When it comes to IT solutions, most businesses rely on one of three options:

• They have a dedicated in-house IT employee or team
• An outsourced managed services provider (MSP)
• Or nothing at all.

There is, however, a fourth option: co-managed IT. This hybrid option gives you an on-site IT manager or a small team AND access to an off-site IT services firm.

For any business that takes IT seriously, this can prove to be an efficient and reliable option. It’s not as costly as a full on-site team, but it can be more comprehensive than relying on an MSP alone.

Simply put, the co-managed IT solution gives your business more options when it comes to getting IT and network stability and security right. It keeps you nimble when it comes to on-site issues. For instance, having an on-site IT manager means you have someone who knows the quirks of your business and its very specific needs.

But depending on the scope of your business and the size of those needs, the job has the potential to get complicated fast. This is where having access to an off-site expert IT staff can be useful.

An outsourced IT firm alleviates that pain point. Your IT manager has someone to call when they need to, and suddenly you have a full IT staff.

These are experts in IT who understand a range of issues, from system management to industry regulations – and just about everything in between. They might not be familiar with the quirks or intricacies of your specific business or industry, but you already have that taken care of in the co-managed model.

Co-Managed It Brings Everything Together.

You can have someone on-site who you can count on day to day, but when they need assistance, they have someone they can reliably call. They have access to an incredible knowledge and experience base.

But it gets better!

One of the benefits of this approach is employee retention. Co-managed IT can completely shift your company culture for the better.

Here’s why: small or single-person IT teams can get overwhelmed and overworked fast. This is common in IT. As a result, small-business IT departments often seem like a revolving door for those employees. It creates a broken culture.

If your on-site team lacks access to the proper tools or resources, it won’t take long for them to become overwhelmed and, eventually, burned out.

If there’s a crisis, like a ransomware attack or a storage failure, and your internal IT team isn’t given the support they need to succeed, it puts undue stress on them.

While they might succeed in the end, they’ll be unhappier for it and will likely start looking for a new job. With IT in such high demand, especially in 2021, it’s likely they’ll find another job, leaving you left to pick up the pieces. Co-managed IT helps you avoid this. There are many other ways businesses can benefit from this hybrid model.

Benefits of Co-Managed IT

• You Have Someone Who Can Address Issues Immediately. While you can generally rely on an MSP to deliver a quick response time, it might not always be as quick as you’d like or need.
  With this model, you have someone to get on the issue in seconds – and they can bring in the MSP as needed.
• Having An It Manager On-Site Puts Much Of The Responsibility On Their Shoulders. While you can still be hands-on when it comes to your company’s IT, they do what needs to be done, including coordinated with your MSP.
  This frees you up for everything and anything else.
• Regulatory Compliance Becomes A Breeze. Depending on your industry, you may have to deal with all kinds of compliance terms and regulations.
  Your coordinated IT team is versed in everything they need to know – and they stay on top of it as things change.
• You Have To Hire Fewer People. While you may have at least one person on staff, or maybe a small team, it’s unlikely to grow any larger – and it doesn’t need to.
  Not when your on-site team has access to all the tools, resources, and expertise they need to get any IT job done.
• You Have A Healthier Company Culture. This is a big one that often gets overlooked. When your on-site IT team has access to those outside resources, they’re a lot happier.
  Happier employees are more likely to stick around for a longer period of time, adding to the overall stability of your business (plus, less frequent hiring is another way to keep costs down).

If you haven’t yet considered co-managed IT, give it a look. You may find the IT solutions you’ve been looking for.
In a time when cyber security is more important than ever before – with more teams working remotely and cybercriminals working overtime – every business can use all the help they can get.