Co-Managed IT: The Advantages of Combining Your In-House Team with an External Provider

Everyone’s business climate is pretty well exploding with demand for IT, and this means it’s becoming increasingly difficult for internal teams to accomplish it all themselves. Therefore, a lot of companies are adopting co-managed IT services as a practical approach to workload management, because it harnesses external expertise in a way that boosts overall IT performance. It’s a strategic relationship between your own IT personnel and an outside service partner to share the tasks and maximize resources into the bargain.



By doing this, companies keep control of their systems while gaining access to specialized expertise and support.

In this ZandaX article, we show how this helps to prevent internal teams from becoming overwhelmed and allows external providers to fill in knowledge or capacity gaps without displacing in-house people.

Defining Roles: What Your Internal Team Should Do

Your internal IT team is vital for day-to-day operations and knows your organization’s IT environment thoroughly. Typical internal team duties are:

• Develop an IT strategy that is consistent with business objectives
• Oversee internal communications and change management related to technology
• Handle confidential or proprietary data
• Manage on-site hardware and network infrastructure
• Provide prompt assistance to employees and troubleshoot major problems

This means they have an important role in continuity and in making sure that any external engagement is compatible with business culture and policy. Focusing on these primary areas leaves your team in control of key technical assets.

How Your Internal Staff Work With External Vendors

There are lots of advantages to going external on the IT side, on a co-managed basis. They can bring specialist skills, access to the latest technology and extra workers for busy periods or projects when capabilities aren’t accessible in-house. External suppliers can benefit in the following areas:

• Continuous, 24/7 administration and monitoring of IT systems Cybersecurity services and compliance management
• Backup, Disaster Recovery and Data Protection Plans
• Build and manage cloud infrastructure Implementation of new technology projects and improvements

Companies looking to grow their team capacity without the cost of adding more full-time staff – and the management overhead this entails – would do well to consider working with a seasoned partner. For example, if you want to know how this can work for your firm, you could contact ANC Group.



This arrangement enables internal teams to focus on essential projects, while getting rid of the tedious and specialized jobs to external suppliers. Companies that use managed service providers and their own workers see significantly fewer security incidents: co-managed IT has cybersecurity benefits, too!

Setting the Right Kind of Limits

Of course, it’s important to have clearly defined roles and duties for this to work. Without precise boundaries, overlaps and/or gaps will appear, compromising efficiency and security. To do this, you need to:

• Develop a healthy working relationship: recognize you’re all working together!
• Identify which activities will be done internally and which will be done by the external provider
• Establish communication procedures and escalation procedures
• Specify service levels and performance measures
• Periodically examine and revise the overall agreement

These frameworks help keep teams accountable and running smoothly. And the right mix also enables your staff to focus on “higher up” strategic topics, while the external provider handles the day-to-day stuff.  For example, companies in Boston can get professional help and creative ideas by collaborating with APC, considered by many to be Boston’s best IT consulting firm.

The Growth of Co-Managed IT

The co-managed IT model is gaining popularity because it’s affordable and adaptable. It’s flexible, for a start: firms can scale their IT resources up – or down – as needed, to meet demand without the long-term commitment (and HR hassle) of expanding their internal personnel. IT infrastructures are growing increasingly complicated and so are the requirements for the kind of specialized knowledge that internal teams are often unlikely to have.



Another key factor – never to be ignored! – are the financial incentives. Co-managed services can save IT expenditure by 25% or more by reducing the need for full-time staff and optimizing resources. It’sa cost-effective solution that appeals to all types of enterprises, from small startups to huge companies.

Best Practices for Deployment

So let’s take a look at a few recommended practices that will help you optimize your operation:

1. Conduct a comprehensive analysis of the internal team’s strengths and weaknesses. Knowing what your staff are good at and where they need outside help is essential to know where the gaps are
2. Hire a third party that has experience your staff don’t have. The best partners are those who complement your skills … and understands your industry, too
3. Open communication and documentation sharing. You’ll never work with anyone without good communication. And to this end, ensure you keep all your regular tools and platforms up-to-date
4. Develop explicit goals, performance measures and review schedules. This allows both sides to remain accountable and dedicated to continuous improvement
5. Commit to continual training and information exchange with external and internal teams. Cross-training helps to establish a positive culture where information is transferred properly

You can use these criteria to develop an integrated IT operation that captures the best of both worlds and uses flexibility to achieve goals.

Common Issues … and How To Solve Them

Of course, there are challenges that businesses need to tackle proactively. One common complaint is that internal teams and outside vendors don’t get along. In the absence of explicit agreements, functions may not only be duplicated but in some circumstances, actually lost.

To counter this, firms should have clear service level agreements (SLAs) that define roles, responsibilities, response times and escalation procedures. Regular joint meetings and performance reviews maintain alignment and create confidence.

The other problem can be a “culture clash” where one team (often the external one) can be bullying or unappreciatibve. The first steps to a smootly running workplace are open communication, putting internal employees in decision making roles … and acknowledging their achievements.



External providers can also create security issues while accessing sensitive information. This is often undervalued, but needs to be addressed through supplier compliance with industry norms and legislation, and (of course) through effective limitations on access.

As with any potential problems in business, tackling them early means that you avoid them, instead of wasting time fixing them later on.

Trends to Watch

Technology is always changing, and the IT co-managed environment is no exception. Common themes include increased automation, AI-driven monitoring and enhanced cloud integration. These advances will enable external providers to offer more predictive and proactive help, reducing downtime and boosting security.

Another development will be that the use of co-managed IT platforms increases, as firms seek arrangements that suit increasingly remote workforces. Hybrid IT architectures that incorporate on-premises and cloud infrastructure are growing in use, meaning that administration is getting more complicated and specialized. Call in the external experts!

With this in mind, companies that accept these trends and go ahead with co-managed IT strategies will be best positioned to meet future challenges and opportunities.

And Finally…

Co-managed IT is a strategic partnership that allows organizations to combine internal expertise with external resources to improve their IT operations. For this to work, clear roles and boundaries have to be set, the correct provider identified and communication channels kept open. With technological advancements, co-managed IT is a scalable, robust approach to handle the increasing demands on IT staff.

And by dividing the work between your internal team and an external partner you’ll be able to build a strong IT operation that drives innovation, security and business success into the future.