Different sources will cite different timelines for the evolution of managed IT. Some date the conception of managed services back to the 1990s; others to the early 2000s. Regardless of origin – and the many metamorphoses that have transpired since – the model for managed services providers (MSPs) has remained relatively straightforward: An organization opts to outsource its IT operations to a third-party vendor, presumably to preserve resources in personnel, budget, and expertise; the vendor – the MSP – provides comprehensive IT care and proves itself invaluable to the organization’s bottom line, and everyone lives happily ever after. Right?
Maybe. But in today’s reality of economic turmoil, complex operational structures, and seemingly uncontainable security threats, workplace IT is continuously creating new challenges for businesses and MSPs alike.
Managed services providers are facing many of the same issues internal IT teams are facing, including:
- Attracting and hiring qualified technical talent
- Gaining and maintaining the expertise required to support more applications than ever
- Surviving and thriving in the current economic environment
And that’s just scratching the surface. With MSPs having to turn away customers whose needs they can’t meet, and businesses struggling to build a strong IT support team, what can either party do to bridge the gap?
Enter: Co-managed IT.
In this blog, we’ll discuss what businesses need to know when considering a co-managed solution, including benefits, pitfalls, and whether your organization is a good fit for co-managed IT. Read on to learn more.
What is co-managed IT and how does it work?
There are a lot of interpretations of co-managed IT, but the simple definition is: Co-managed IT is a hybrid outsourcing option that allows an MSP to handle specific areas of an organization’s IT, typically working alongside the organization's internal IT team to provide support where it’s needed most.
Here’s an example of an instance where co-managed IT could be a good solution:
A company has an internal team of four or five technicians. The technicians are all proficient in solving tier 2 and tier 3 support issues, but most of their time is spent answering tier 1 issues, which overwhelms the entire team. As a result, tier 2 and tier 3 issues take way too long to resolve. Employees are frustrated and their productivity is interrupted.
On a day-to-day basis, these things may not seem like anything more than an inconvenience, but over time, frequent discontinuity can hurt a company’s bottom line.
This is a situation where an organization may choose co-managed IT. An outsourced provider should be able to answer and resolve tier 1 issues without much difficulty, while expert internal techs are freed up to focus on the organization’s more advanced issues. Sure, outsourcing comes with a cost, but when compared to the cost of recruiting, hiring, training and retaining additional staff, co-managed can quickly become the budget-friendly option.
Other common co-managed IT solutions include:
- Infrastructure management
- Antivirus management
- Patch management
- System updates
- Backup verification and monitoring
- Employee security awareness training
- IT procurement and vendor management
- Backup management
- Firewall management
And more!
One of co-managed IT’s greatest attributes is its customizability. But at its core, effective co-managed IT leverages an MSP to supplement – not replace – an internal IT team, with both groups working hand in hand to provide the very best and most efficient support. In turn, businesses can ensure their employees receive high-caliber IT support, and MSPs can add value to organizations that are too large, too complex, or not quite ready to outsource their IT entirely.
What are the challenges with co-managed IT?
Co-managed IT is a practical solution for internal IT departments and MSPs of all shapes and sizes – but nothing is perfect. Here are three common challenges of co-managed IT, and measures to overcome them.
1. Alignment between teams
For co-managed IT to work well, everyone involved needs to be on the same page. Without a clear and concise understanding of who is responsible for what and how different solutions are implemented, co-managed IT is unlikely to work the way it’s intended to.
Early in the qualification process, take care to slowly integrate different teams, observe how they work together, create collective goals and targets, define roles and processes, and – above all – make sure your internal IT team is assured the new structure is not a threat, but rather a tool to empower them to meet individual and company goals.
2. Getting a company’s employees on board
As the saying goes, the only constant is change. Another constant is: most people inherently resist change. Your technicians may feel threatened by the introduction of an external party, and your employees might complain about having to adopt a new process for IT support. This kind of pushback isn’t unusual and may be impossible to avoid, but the best way to combat resistance is with clear communication. The MSP’s role in the company should be transparent – it should be understood what role they fill and why – and clear rules of engagement should be given to employees. If executed correctly, the benefits of co-managed IT will quickly become evident to all, and resistance will dissolve into enthusiastic acceptance.
