Here’s something that I’m kinda curious about. I know what I have heard from a handful of people and I know what I think, but I want to throw this out there to get a broader perspective.
For you, in your situation, in your church, is it better to have someone on staff be responsible for all things technical or is it better to have an outside person or company? When I say ‘better’, I mean better financially and better logistically etc.
The larger the church, the more critical it might be, in today’s world, to have someone on staff, but from my viewpoint, a smaller church generally can’t justify a full time staff person or even a part time one to be dedicated to tech in the church.
If the smaller church had a reliable 3rd party company responsible for maintaining the church’s network, troubleshooting PC’s, installing new hardware and software etc. when needed, then that seems much more practical and affordable. Then you are paying only for the services you need, when you need them, plus someone is available basically, on call, when something urgent comes up.
So, I’m just wondering what your opinion is on this and also how are you doing it in your church, especially if you are a smaller church.
In the corporate world, there is alot of talk of outsourcing various aspects of I.T. and that is a definite reality, which has caused me to wonder how other churches approach this. I can see advantages to both approaches, but, as usual, it really depends on the individual church.
- How does your church handle all things technical?
- If you are a smaller church, do you see value in having a 3rd party, reasonably priced technical person/company available for technical support/training?
We outsource all of our sound tech stuff, our videos, our graphics, etc. Being a new church we don’t have the people who can do it up to the standard we have set. Outsourcing to me is the way to go. It is cheap. We keep guys on retanier (sp?) and use them as we need them.
Thanks Gary! You confirm my thoughts. I agree, as a small church, it makes more sense to have someone on retainer and use them as needed, rather than pay for someone to be there more than you need.
Well, since I am “the 3rd party”, I want everybody to outsource – ha-ha! Seriously though, for smaller churches, outsourcing is good, especially those who can provide daily remote monitoring for a flat monthly fee. For larger churches, the IT demand is whole lot more than 40 hours a week. Constantly enforcing standards, creating new standards, training and fixing stuff – even one person could kill him/herself.
However, in both cases (small and large), a church needs somebody who is IT savvy who can help strategize, evaluate and recommend new technologies. Creative and innovative churches can run headlong off a short cliff with technology if they don’t have a “champion”. After 7 years of working with churches, I’ve seen a common thread: men and women truly called to the ministry get excited about technology to reach people, but could care less about the details.
Sorry for the long comment.
When you build a house you have a general contractor. The GC does some of the work (often is the carpenter), but “outsources” most of the work. Managing the whole project requires a full time person.
A small church won’t have enough work for a full time IT person (a volunteer will do), but once a certain critical mass is reached there needs to be one.
Any ideas on when that critical mass is reached?