One of the biggest IT decisions you will ever make is whether to employ an in-house team or an outsourced team. For those who have trouble making this decision, there is a good middle-ground option to be explored. That middle-ground option is called co-managed IT, and it is all about taking the best from both worlds. By employing both an in-house IT team and an outsourced support team, you can ensure that your tech problems are solved in the most efficient manner possible. Here are just a few of the reasons for which people choose this kind of plan.
1. Better Network Monitoring
When it comes to security, there is just no substitute for a robust network monitoring system. Even though there are a lot of ways to harden your network against intrusion, there is no such thing as an airtight system. Even government computers holding sensitive top secret information have been hacked in the past, so it’s safe to say that there is someone out there who can get past your security measures.
When someone does get past your security, there is often still time to stop them. There may also be time to document their activities for later prosecution. Either way, that’s not going to happen without good network monitoring. Not only do you need people to watch the monitors, but they have to be people that know how to interpret the raw data quickly and correctly. Your outsourced team will be the best people for this, as your in-house team probably has more immediate concerns.
2. Less Downtime
Downtime is a serious money-waster, and that cannot be overstated. When a company that depends on the internet finds themselves without it, the losses can easily reach into the tens of thousands. With all the online business going on these days, you cannot afford to be out of the game for even a single day. When you go with a co-managed IT approach, you can attack an outage from two different angles.
Because you will still have your in-house team, they can deal with any immediate problems that may occur. That means that your outsourced team can concentrate on things like reducing downtime. You should, of course, make sure that your MSP has a good service-level agreement that specifies how much downtime is acceptable. After that threshold has been reached, the MSP will become liable for your losses.
3. Simpler Management Scheme
With any team of workers, there are going to be management costs. Mainly, this would consist of paying their managers, but an outsourced IT team will already have their own people to do this. Thus, you don’t really have to worry about managing them or keeping them on task. All you really have to do with them is call their boss and tell them what needs to be done. And so, by dealing with one person, you can keep an entire team on track.
Management of both teams is also made easier by the fact that duties are clearly defined. The plan agreed upon by you and your MSP should make their obligations well-known on both sides. Each team should know what falls under their jurisdiction, and what does not. There are also going to be more IT people altogether, and that makes it easier to deal with any absentee issues. In the end, a co-managed system is just a lot more convenient for most companies.
4. A 24/7 Help Desk
Chances are, your organization doesn’t have a full-time 24/7 support desk. There just aren’t many businesses that need it enough to justify the cost. Having a 24/7 help desk means that you have to pay people to staff that desk, and those people could probably be doing something more productive. This is where your managed service provider can earn their pay.
A tech-driven MSP will probably have 24/7 support, and if they don’t, you should consider taking your business elsewhere. Without this option, your in-house team will continue to be inundated with support requests. That, in turn, will limit their productivity. Chances are, most of those routine tech problems can be solved remotely by your MSP.
5. Another Layer Of Defense
From a cybersecurity perspective, it is best to arrange things in layers. The anonymous internet browser called TOR (short for “the onion router) is a good example of this. It is protected by multiple layers of encryption, much like the layers of an onion. Thus, an intruder would have to break through many layers in order to find anything useful. Although you probably aren’t trying to go crazy with this concept, a co-managed IT approach allows you to use it effectively.
If nothing else, having two different teams will make it easier for someone to catch a problem/mistake. Many data breaches have happened simply because the software was out of date, and it only takes one vigilant person to fix a minor issue like that. If someone does actually compromise your system, having more hands on deck means a better chance of mitigating the damage.
Conclusion
A co-managed IT approach offers a whole lot of options, and that versatility is its greatest strength. Because the needs of every business are a little bit different, this is a great way to ensure that your IT management system is perfectly customized. Most of the time, that is a lot better than using one team for everything. In the end, the tech needs of a large and growing company are too much for one small group of individuals to handle. If this article has given you some good ideas about handling your IT issues in the future, please fill out the contact form.