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) research shows that one cybercrime is reported every six minutes in Australia—a figure that continues to rise each year. Average cybercrime losses for small businesses now exceed $49,000 per report, pointing to a multi-billion-dollar national impact.
“Downtime and security—there’s a real fear factor there,” Adrian says. “It’s not just about prevention anymore. It’s about having the right people and plans in place when, not if, something goes wrong.”
With 24/7 support, proactive monitoring, and alignment to compliance frameworks like ISO 27001, a managed services partner like CBS helps reduce exposure and increase resilience.
Cybersecurity is now a board-level concern. Yet many mid-sized organisations still lack dedicated security personnel, let alone 24/7 coverage or a tested incident response plan.
With ransomware threats, business email compromise, and insider risks on the rise, even one vulnerability can have major consequences.
“It’s not just about technology. It’s about process and discipline,” Ricki notes. “Having the right escalation paths, real-time monitoring, and compliance alignment makes a huge difference.”
A mature MSP like CBS can support everything from vulnerability management to regulatory compliance frameworks, giving decision-makers confidence that risk is being managed proactively—not reactively.
5. Your business needs outpace your IT capacity
Growth needs IT that can scale with you
Fast-growing businesses often hit an inflection point: launching new products, expanding into new markets, or acquiring other companies. But their IT infrastructure or team can’t keep up.
“A lot of them are going through growth and scaling,” Adrian explains. “Their current providers or team just won’t be able to get them where they need to go. They’ve probably been trying for a number of years and it’s just not going anywhere.”
Outsourcing enables you to flex IT capacity as needed, without overcommitting internally. It’s elastic, adaptable, and built for scale.
Growth doesn’t just mean more users—it often means more complexity. New systems, new integration points, and rising demand for availability and performance.
“You need a dynamic team that can scale with you,” Adrian explains. “We often work with clients who’ve tried to scale internally, but their IT hasn’t kept pace with the business.”
Through outsourcing, organisations can tap into scalable infrastructure, robust SLAs, and technical onboarding support for new teams or sites. Whether you’re onboarding 50 new employees or standing up a new data platform, your MSP partner should scale with you, not hold you back.
6. You want your people focused on what matters
Don’t let IT become a distraction
When internal teams are consumed with device management, incident response, or patch cycles, it takes them away from high-impact work like product innovation or customer experience.
“They always talk about wanting to refocus internal teams on other things,” says Adrian. “Not just managing IT.”
Ricki agrees: “This is more than just tactical outsourcing. It’s about creating headroom for your people to focus on delivering value.”
With a managed partner, IT shifts from being a bottleneck to a business enabler, freeing internal talent to drive strategic outcomes.
There’s an opportunity cost to internal IT doing low-value tasks, like managing devices, resetting passwords, or chasing vendor tickets. That time could be spent enabling sales teams, improving customer portals, or contributing to
digital transformation projects.
“IT shouldn’t be a distraction,” says Adrian. “It should be something that empowers the business.”
Strategic outsourcing frees up high-value internal talent to focus on customer experience, product development, or revenue-generating work. That’s where real differentiation lies, and where IT can start to show its worth beyond infrastructure.
From burden to business advantage
Outsourcing your IT function isn’t a sign of weakness. It’s a signal that your business is ready to scale, modernise, and reallocate energy where it counts most.
Whether you need full-service IT or support across specific domains like
cloud, security, or infrastructure, CBS can assess your environment, identify opportunities, and create a tailored strategy.
Ready to rethink your IT strategy?
If you’re weighing up providers or deciding between full or partial outsourcing, Canon Business Services ANZ can help. As a trusted managed services partner, we combine deep technical expertise with a business-first mindset, helping you streamline operations, reduce risk, and unlock long-term value from your technology investments.
Talk to Canon Business Services ANZ and turn your IT challenges into momentum for change. Let’s explore what’s possible—together.
