Information technology (IT) is the backbone of successful businesses in our increasingly technological world. Organizations need IT solutions, but the question looms large whether to manage it themselves with internal staff, leverage a managed service provider (MSP) to handle the work for them, or a hybrid – often called – co-managed IT service model.
Why choose managed services? If you have no internal IT resources, a fully outsourced or fully managed IT service model is your go-to. A fully managed IT solution will free your organization of the responsibility of managing IT solutions completely by leveraging MSP outsourcing to craft and execute your business’ technology strategy. This is the main appeal and reason many businesses choose outsourced, managed IT services.
Why select co-managed services? Many small and medium-sized businesses have some technical support within their organization. Co-managed services is another name for shared services.
A co-managed IT approach aligns your internal team with an IT managed service provider who will work in tandem to accomplish your business objectives. This creates a scalable solution that can be continuously modernized and upgraded without upsetting the current framework.
With either a co-managed or a fully managed service provider, there are many benefits for your business. With many trained eyes on your network 24/7, you’ll be less likely to encounter problems with your technology infrastructure.
How to Select the Right IT Service Model for You
There are many factors to consider when deciding how to choose a managed services provider and IT service model. When you consider the breadth of skills required to effectively staff an IT department, no one person is able to check all of the boxes. This requires you to determine which managed services IT support model fits your needs.
A company may choose to hire a desktop engineer to handle the day to day user support, and that role may command a compensation package of $50-60K, but that person is likely not suited for server and cloud support nor the strategic role a CIO fulfills.
On the other hand, if you hire a senior level engineer to handle your network and cloud management needs, you will still need the support that only a CIO can provide. You may also deal with your senior level engineer feeling desktop support is beneath them.
Who Should Consider a Fully-Managed Solution?
When it comes to choosing the right IT managed services model for our clients, Mentis Group finds that most organizations with 20-100 users benefit most from having their IT fully managed by an MSP.
This means the business has no technical resources on staff, allowing them to focus their staff on activities that directly relate to their trade, and less time managing outsourced IT – one the main advantages of the managed services model.
Who Should Consider a Co-Managed Solution?
For those organizations with 100+ users, Mentis typically recommends at least a single desktop support engineer on staff. In this case, the client’s desktop support engineer will be responsible for the majority of desktop support tickets, leveraging Mentis as an escalation point only for those tough-to-resolve desktop support issues. Any issues not relating to supporting workstations would be handled by the co-managed IT service.
For larger businesses with over 300 users, they still often utilize co-managed services, while having an on-premise IT team consisting of 2-4 engineers and a technical manager on staff.
Most importantly, under a co-managed IT arrangement, the on-staff support team will leverage the Mentis processes, monitoring, ticketing, and documentation platforms in their work. This allows the teams to work in synergy under the co-managed service delivery model, aligning to the overall technical strategy.
When technology is integral to your everyday business, it’s imperative to have a quality IT team that not only knows how to keep things up and running but who also have the time and expertise to protect and enhance your business technology.
Whether you choose a co-managed or fully managed support service, your business will benefit from our professional team.