How to Choose Between
Outsourced and In-House IT
It doesn’t have to be all or nothing.
With co-managed services, it’s possible to have the best of both worlds. Yes, organizations are increasingly searching for more efficient and cost-effective IT solutions, but that doesn’t mean you have to give over complete control to a fully outsourced IT services provider. Instead, opt for co-managed IT services, where the Managed Services Provider (MSP) will complement your internal IT resources and provide as much support as required.
Co-managed IT services involve a hybrid relationship between the Internal IT resources of an organization and the MSP provider. At the core of this relationship are the Services, Tools, Methodologies, and Portals (STMPs) provided by the MSP. Depending on the unique co-managed IT agreement, the MSP will work with the internal IT team to manage the ecosystem of the organization. An example of such an agreement could be a situation where the MSP takes care of the servers and infrastructure, while the internal IT team is responsible for end users.
What are your IT options?
Before you make a decision about whether to outsource your IT, it’s important to know what your options are and what the pros and cons of each option is.
Co-managed IT services
BENEFITS
- Best of both worlds: You’re able to utilize the strengths of both your internal IT department and the MSP.
- Internal and external expertise: Internal resources have a good understanding of internal IT matters, while the MSP has a better understanding of the IT world.
- On-site focus: The internal, on-site IT team is able to focus their attention and resources more efficiently.
RISKS
- Poor communication: If there is a lack of communication between the internal IT team and the MSP, the relationship may not be successful.
- Disjointed process: Incoherent or disorganized processes arise when there is no agreement on the best tools and best practices to be implemented, or if one stakeholder’s opinion isn’t taken into account.
Traditional MSP
BENEFITS
- Cost: An MSP should be less expensive than a similarly skilled internal IT department with traditional IT needs.
- Technical pool: MSPs have a larger technical pool to draw from. This results in less difficulty getting a technician with the appropriate skill set to attend to an issue.
- Virtual CIO: An MSP can offer virtual Chief Information Officer services and help ensure that the IT process meets the needs of the business.
- Cybersecurity frameworks: Adherence to a cybersecurity framework can be difficult for internal IT teams, as they may have no time and be unable to prioritize cybersecurity, whereas an MSP can more readily implement cybersecurity frameworks.
- Being up to date: MSPs have a vested interest in keeping up with technologies and keeping their skill sets and offerings current.
RISKS
- Lack of business IT strategy: Some MSPs only focus on monitoring and troubleshooting devices, leading to insufficient long-term planning and strategy.
- Inability to provide unique customer expertise: If an organization has a unique IT requirement, the MSP may be unable to meet the need or may look to pass all costs of developing it on to that single customer.
- Culture integration: If an MSP does not match the culture of the customer, this may lead to reduced productivity.
Internal IT
BENEFITS
- Control: All facets of the IT department (whether one person or many) are under the control of the organization.
- Prioritization and focus: The IT needs of the organization is always the focus, as opposed to MSPs who may have several organizations to take care of.
- Understanding: Services, products, and offerings are well understood by the IT staff.
- Ability to meet unique IT requirements: The internal IT team is able to become well versed in dealing with their organization’s unique IT needs.
RISKS
- Stunted growth: Without external input, there are fewer opportunities to improve the impact of IT on the organization.
- Self-taught staff: It is often the case with small or single-person IT departments that little priority is given to acquiring new skills or tools due to limited time or resources.
- Skills: In small IT departments, most staff have to wear several hats and skill sets are usually spread out over several areas. This often leaves special skills (i.e., security) lacking.
- Turnover and absence: A person leaving the department (even to go on regular vacation leave) can be very disruptive in a small or single-person IT department.
Co-managed IT helps organizations and IT departments like these overcome issues every day:
- We have an IT department, but it would be great to have a high-level of IT expertise on hand when we need it.
- We are well versed in in-house technologies, but lack the time to keep up to date with newer technologies.
- We like our IT team, but we need help with staying up to date with best practices and getting the most out of our IT infrastructure.
- As an internal IT department, we would like to add value to our company instead of being bogged down with day-to-day IT tasks.
- Although our company values the importance of good IT, we are unable to cope, as our IT team is overwhelmed by day-to-day tasks.
- As the sole IT person in my company, I can’t afford to miss a day’s work, because there’s nobody to take care of IT issues when I’m away.
- We understand the importance of new IT services like user training, password management, and MFA, but we lack the time and resources to implement them.
