I think I would choose a collaboration rather than an in-house IT company, especially if my firm is not very big. I understood in time that it is better to ask for information about what you need and to think about all the possibilities. At first, I said I definitely want to hire someone to handle the IT field of my muffin company, but after I talked with an expert and he explained to me everything about outsourced services, I could understand that this is better for me. If you ask for information to the right person, they will be able to make you understand, with real facts, both options and the advantages and disadvantages of them. For my company, hiring someone would have been a waste of money.