Fluctuating markets and rapid technology advances today are giving businesses of all sizes more reasons than ever to make sure that their IT continue to run smoothly, securely, and efficiently.
There are different ways businesses can achieve this, depending on their available resources, internal staff with specialized skills, and budgets.
For a growing number of businesses, co-managed IT services provides a cost-effective solution.
In this article, we’ll discuss the benefits of co-managed IT services and how it can supplement your in-house IT team to help you solve your IT pain points and meet your short- and long-term business goals.
With this information, you’ll understand how working with a managed IT provider can help you leverage your internal IT department and technology resources to best position yourself for the changes ahead.
What Is Co-Managed IT Services?
Just as its name implies, co-managed IT involves a business working jointly with a managed IT service provider (MSP) to share the responsibility of managing all parts of an organization’s IT environment.
This joint effort is generally between a company’s internal IT department and the external managed IT provider.
In this way, businesses can leverage the available in-house knowledge and skillset within their existing IT department while capitalizing on the resources and specialized expertise of the provider.
Related Article: How To Decide If Outsourcing Your IT Is Right For Your Business
How Does Co-Managed IT Work?
An organization’s internal IT team maintains ownership of tasks and responsibilities for its on-prem systems, hardware, and software. These IT functions could include day-to-day upkeep and routine troubleshooting as well as regular software updates and patching.
At the same time, the company is also relying on the outside managed IT provider to manage specific aspects of its infrastructure, such as network monitoring, mobile device management, data backups, or project work, for example.
The two parties would iron out the exact duties and expectations for each side, along with costs, before signing a formal managed IT service provider agreement (MSPA).
Related Article: What You Need to Know About Managed IT Services Provider Agreements
This is an important step to take before getting into a formal MSP relationship to ensure that both sides go into the client-MSP partnership with eyes wide open, reducing the chances for misunderstandings or conflict down the road.
Why Do People Choose Co-Managed IT Support?
Co-managed IT is a proven service model when it comes to technology management for businesses, whether large, small, or somewhere in between.
That’s because co-managed IT allows businesses to enjoy the flexibility and convenience of having internal IT staff, while taking advantage of the specialized skills and scalable, advanced technology and cybersecurity solutions that an MSP can bring.
Some of the advantages of co-managed support are:
Access To Broad IT Skills
Many organizations find that co-managed IT support offers them the best of both worlds.
They have immediate access to their own on-site IT professionals to provide ongoing user support and day-to-day operations oversight.
On the other hand, businesses also gain a deep bench of IT experts with broad industry knowledge (including virtual chief information officers, technical alignment managers, service delivery managers, a team of helpdesk engineers, and other resources).
Related Article: Gain A Competitive Edge: Strategic vCIO And TAM Support in Managed IT
Cost-savings
With co-managed IT support, organizations of all sizes can help them manage, and even lower, their overall IT costs.
With managed IT, business can gain an entire team of IT support and resources without having to take on the significant financial burden of recruiting, hiring, and retaining additional in-house staff.
Flexibility
Your organization may need extra IT support due to expansion plans, a sudden increase in network traffic, or a critical IT staff departure.
Co-managed IT allows you to maintain a certain number of in-house technology staff while using a co-managed approach to scale up when facing infrequent, and generally unpredictable, demand for increased IT support.
Organizations can maintain stable staffing levels without placing undue burdens on internal staff, preventing burnout and helping to boost team morale.
When Might Co-Managed IT Support Not Be A Good Choice?
While co-managed IT support is a good fit for some businesses, there are instances when it isn’t always the best choice. Here are some examples:
In-house Staffing
- If you require a full-time, in-house IT professional because of the specific needs of your business or type of industry, co-managed IT support may not be the best solution.
- In this case, co-managed IT support will only serve as an expensive—and in this case, unnecessary—added budget line item.
- Instead, invest the time and money into onboarding the right full-time IT personnel for your business needs to save valuable time and money.
Regulatory or Contractual Requirements
- Some external IT providers are well versed in regulatory requirements. If you decide that regulatory compliance is one of the services you need from an MSP, make sure the provider you choose is up to the job.
- If there are largely process or routine compliance requirements that require less technical knowledge, it may be more cost-effective to train internal staff members to handle these functions.
- With repetition, they will become an expert and the requirements will be handled consistently, which may be a better long-term solution.
Large Internal IT Staff
- For organizations with a large internal IT staff that is highly skilled and experienced with all aspects of IT management, then co-managed IT support may not be necessary.
What Does Co-Managed IT Support Cost?
Unfortunately, the answer is…it depends.
Just as with fully managed IT services, the cost of co-managed IT can vary significantly, depending on many different factors.
Those cost factors can include the type of services needed from the MSP, the number of users/devices that will be supported, your existing systems, and the number and expertise of your in-house IT staff.
Is Co-Managed IT Support Right For You?
After reading this article, you now have a more comprehensive understanding about what co-managed IT support is and how it could help support your existing IT department.
Ultimately, you'll need to weigh all of the factors we've covered here to decide whether co-managed IT support is or is not a good solution for your organization.
While we know that co-managed IT and managed IT solutions aren’t right for everyone, we hope that in writing articles such as this, you find helpful information to allow you to make decisions about IT solutions that are the right fit for your business.
Read this article to find out the important qualifications to look for when choosing a provider: How To Pick The Right MSP: 8 Criteria To Evaluate Managed IT Providers.
If you are thinking about adopting co-managed (or fully managed) IT support, we encourage you to check out several providers. To learn about Kelser's process, read more here: Choosing Kelser As Your Managed IT Services Provider? Our Process.
To schedule a brief chat to discuss your IT challenges and the possibility of working with Kelser, click the button below.
