Co-Managed IT Services [Pros and Cons]
Each and every business exists to fulfill a specific market niche, yet only a few of them have sufficient computing skills to meet today’s technical demands. For a growing number of businesses, co-managed IT services are the natural solution.
But at times, co-managed IT can sound too good to be true. So, how can you determine that the services on offer are, in fact, true and not just a sales pitch? Well, this will boil down to conducting extensive research.
In this post, we’ll walk you through the advantages and disadvantages of co-managed IT services so that you’ll be able to determine whether it’s a worthwhile investment.
Pros of Co-Managed IT
Here is an outline of some of the advantages of co-managed IT services:
1. It Is Less Costly Than Managed IT
Working with a managed IT provider means they take over the management of all your IT tasks. Co-managed IT is less costly than managed IT and is an ideal option for businesses that desire to keep their toes into providing assistance for their in-house IT team but don’t want to fully offload their IT department.
You’ll also save on all the software and hardware that your co-managed IT provider supplies. In short, you won’t need to purchase firewalls or servers individually, which can be more expensive.
2. You Get Top Tier Security and Maintenance
With a focus on ensuring you don’t experience data interference and your technology doesn’t fail, a co-managed IT company can provide a secure server environment and ongoing maintenance to mitigate any chance of data breach or service interruption.
At a time when cybersecurity must be at the forefront of every IT strategy, it’s advisable to have highly skilled technicians at the drop of a hat. And that’s what you can get by partnering with a co-managed IT services provider.
3. You’ll Keep Your Internal IT Team
You may not want to lose the knowledge your in-house IT team has of your business operations, especially if they have been around for a while. When you opt for co-managed IT, you’ll get to keep your in-house team for whatever reason. This way, your outsourced team and the in-house team can work together to enhance the value of your business.
4. It Offers an Escalation Point for Your IT Needs
Suppose your in-house IT team is stuck, or there aren’t enough personnel to assist end-users with their issues, your co-managed IT provider can step in. This relieves your in-house IT team from the burden of dealing with everything.
5. You’ll Have an IT Team With Varying Expertise and Specializations
Partnering with a co-managed IT service provider enables you to get several technicians with different specializations. Unlike an internal IT department where skills may not be diverse, with co-managed IT, you’ll get skills for multiple fields for a single price.
Partnering with a co-managed IT company also ensures that your business isn’t left weak in the event that crucial people in your in-house IT team leave your company. Your co-managed IT provider can fill in for the staff while you are seeking replacements.
6. You’ll Get More Flexibility
With co-managed IT, you can leverage only the products and services that fit your budget and needs. You will be able to scale your services to meet your business’s specific needs. This can be beneficial, more so for businesses that experience increased productivity during certain times of the year. One example is an accounting firm during the tax season.
Cons of Co-Managed IT
Whereas co-managed IT has several benefits, it also has some downsides. They include:
1. It Needs Significant Investment
Co-managed IT requires that you invest both time and money. It’s not a service that you pay for and forget. A good co-managed IT service should be tightly integrated with your business’s goals. You’ll need to meet up with your provider and agree on the changes you want to make to help your company move forward.
2. You May Need to Train Your Internal IT Team on New Tech Processes
Whenever there is a new workflow, training is usually required. You need to invest in training your staff on how to use the latest technology. Also, remember that end users at times push back on new staff, especially if the management has set the stage or laid out why the changes need to be made. Having a training mechanism helps reduce complaints from end-users.
3. It May Negatively Impact Your End-User’s Work Processes
A good co-managed IT service will ensure that there’s no downtime while they are making upgrades or integrating your IT department with their system. Nonetheless, altering the structure of your IT department often affects the work processes of the end-users.
Your in-house IT team will have to adjust to the new tech process. For instance, say you implement two-factor authentication, they’ll have to get used to having extra steps when logging into a system. This may be frustrating for them in the early days.
4. There Could Be Friction Between Your Internal Team and the Co-Managed IT Team
Adjusting to new people can pose a challenge for departments. Most often, IT people are reluctant or entirely resistant to working with an outsourced team. They are afraid the outsourced team is going to take their jobs.
That said, it is crucial that you make them understand working with an outside team is more of a partnership. Remember, your business can be impacted negatively if your IT processes aren’t streamlined.
We Can Provide You With More Information on Co-managed IT
Co-managed IT requires that you invest a lot of time and money, and you deserve to know about the possible challenges you may encounter ahead of time. Above, we’ve outlined the benefits of co-managed IT and its possible downsides. If you’d like to get more information on co-managed IT, Network Security Associates (NSA) can help you decide if co-managed IT is ideal for your business. Contact us today, and one of our technicians will guide you on everything you should know about this service.