If these issues resonate with you, co-managed IT services may be for you.
The relationship between MSPs and internal IT
The reason why many successful businesses opt for a co-managed approach to IT is the fact that they are able to utilize the strengths of their own IT resources while also gaining high-level support and expertise from their MSP. By joining forces, the internal IT teams and MSPs are able to complement each other, leading to a “best of both worlds” outcome for businesses. Here’s what MSPs and internal IT departments bring to the table in a co-managed IT arrangement.
MSP
Internal IT
- A better handle on industry trends
- Knowledge of the company, the users, and the value of good IT solutions
- More automated tools and better-defined best practices
- In-depth knowledge of the goals and objectives of the organization as well as the impact IT has on these
- A variety of skills and expertise/more resources
- A good handle on internal priorities
- The ability to add additional resources and special skills subject to specific situations via their network
- Ability to tend to the company’s unique requirements.
- Soft skills such as dealing with “unique” users
MSP
- A better handle on industry trends
- More automated tools and better-defined best practices
- A variety of skills and expertise/more resources
- The ability to add additional resources and special skills subject to specific situations via their network
Internal IT
- Knowledge of the company, the users, and the value of good IT solutions
- In-depth knowledge of the goals and objectives of the organization as well as the impact IT has on these
- A good handle on internal priorities
- Ability to tend to the company’s unique requirements.
- Soft skills such as dealing with “unique” users
Co-managed IT
Different types of co-managed IT
When selecting an MSP, you can choose what your IT partner will focus on. These are the service options:
SERVERS
The MSP handles the servers and infrastructure and your internal IT handles the workstations and users.
Best suited to:
- Organizations where the internal IT team works well with the end users but doesn’t have the best handle on servers (e.g., virtualization, backups, configurations, etc.)
- Organizations that have fallen behind with their servers, updates, and other technologies
WORKSTATIONS
The MSP handles the workstations and end users, and your internal IT handles the servers and infrastructure.
Best suited to:
- Organizations where the internal IT team is experienced at managing servers and infrastructure but lacks the time to handle end-user issues
- Larger organizations where the internal IT team is highly skilled but low in numbers
BACKUP SUPPORT
Your internal IT team is responsible for all IT issues but adopts the MSP’s Servers, Tools, Methodologies, and Portals (STMPs).
Best suited to:
- Organizations where the internal IT team can handle most issues but value the backup, stability, and resources afforded by a trusted partner
What a co-managed agreement looks like:
- You’ll be in control of deciding what’s covered by the internal IT team and what’s covered by the MSP.
- The MSP will provide your internal IT team with the best tools to optimize your organization's IT resources.
- Your current operations and systems will be integrated with the STMPs of the MSP.
- Your stakeholders will be trained and supported by the MSP.
- You’ll have access to a trusted IT partner who can provide advice and a second opinion on your internal IT issues.
- It’s easy to escalate an issue to the MSP, who can keep you involved if it’s something that might become a recurring issue.
- You’ll gain a partnership where both parties will work to build a relationship based on trust and cooperation.
- You’ll be able to work toward finding ways to improve the impact of IT on your organization.
Security matters
No organization can afford to drop its guard when it comes to cybersecurity. All the more reason to make sure all bases are covered by utilizing the unique skill set of a trusted IT partner. As MSPs focus solely on IT and more so IT security, they possess a high level of expertise on current threats. With their experience in dealing with cybersecurity, they have had the opportunity to find, test, and build better security options for small to medium-sized businesses with small budgets and limited resources, leveraging this level of support means that they can compete with much larger business competitors. Along with technology, MSPs can also be an authority for education and experience by providing training and educating users on security best practices.
Experience the best of both worlds with Umbrella’s co-managed managed IT
Full-time IT support is expensive! It can be difficult to compete with bigger organizations offering higher salaries or more engaging technology infrastructure. But, it doesn’t have to be this way.
When you partner with us, here’s what you can expect:
- Efficiency, knowledge, and peace of mind at an affordable cost
- Robust security services
- More affordable access to tools and programs so you can compete with larger organizations
- Your internal IT resources will be able to:
- Focus on lowering company costs in other areas
- Engage in revenue-generating activities
- Improve internal operational efficiencies
You can elevate your IT output by harnessing the strengths of your internal IT resources while Umbrella provides additional support where needed. Get in touch with us now!
