Access to the IT professionals doing the training will be short-lived, however, and as the security environment evolves, your employees will need to be retrained in order to keep up.

Using outsourced professionals can relieve your employees from those added duties, allowing you to be more selective about the VA team members and how long you keep them on, and helping you stay within budget.

Once you've decided to outsource, your organization will have to hire the right company to do the job. Not only must the outsourcer understand your company's specific needs, but it should also be able to meet those needs at a price that's within your budget. Your company and your employees must be ready to share all relevant information with the outsourcing team so it can carry out its function. Reluctance to provide certain information is natural, since doing so usually tends to reduce security and staffers have been trained to ensure that client and company information remain confidential.

When the company you've entrusted with your needs further outsources parts of the project -- in other words, subcontracts -- information is exposed even further. Remember that subcontracted work could be inferior to that of your primary contractor, and your organization should determine at the outset whether a vendor will be subcontracting. If it is, you may want to include in your contract with the outsourcing company a provision enabling you to reject or accept certain subcontracted vendors. Or you may want to refrain from outsourcing with that firm altogether.

Outsourcing VA offers many advantages. Both established firms and newer companies that have untested employees or are simply understaffed are attracted by the expertise afforded by a professional vendor.