Outsourcing IT teams would be to the detriment of the business, say IT leaders

The internal IT team understands value of IT, and can leverage relationships it builds with the business

Businesses must think carefully before outsourcing IT because it could harm their operations, according to a number of IT decision makers speaking on Computing's Question Time, a live set of webinars focusing on how the role of the CIO is changing as cloud services become more widely adopted.

Thereza Snyman, head of IT at law firm Kingsley Napley, was asked by a member of the audience whether a law firm needed an internal IT team at all because it is not seen as a core function.

Snyman said this was a "very simplistic view".

"We produce a lot of data, and it is only an IT team in-house which can understand its value and how to secure, analyse and use the data. So you could outsource it, but this is a simplistic view," she said.

Paul Hughes, IT director at the Stroke Association, agreed, claiming that firms "needed someone at the back who knows what to do with data".

Meanwhile, Philip Van Enis, group IT director at property consultancy Bidwells, said that he is often asked by his boss why he doesn't outsource the duties of the IT team.

Van Enis explained that the key reason to maintain an IT team is for the sake of relationships. He said that members of the IT team could build a level of rapport with employees on the business side, and that this could work in favour of the IT department if it wanted to push through significant changes with a new IT strategy.

In turn, however, this will give the IT team a higher level of trust, but also a higher amount of demand placed on the department, he said.

IBM executive architect Tony Morgan believes that there is still a key role for the IT function but that it is a changing role.

"It's more about integration [of technology] and about the innovation engine - finding new ways for the business to benefit," he suggested.