Co-Managed IT In Cincinnati
Does your in-house IT team sometimes struggle to keep up with tasks and, as a result, overwhelmed? Are you skeptical about letting off your existing IT department for complete outsourced management?
This is the dilemma of most executives who decided to source IT from within?
Meet Tom, the ‘IT Guy’ for a large law firm in Cincinnati. He supports more than 100+ users, five servers, and a bunch of devices and services. As you can imagine, Tom is overworked and overwhelmed. He hasn’t been on a vacation since he joined the company five years ago. Why? There is nobody else to manage the servers when he is away. The organization just launched VoIP; if phones go down, daily operations will be affected.
Tom’s story is a reality for most organizations. Could it be yours too? Sometimes you need specialized skills in cybersecurity, public/private cloud, business continuity, complex firewall/routing issues, virtualization, or video conferencing. You don’t need someone full-time, just somebody reliable, and who can help when necessary.
Your solution lies with Co-managed IT services.
Co-managed IT, What Is It?
For a long time, IT management has only been correlated with full outsourced support. And so executives that already have in-house IT staff have been inundated with having to disband those departments or forgo the windfalls of outsourcing.
What if you could reap the windfalls of both worlds? Co-management is an agreement where executives outsource IT services, temporarily or for an extended period, to augment their internal IT crew. You, therefore, escape the hassle of having to hire more full-time in-office IT experts. The service provider works hand-in-hand with the existing IT department, not displacing it. It’s more of an external branch of your IT unit.
How do you stand to benefit? You get to work with in-house employees who understand your business extensively, supported by a deep bench of experienced professionals. It’s like outsourcing and insourcing at the same time.
Is Co-management Better Than Outsourcing Or Having An Internal IT Department?
Why did you go for in-house staffing in the first place? You wanted personnel who know your business to the details and match with its aspirations. A team that would go beyond their limits to safeguard your systems. And that’s precisely what you got. But, there are a lot of ‘what-ifs.’ What if you were to experience a cyberattack, would they be in a position to save the day? What if you were to outsource IT management, could there be any difference?
Of course, with outsourcing, you access the best IT experts in the market, complete with their vast experience. Your systems are supported by the latest technology and the most up-to-date software. But, at what cost? You are not ready to spend that much on permanent external IT management. In any case, it makes no sense to you relinquishing your staff for a ‘strange team’ that does not understand a bit about your networks.
That is where Co-management comes in handy. It’s not better than the two options; it’s an amalgamation of both of them.
You get the most of both worlds, and much more.
Three Signs You Need Co-managed IT Services
- Your Internal IT Department Is Too Small or Does Not Have the Right Experience: It’s common practice for many successful organizations to have just a couple of IT professionals. As the business scales, they may need help managing high-level strategic functions.
- Your IT Staff Is Overworked: This could be due to a seasonal traffic influx, or rapid growth in your business. Forcing the team to work overtime routinely is unhealthy. A knee-jerk reaction to add more permanent staff on the payroll could be too expensive. The leadership can decide to outsource co-management to handle the work overflow. The extra-hands could help manage help desk services for a faster response and quick resolutions. In this manner, your customers are satisfied, and you save on cost.
- Your IT Staff Is Not Experienced in an Upcoming Project: They may need assistance in handling complex concepts like compliance issues, server upgrades, new technology evaluations, office moves, or platform migrations.
Are There Any Benefits To Co-management IT Services?
- It Helps You Save on Cost: For many organizations, IT is one of the most expensive undertakings. From having to acquire high-tech equipment to lofty salaries and allowances for technicians, it never gets any easier. The burden further aggravates when you need more staff to handle your increasing needs. But it doesn’t have to be; you can seek co-management and transfer all these responsibilities to your IT supplier.
- You Get More Flexibility: If you don’t need full-time external support, you can just outsource co-management when it’s necessary. This gives you the freedom to hire and disengage support depending on your needs, and at your convenience. What’s more? You and your users can seek help at any time of the day from anywhere.
- Use Co-Managed IT to Create More Time for the Organization: Free your in-house employees from the hassle of handling more involving IT projects. Outsource co-management to deal with the time-consuming functions as your staff implements business-centered programs.
- Co-Management Gives You Access to the Best Technologies and Experienced Personnel: Outsourced IT service providers always go the extra mile to have quality staff and top-notch equipment. With co-management, you access all these amenities whenever you want and without having to spend on acquiring or maintaining them.
- Predictable Budgets: Quite a large chunk of IT budgets go to mitigating inadvertent security mishaps. Co-management brings on board some level of heightened cybersecurity, enabling you to draft budgets with assurance.
Maximize On Co-managed IT Services to scale your business
Just like any other IT investment, co-management must be strategic and with the right partner. The right service provider will help you obtain business value from co-management in the most cost-effective ways.
For organizations around Cincinnati, 4BIS.COM does not just offer co-management as a secondary service. It’s at the core of our hyper-professional IT support solutions.
