If your organization has an internal IT resource, then you might think that working with an outsourced managed services provider might be redundant or unnecessary. While few would blame you for thinking that, you’d still be wrong. In this article we’re going to discuss co-managed IT, and the advantages it brings to any table.
What Is Co-Managed IT?
Co-managed IT can be thought of as the augmentation of existing IT resources, which allows you to maximize your problem solving efficiency. If your organization has a single IT provider that handles both end-user requests and long-term support, then you might have noticed that the end-user/helpdesk requests winds up taking priority. The internal team focuses on only day-to-day operations, instead of helping plan for future growth on a larger scale. They literally don’t have the time. Supplementing them with an outside IT resource can open that team up to activities like testing and implementing new technology that can help your business. If the tedium is taken off their hands, then experimentation and larger-scale problem solving can occur. This is a pretty straightforward benefit, right?
Any IT resource needs to be able to keep themselves educated on new upcoming technology, trends, solutions, and tools. It’s imperative to the long-term survival of their career—except an unsupported internal IT team can be so overwhelmed with the day-to-day tasks of their organization that they don’t get the chance to learn. In comparison, at Seltek we set aside time every week for our staff, be they engineers or help-desk technicians, to read about and review new technology. If we aren’t doing our part to stay ahead of the technology curve, then we will be fundamentally unable to serve our clients to the fullest extent. A lot of companies that rely on an internal IT resource find themselves unwilling to spend the time or money to keep that team educated—especially when that resource is understaffed. Working with an outsourced IT resource can open up the time for your internal team to better themselves and work on long-term development.
Who Should Use It?
What kind of organization would be an ideal candidate for a co-managed IT solution? We think that the organizations that best benefit from a co-managed solution are organizations that have some form of limited internal IT resource that can handle the day-to-day tasks, but doesn’t have the time for the larger projects or development plans. Hiring an outsourced IT provider to take over the helpdesk side of IT can open up the internal team to projects that will benefit and grow the company they’re a part of. This is especially true and helpful when that organization is growing quickly, and is struggling to find enough staff to support their expansion. A co-managed IT solution can both reduce costs and reduce growing pains by picking up the slack, and providing strategic planning moving forward.
As you can see, it often makes perfect sense to augment your internal IT team with an outsourced provider. Expecting your internal “IT guy” or even a small IT team to cover all of your IT bases is unreasonable and potentially limiting—through no fault of their own. Contact an outsourced IT resource to reap the benefits of a co-managed IT solution, and watch your company grow.
