A Co-managed IT model allows companies to work with third-party IT services in partnership on a regular schedule or an as-needed basis. In this partnership, the company seeking services has an existing infrastructure and staff but opts for support in certain areas to lower overhead costs. By sharing the workload with a Managed Services Provider, organizations can harness high level expertise for tasks without having to worry about full time salary commitments.
4 Wins for Co-managed IT services
1.You only train once, and don’t have to worry about turn-over.
The training process can be grueling and expensive. When you work in partnership with a Co-Managed Service Provider you don’t have to worry about training. The workers who are maintaining the selected areas of your infrastructure are already versed in best practices. When you start working in partnership with an MSP you train the company on your internal/external policy that will be assumed once, and if there is turnover, they are responsible for individual training when it occurs. This means that every time there is a change in personnel, you no longer have to worry about downtime or training.
2.Get high-tech equipment at a more reasonable cost.
“High-tech” is synonymous for having the latest technology in the tech space, but to stay relevant it means you must upgrade hardware every few years taking product life cycle into consideration. Used equipment depreciates terribly because of how fast the industry evolves, so your best option is to use what you need without the burden and value loss of outright ownership. By integrating with a cloud-based or hybrid service model, you do not have to worry about upfront hardware investments, and only pay for what you need. The cloud-based system allows you to have access to the latest technology, without worrying about hardware depreciation, while maintaining a lower operating cost.
3.Enjoy IT coverage after-hours.
Despite going home at the end of each day, your business is always running behind the scenes. Whether you manage online sales, have ongoing communications with clients and vendors, or mission critical activities that run automatically like early morning updates, interruptions can be costly. The investment of staffing a 24/7 IT person would be astronomical, considering some of these activities do not require constant support at night because of their automated nature when everything is running smoothly. But just because you do not always need evening support does not mean that you never do. Issues arise when automated processes or behind the scenes activities are interrupted by equipment failure, system down time and other inconveniences which cost your organization time and resources. The beauty of a Co-managed IT system is that you can have 24-hour proactive monitoring and reactive support that responds to immediate issues no matter what time of night it is. This is because Managed Service Providers can offset the cost of maintaining late night staff because they are also servicing other businesses which are unlikely to have interruptions at the same time because of the infrequency of failures, yet they are available when you need them like emergency response.
4.Specialized people in vulnerable areas.
Though it is possible to have good security while managing your IT in-house, you will most likely have a more efficient security infrastructure with a Co-managed service because of the expertise of the people involved. If your organization is not big enough to hire a dedicated person to handle your security, your staff is probably juggling between different areas of attention when its needed. By having a Co-managed service, you can increase how many layers of protection you have because those assigned to your service contract work only in their dedicated area. You can compare this by going to a general physician when you aren’t feeling well versus going to a specific doctor for a specialized need, when it comes to IT security for example, its better to be seen by a specialist because their depth of knowledge is far greater in specific pain points.
Additional thoughts on why Co-managed IT services could be a winning route.
- You have an excellent IT staff, but you are exploring a new service and do not have inhouse expertise for the objective.
- Your in-house IT department is focusing so much on the day to day that you are unable to improve productivity beyond your team’s knowledge.
- Your one-man IT department has more tasks than can reasonably be accomplished in a day.
- You are experiencing rapid growth, and don’t have the resources to hire specialized staff to handle your expansion.
- You want the benefits of an expertly monitored infrastructure but don’t have the staff for it.
- You only need help some of the time.
