Businesses often face a dilemma between in-house and outsourced IT services. Many are now considering a middle ground: co-managed IT services. This approach balances internal control with external expertise, offering a solution tailored to modern business demands.
Co-managed IT services provide a collaborative solution, combining in-house and third-party expertise to meet dynamic business needs effectively. Unlike fully outsourced IT, this model allows organizations to retain control while accessing external resources. TenHats offers tailored co-managed IT support in East Tennessee, ensuring uninterrupted operations and peace of mind.
Understanding Co-Managed IT Services
Co-managed IT services represent a collaborative approach to information technology. They’re particularly beneficial if you’re looking to bolster your IT capabilities without fully outsourcing your IT operations.
With this strategy, your internal IT team partners with a managed service provider (MSP). This partnership allows your organization to leverage the MSP’s:
- External resources
- Specialized knowledge
- Advanced tools
While you reap the rewards of partnering with an MSP, your company retains the familiarity, immediate access, and contextual understanding of your in-house staff.
It’s basically the best of both worlds. Your internal team continues to handle daily operations and tasks they’re most familiar with while the MSP provides supplemental support, advanced troubleshooting, and strategic guidance.
The synergy you create can enhance efficiency, optimize resource utilization, and ensure comprehensive IT coverage. This makes it a flexible and scalable solution to meet dynamic business needs.
The Difference Between Managed and Co-Managed IT
The key difference between co-managed and managed IT services lies in control and collaboration. A traditional MSP relationship outsources full control and responsibility of your IT infrastructure to a third party. In this setup, the MSP handles everything, from daily operations to IT strategic planning.
In contrast, co-managed IT services involve a partnership where your internal IT team collaborates with the MSP. Partially outsourced IT support is often more cost effective and provides greater control compared to fully outsourced services. This model allows your organization to leverage external expertise while maintaining in-house control and familiarity.
Basically, this means your team handles specific tasks while the MSP provides additional support and resources.
Although many people use the terms interchangeably, at TenHats, we frequently see clients integrating IT initiatives into their broader business strategies. This makes co-managed IT services the de facto relationship, with all stakeholders actively contributing to the company’s success.
Advantages of Co-Managed IT
Co-managed IT offers several advantages, from cost savings to more productive working relationships. They allow your organization to augment its internal IT teams with external support, ensuring optimal performance and quick issue resolution. This hybrid approach balances control and support, reducing costs and enhancing overall IT effectiveness.
Cost savings
It’s difficult to find one person with an MSP’s expertise, but you likely can hire an MSP for the same cost or less than a full-time employee. Co-managed IT helps you save money by:
- Reducing the need for full-time in-house IT staff
- Lowering training costs
- Minimizing downtime
It provides access to expert support and resources on-demand, optimizing IT expenses efficiently.
Workload management
With co-managed IT, your business can handle growing or inconsistent workloads by providing additional support during busier seasons. This outsourcing ensures that in-house IT operations run smoothly without the need for permanent staff increases.
Accessible expertise
Your business receives access to expertise quickly and easily when working with co-managed IT services. This makes it much easier than training or hiring new staff. This ensures immediate, high-level IT support and knowledge without long-term training or recruitment delays.
After-hours and emergency support
Co-managed IT provides your business with after-hours and emergency support. At TenHats, we do this through our 24/7 help desk to ensure continuous IT assistance. This serves as a complement to your in-house team, which may not be available around the clock.
Productive working relationships
With co-managed IT services, your business is fostering a productive working relationship by combining in-house control of IT direction with the expertise of an MSP. This collaboration goes beyond IT support to help ensure strategic alignment and efficient support through technology coaching, enhancing overall business productivity.
What Are Co-Managed Cybersecurity Services?
With co-managed IT, you benefit from comprehensive cybersecurity measures without sacrificing data governance. This model empowers you to maintain oversight of your digital assets while leveraging the specialized tools and resources of the cybersecurity provider to enhance protection.
Co-managed cybersecurity services involve a partnership between your organization and a specialized cybersecurity provider. Together, your in-house IT team oversees your MSP’s expertise. This collaboration ensures round-the-clock monitoring, detection, and response to cyber threats while retaining control over your data.
Co-managed cybersecurity often includes compliance support that helps your organization adhere to industry regulations and standards. By working together, your team and the cybersecurity provider can implement measures to ensure compliance, mitigate risks, and address any regulatory requirements effectively.
Choose TenHats for Co-Managed IT Support in Knoxville, TN
TenHats is the ideal choice for co-managed IT support in Knoxville, TN. Our team combines extensive industry experience with a deep understanding of local and regional business needs, ensuring tailored solutions that align with your goals. With 24/7 support and a commitment to rapid response times, we guarantee uninterrupted operations and peace of mind.
We foster a collaborative partnership, seamlessly integrating with your existing IT infrastructure while providing access to cutting-edge technologies and expertise. Our dedication to excellence and customer satisfaction makes them the trusted choice for businesses seeking reliable co-managed IT support in Knoxville.
Do you need co-managed IT support for your business? Contact us today to start a conversation!
Co-managed IT services offer a collaborative solution, blending internal and external expertise to meet business needs effectively. Unlike full outsourcing, this model enables organizations to maintain control while tapping into external resources. TenHats provides customized co-managed IT support in Knoxville, ensuring seamless operations and peace of mind.
In 2016, TenHats built the region’s first purpose-built colocation data center in over 20 years. Located in Knoxville, TN, our data center can serve any organization in East Tennessee and beyond. With our team’s IT experience, we provide a lot more than simply protected data. When you call us, you talk to a real IT expert. Connect with our team about our data center today!
