When it comes to IT management, owners have a plethora of options available to help them – but very few take the time to seek those out. While many small to medium sized business owners hire a single individual, they fail to understand that growing their internal IT team doesn’t need to cost them an entirely new salary.
Introducing the co-managed service model. Managed service providers like FusionTek are designed to give businesses more access to IT professionals. Instead of spending money hiring additional IT team members, you can instead reinforce your internal IT person by hiring an entire team of professionals.
What is Co-Managed IT?
Co-managed IT is a hybrid solution that allows businesses to have both an internal IT person and an external IT support team. In most situations the duties are divided up so that one side handles the troubleshooting issues and the other side handles the big picture IT needs or vice versa. The beauty of this type of partnership is that the business owner gets flexibility in defining what that relationship looks like.
Why is it becoming a popular option?
Co-managed IT services is becoming increasingly popular. More businesses than ever are looking to increase their IT spend to protect their businesses from ransomware and other technology threats, and to do they are looking to co-managed solutions. This model of service allows businesses more to build an IT plan and infrastructure with additional resources outside of your organization. An IT managed service provider can help you with a variety of high level of business planning around IT goals.
What benefits does a co-managed IT solution bring business owners?
- Hiring new IT people is expensive – New IT hires can cost your business some pretty big bucks. Co-managed IT is becoming increasingly popular because of the flexibility it provides the business owners. Every company has very different IT needs, and by partnering with a team of professionals allows you to grow your IT support team to address those needs methodically.
- Hire an IT team for a fixed cost – Instead of spending money on an additional full-time employee, you are instead paying a fixed amount with your IT partner and receive the support of a full sized and stacked IT team. Most MSPs offer monthly rates for their co-managed clients.
- Predictable IT planning – Another reason co-managed IT has become more popular over the past few years is because it allows business owners to better predict and managed their IT budgets. With a full IT team supporting your internal IT team, managing your network just got a bit easier. In most situations, a single internal IT employee does not have enough time in the day to both troubleshoot IT issues and properly manage all things technology (laptops, firewalls, back up tools, documentation, security planning, budgeting, etc.) A managed service provider can help you keep everything moving in the right direction when your internal resource may be too busy to do so.
- Get advanced IT support in network security – A major reason companies are putting more value on their IT departments is because of the rising number of ransomware security threats. Managed service providers are able to monitor and manage your security network more easily than a single IT person could. The co-managed solution provides your team with the resources you need to prevent a major security breach from occurring.
- Increased access to IT tools – Managed service providers utilize a stack of technology that is designed to help them manage a network proactively. Their stack allows you to avoid spending money providing these tools to your internal IT resource.
- Increased scope of support – Another thing to consider with a co-managed support model is project work. If you have any large scale projects that would require more than a single individual, your managed service provider would fill that gap. They could help you with projects like moving offices, network auditing, compliance monitoring, and more.
Is a co-managed IT solution the right option for you?
A co-managed IT service model assumes that you currently have an internal person working on IT issues already in place. So, if you have an internal person doing this and are looking to increase your IT team a co-managed IT solution is likely a solution to that problem. Here are a few other things to consider about entering a co-manages arrangement:
– Is your current internal IT support too busy on a day to day to step back and look at IT from a broader point of view?
This is a very common problem for small IT teams (especially one-man teams.) It is easy to fill their day-to-day with simply troubleshooting issues people within the organization are having. This prevents them from doing other important IT management tasks such as monitoring the age and health of the devices across the network, plan for scaling and growing the business, and focusing on protecting the network from malicious actors.
– Do you have a plan for how IT responsibilities would be divided if you brought in an MSP provider?
Before you consider bringing in a larger team to assist your IT team, think through how you would like the relationship to look. Maybe one team takes on the support desk help and the other team takes on the big scope planning and protection. Maybe your managed service provider takes care of all things security and compliance related and that’s it. The beauty of this type of partnership is the ability for owners to control the scope of their involvement.
– What goal are you looking for the provider to help you achieve?
Be sure that you also have a goal in mind when you partner with a managed service provider. If you are concerned about ransomware you can use a provider to help you lockdown your network and drive policies internally that can help your business stay secure. Beginning with a goal will help both parties stay focused on the priorities.
These questions are really important for you to think through as you consider bringing in an IT team. This will help them get a better idea of what is important to you and it will help you better understand what their efforts should be focused on.
Co-managed IT services are a great hybrid solution for growing businesses with an internal support person or team that needs support. Stop bringing in consultants to work on projects when you can hire an extension to your team that will allow you to get the same results. Growing your IT team should not need to cost you an arm and a leg in additional salaries – and it doesn’t have to.
If you are interested in learning more about how an MSP can help lighten the load of your internal IT person today, please feel free to reach out to our team directly.
About the Author
Brian Miller is the co-founder and CEO of FusionTek. He has over 20 years of IT service experience and co-founded FusionTek in 2007. He is focused on delivering advanced cybersecurity and productivity solutions to FusionTek’s clients.
About FusionTek
Founded in 2007, FusionTek began with a mission to help small and medium-sized businesses get a real return on their technology investments. Since then, we have remained dedicated to providing state-of-the-art IT support, service and products that allow our clients to get ahead of the competition and achieve success.
