The role of IT in business operations has led to peak demand for IT talent. But despite the numerous benefits realized with building and maintaining an in-house team, there are several shortcomings that ought to be factored into the equation. CIOs often cite limited skills for complex technical support requests and overwhelming IT duties as major challenges stifling in-house operations.
Unsurprisingly, the proliferation of co-managed IT in the corporate context comes at a time when the cybersecurity ecosystem is volatile and IT issues are becoming more rampant, sophisticated, and expensive than ever. To tip the scales in their favor, CIOs are turning to the co-managed IT framework. Here, various duties are shared between in-house staff and an outsourced third-party provider.
Key Takeaways
- The synergy between internal staff and an outsourced IT team sees that the technical and operational aspects of your IT environment are comprehensively cared for.
- Adopting a co-managed IT model opens pathways to greater benefits that a traditional in-house IT model may not offer. Such benefits rally around cost savings, greater efficiency, and quick time to resolution.
- Co-managed IT providers in DC can fill existing tech gaps. Proactive monitoring, maintenance, and performance enhancement are some of the hard-wired benefits of working with a co-managed IT partner such as Port Cyber.
What Services Do Co-Managed IT Providers Offer?
Co-managed IT services are accredited with creating a collaborative working environment where your internal IT staff works alongside an outsourced IT team, fulfilling disparate tasks, but in pursuit of a common objective.
Often, co-managed IT is met with internal resistance as onboarding skilled and experienced outsourced IT specialists is mistaken for a blatant attempt to replace existing staff. This couldn’t be further from the truth.
Your co-managed IT partner solely aims at complementing and enhancing your in-house staff’s performance. The subsequent collaboration harnesses the strengths of both teams and brings about optimized business operations.
The scope of service, while limited to your business needs, may include a broad criteria of activities such as:
- Network equipment installation and configuration
- Cloud server setup, data backup, and disaster recovery
- Hardware and software diagnostics, monitoring, and reporting
- Network performance and security optimization
- New user onboarding
- Regular hardware repair and maintenance
Be sure to evaluate your provider’s service level agreement (SLA). This document highlights important elements of the service, such as the extent of support, quality of service, and estimated response times. It also outlines liability, which CIOs mistakenly dismiss as fine-print.
Business information officers often make the assumption, for instance, that their managed IT provider is solely responsible for the security of their devices and data. SLAs clarify this assumption with a clear acknowledgement of shared cybersecurity responsibilities.
Benefits of Co-managed IT Services for Businesses
Businesses that delve into co-managed IT services stand to enjoy the plenitude of advantages that come with leaving technical and repetitive IT tasks to an outsourced partner. Not so long ago, businesses had one of two options; hire in-house or outsource entirely.
In a recent study, 20% of respondents expressed confidence in co-managed IT, saying that they would consider operating under such terms.
Here’s a brief summary of what you can expect to achieve with a co-managed IT team:
- Co-managed IT creates a pathway to advanced technology. Due to the service provider’s industry exposure, they’re well-equipped with the right equipment and experience to meet your company’s unique needs.
- Most co-managed IT providers are adept at compliance and cybersecurity. Compliance with state and federal regulations can be difficult to fully grasp, given the dynamic nature of modern-day cyber threats. With a co-managed IT partner, your business can stay one step ahead of emerging cyber threats.
- Outsourcing to a co-managed IT provider further redistributes the management responsibilities of an overtaxed internal team. This takes routine and technical responsibilities, freeing up more time and resources to deal with a diverse range of IT issues tied directly to your success.
- Co-managed IT providers offer scalable and flexible services. Time and resources can be stretched out or shrunk to match your business needs.
It’s worth pointing out that despite these benefits, co-managed IT providers face some inevitable challenges. For instance, a lot of providers lack familiarity with your company’s innate processes. Hence they would experience difficulty in fully realizing your business’s specific needs and adapting to future changes.
What to Look For When Selecting Your Ideal Co-Managed IT Partner
Finding your ideal co-managed IT partner in a sea of options is not as easy as it seems. Business leaders are faced with several important decisions, some shaped by factors that are far beyond their reach.
For starters, your ideal candidate must have a readily available and dedicated service team. Where applicable, managed IT service providers assign a dedicated virtual Chief Information Officer tasked with handling any issues that arise specifically within your infrastructure. Where a full team has been assigned, it should always be at your disposal for any IT related issues within your infrastructure.
Proactivity is another core element of modern-day outsourced IT management. Proactive monitoring (sometimes referred to as 24/7 monitoring) aims to identify and resolve IT issues before they spiral out of control.
But perhaps the most important consideration when choosing your co-managed team is their level of expertise in tackling issues facing your business. Many IT specialists in a co-managed arrangement possess vast experience resolving configuration, patch management issues, and securing specific products and services. Your IT staff could tap into this expertise and learn how to fix similar issues with precision.
Conclusion
Co-managed IT services can help take the hassle out of IT, streamline operations, and position your business for greater future success. At the end of the day, co-managed IT is about ensuring that your IT team gets the support that they need, when they need it.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can co-managed IT services improve employee productivity?
Co-managed IT service providers offer routine monitoring and maintenance to your business’s IT infrastructure and ensure that workflows are streamlined. This improves employee productivity as they can rely on the software and the systems are running nonstop with little to no downtime.
What are the key factors to consider when choosing a co-managed IT partner?
To help narrow down the list of potential co-managed IT service providers, consider factors such as their experience, expertise, security and compliance standards. Evaluate these to get an overview of your provider’s capability to completely satisfy your business needs.
How can businesses ensure a smooth transition to co-managed IT services?
Ensuring a smooth transition to co-managed IT services starts with clear communication of the underlying business and visions. Sharing common goals and objectives keeps booth teams on the same page and this lays the foundation for a smooth transition.
What metrics should be used to measure the success of co-managed IT implementation?
Among the several metrics that can be used to gauge the effectiveness of your co-managed IT partnership are the return on investment (ROI) and the average time to resolution. The ROI figures visualize the net returns throughout the duration of the partnership. The average time to resolution refers to the amount of time taken to resolve an issue. It may vary depending on the cause of the issue and the measures in place for protection and recovery.