3. Having the right tools
Alignment between internal and external teams is one challenge, but alignment between systems and programs is a completely different beast. Maybe your company has already considered co-managed IT but hasn’t been able to find the right fit, no matter how exhaustive your search. It could be that the providers you’ve looked at are limited in what their capabilities are. Maybe you’re discouraged because it doesn’t seem possible that any external party could comply with your business’s specific requirements. This is a roadblock we see all the time. The reality is there isn’t a one-size-fits-all option for co-managed IT. But this isn’t a bad thing! Remember: Co-managed IT is, above all, highly customizable.
Every managed IT provider is going to specialize in its own unique area of expertise – it's just a matter of identifying your business’s unique needs and taking the time to evaluate different providers to find the right fit. The process may take some trial and error – and that’s ok. To save time and resources, make sure you’re asking the right questions early on. You have options, and if you’re not sure where to start, Collabrance can help.
What are the benefits of co-managed IT?
If you’ve read this far, you can see an entire book could be written about the ins and outs of co-managed IT. Here are five of the top benefits of a working within a co-managed environment:
1. Enhanced IT expertise
With a team of experts behind you, your business can tap into a pool of knowledge and experience that may not be available in-house. Working with a credentialed provider who understands industry standards will help ensure a high level of security and regulatory compliance, among other advanced intelligence. Providers of managed IT typically have years of combined experience working with specialized technologies, applications and systems your internal techs may not have exposure to.
2. Improved flexibility
Co-managed IT services provide businesses with the flexibility they need to adapt to quickly changing circumstances. With an extended team in place, companies are no longer limited to the capabilities of their internal IT resources – they're equipped with a group of specialists whose job it is to proactively identify and respond to even the thorniest issues, protecting an organization from the potential vulnerabilities of a less agile team.
3. Increased efficiency
With dedicated professionals working alongside in-house IT staff, businesses can ensure their technology infrastructure is consistently running smoothly and efficiently. Because the co-managing service provider works remotely from the in-house team, they have access to tools and technologies an internal team may not. That access translates to faster response times, which minimizes employee downtime and increases overall productivity. Co-managed IT providers may take advantage of the following:
- Advanced remote monitoring tools
- Advanced systems checking
- Proactive maintenance schedules
All of these benefits – and more – are part of a typical co-managed setup.
4. Enhanced cybersecurity
Cyberattacks are growing more prevalent and sophisticated by the day. Security is no longer a “nice to have”; it’s a critical element of business continuity. But a comprehensive security solution is complex. Having a team of experts who specialize in cybersecurity can help protect your company from potential data breaches, viruses and a variety of other threats.
Related: The Technical Guide to Combatting Business Email Compromise
5. Cost savings
Co-managed IT services can translate to significant cost savings for businesses of all sizes. By partnering with an outsourced provider, you only pay for the IT support and services your organization needs. This eliminates the necessity to hire additional full-time staff and reduces expenses related to overtime and training.
Co-managed IT also helps to reduce the costs associated with unexpected downtime due to technical failures or security incidents. No organization can protect itself from cyberthreats entirely, but having an established team of experts in place for proactive monitoring and recovery protocols means your business will be in a far better position if a breach does occur.
Is your business a good fit for co-managed IT?
To determine whether co-managed IT is right for your organization, start by evaluating your internal IT team’s strengths and weaknesses. Is it networking? Patching? Security? Consider whether your team has the bandwidth and skillset necessary to provide sufficient support in all areas of your business, or if there are areas that need more dedication. To leverage co-managed effectively, a solution needs to be built with the needs and capabilities of your team in mind.
The Collabrance co-managed solution was built around three primary tenets:
- Collabrance is the first line of defense for employees’ IT needs. Our technicians are available via live-answer phone, email, or desktop chat.
- Collabrance handles a specified set of support issues, identified at the beginning of the business relationship and based on the customer’s unique needs, challenges, and strengths.
- Issues that fall outside of Collabrance’s scope of support are forwarded to the customer’s internal IT team with notes, and scheduled meetings with both teams occur regularly.
If you are interested in learning more about co-managed IT, visit our co-managed IT resources page where you can find more information, or get in touch with a member of our team by filling out the form below. We'd love to learn more about how we can help your business grow!
