3 simple ways to leverage a co-managed solution for your IT

Today, many businesses prefer managed IT services to the traditional break-fix IT support; this is clearly evident from the expanding global managed services market. The managed IT model is massively attractive and beneficial to both SMEs and large firms. The convenience, cost-effectiveness, and proactive support of MSPs alone more than justify this arrangement for most organizations.

Most MSPs provide an all-rounded service. They take over all the responsibilities tied to managing IT systems. Outsourcing IT functions in this way renders your in-house IT team redundant, and this becomes a problem if you want to retain your well-established IT crew. For the most part, your internal IT support team relates more closely to the business and remains relevant even with an MSP on board. So, dissolving your in-house IT management structure may not be the right move.

The co-managed IT solution

A co-managed service allows your existing IT staff to collaborate with an MSP, creating a strategic partnership between your anchored IT team and external expertise. This blend is the best of both worlds. With co-managed IT, the internal crew can handle tasks closer to home, while the contractor relieves some of the IT burdens by offering a helping hand.

This does not necessarily make co-managed IT better than full-scale managed IT, but it gives organizations a third IT support option. Here are some of the scenarios in which your business could leverage a co-managed IT model:

Relieve overburdened IT staff

As your business grows, its IT demands increase as well. But this is not the only thing that can overwork your IT staff. Digital transformations, seasonal activity spikes and new enterprise projects can put a lot of pressure on your in-house IT team. Hiring more employees in such cases is not economically feasible, even with enough time to recruit and onboard extra hands.

A co-managed service can help dial up your IT workforce almost instantly in time-critical situations. You can let the MSP handle the work overflow while your IT staff focuses on its core functions.

Fill in skills gaps

Technology continually evolves, changing old ways and introducing new methods of conducting business. Your IT Team may lack the skills and experience to utilize emerging business tech innovations.

Labor market experts agree that filling job positions with unquestionably qualified and experienced candidates is becoming more challenging for organizations. Job-seeking IT professionals are particularly hard to come by due to the ever-shrinking talent pool. This makes hiring new IT personnel with the right skillset expensive and hard.

Co-managed IT expands the capabilities of your IT support structure by filling skill gaps in your IT team. Moreover, working with a co-managed IT partner is tremendously cheaper than increasing the workforce since there are no extra onboarding costs, salaries, or benefits to worry about.

Transitioning to fully managed IT

Switching from an in-house IT team to an MSP does not happen instantly. For most businesses, the transition is a gradual process, often divided into several phases. In most cases, especially in companies with well-established IT departments, the incoming MSP assumes the IT support role one operation at a time.

During such a migration, the MSP has to work hand in hand with the existing IT team. Sometimes, the two become so intertwined that it makes no sense to break up the partnership. Ironically, the very process of transitioning to managed IT can reveal that co-managed IT is what your business needs after all.

Co-managed IT enables collaboration between your in-house team and third-party IT services. This extends the scope of your IT support substantially at minimal extra cost. A co-managed IT service is just what your business needs if your IT team does not suffice, and replacing it with a fully-integrated managed IT partner could potentially create new problems.