What Is Co-Managed IT Services and How Does It Fit My Business?

What is co managed it and how does it fit my business May 2

Keeping your IT infrastructure running smoothly and efficiently is a complicated task. It requires implementation of the right technology, performing scheduled updates, renewing leases, monitoring, and more. Then you have the strategy side of IT management, which includes optimization, budgeting, planning for the future, and aligning your IT to support your goals.

Add troubleshooting IT issues to the mix and that’s a lot of work to be putting on one, two, or even a handful of employees. As IT projects pile up, your team can become overwhelmed quickly, and an unmanageable workload is not good for company morale. While you could hire more employees to compensate for the lack of numbers, this isn’t your only option.

Co-Managed IT Services Explained

As your business grows and workloads increase, it becomes necessary to scale operations accordingly. When this time comes, many businesses—unsurprisingly—tend to hesitate. This hesitation stems from the fact that hiring new workers is expensive, both in terms of cost and time.

The average base salary of an IT support specialist in 2021 is a little over $68,000 a year, according to statistics from Glassdoor. However, the salary is only one piece of the expensive puzzle—you also pay for benefits and spend valuable time on training. As a result, hiring additional staff can be unrealistic for some businesses.

Fortunately, there’s a way to get the help you need without having to reach deep into the company budget. Co-managed IT support is a service where you can provide supplemental support to your internal IT department through the help of a managed service provider (MSP). By partnering with an MSP, you immediately gain access to IT experts with a range of knowledge for the price of a single employee.

How Does Co-Managed IT Work?

Also known as hybrid managed IT or staff augmentation, this service is rather straightforward. Co-managed IT is a service that provides IT assistance as needed. Your MSP allows you to use their IT experts to help with various tasks your in-house staff can’t do on their own or don’t have the time to complete.

This service works by you identifying the skills, experience, and number of technicians you need for your project. The next step is working with your MSP to select the consultants that fit the qualifications you set. From there, all that’s left is to integrate the consultants with your team so they can hit the ground running.

Co-managed IT gives your business a higher level of flexibility, meaning you have the ability to scale your operations at a moment’s notice. With this support, you won’t have to worry about overextending your IT department ever again.

When Should You Supplement Your Staff?

Hybrid managed IT is a very popular business solution and for good reason. The service can be used for a variety of purposes to improve your business. If you are unsure of how staff augmentation could help your company, here are some situations where it can be applied:

You need to bolster your team, but you’re unsatisfied with the local talent pool.
If your existing IT department is overwhelmed and there’s no end in sight given the current work rate.
When you have a short-term IT project, but you don’t want your staff wasting too much time on it.
If you want an objective opinion on an IT project or the state of your infrastructure.
If you need a technician with a certain skill set, but no one on your internal team has that skill.

Benefits of Co-Managed Services

Co-managed IT is growing in popularity. It can’t be overstated how advantageous it is to be able to pick the experts you want to work with, how many you want to join your team, and for how long. With a service like this, your business can experience benefits like:

Lower Costs: With staff augmentation, you get the services of an entire team of highly trained experts at the cost of a single employee.
No Legal Liability: You are legally liable for anyone you hire. That means you are responsible for their taxes, payroll, benefits, and more. When you use hybrid managed services, the provider acts as the official employer of the contractors.
Objectivity: Sometimes you need the eye of an outsider to provide the kind of feedback you need to improve. A third-party contractor can do exactly that.
Flexibility: Staff augmentation allows you to adapt quickly when an IT project expands or is too big for the in-house team to handle.

How Does Co-Managed Services Differ From Managed IT?

Managed IT and staff augmentation provide similar benefits, but they are not the same service. A managed IT plan is a service where your MSP takes full control of your IT environment. They are responsible for any updates, maintenance, repairs, or implementation your systems require. It’s a turnkey approach that allows you to focus on the other, more pressing aspects of your business.

In contrast, co-managed IT is a service model where your MSP acts as an extension of your internal IT department. You have full control over what these consultants do and how they help your organization. This is an option that works well with any small- to medium-sized business.

Let Us Fill in the Gaps on Your Team

Are you in need of additional IT support? Want to free up your in-house staff to focus on mission-critical projects? Or maybe you’re interested in cutting down business costs? The Logic Group offers staff augmentation services to meet all the needs of your business. With us, you have access to industry professionals who are dedicated to your success.