These days, every business relies on IT infrastructure in its daily activities to improve efficiency and remain competitive. As any business scales, IT needs become complex and leadership must make a choice whether to use managed IT or in-house IT services.

Each service operates differently and can positively or negatively impact the efficiency of a business. This article discusses the two to help you choose one that perfectly meets your business needs.

What Is Managed IT?

Managed IT is an outsourced approach that seeks to take over your business’s IT infrastructure responsibilities. The services are offered by third parties called managed service providers (MSPs), who work away from your business but ensure your IT system functions 24/7. As such, you won’t need to maintain an in-house IT team.

When hiring an MSP, you enter into a service level agreement (SLA) that defines the responsibilities of each party involved. Usually, MSPs offer a wide range of services, and the more services you choose, the more your monthly charges will increase. Signing the agreement ensures each party knows what is expected of them. It also provides a reference for keeping each party accountable.

Features of Managed IT

In the past, managed IT used a break-and-fix model where the experts would monitor your infrastructure and act when a problem arose. However, the need for robust IT solutions and increased IT complexities has led to an expansion of the scope of managed IT services.

Some of the services offered include:

  • 24/7 remote monitoring and maintenance: Because the MSP doesn’t operate from your business, they use remote monitoring to ensure your IT software is intact all day. This helps minimize downtime as it’s easy to detect and resolve issues as they arise.
  • Cyber threat protection: Cyber threats remain a concern to every business adopting modern technology. MSPs collaborate with cybersecurity experts to tighten your data privacy and security. Also, they carry out routine inspections and audits to identify vulnerable areas.
  • Cloud-based solution: Collaboration is always the center bolt for organizations seeking to excel. MSPs enhance teamwork by providing cloud solutions such as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS) that ensure your business data is accessible from anywhere.
  • IT infrastructure design and upgrade: Technology keeps changing, and failing to keep up with the changes hinders your competitiveness. MSPs keep their eyes on the upcoming technology trends that can affect your business. During routine upgrades, they ensure that your IT infrastructure meets the industry standards.
  • Auditing and compliance: Most businesses struggle with preparing audit and compliance reports. With managed IT services, you don’t have to worry about this, as the experts know all the compliance standards and will help you mitigate compliance risks.

Benefits

Here are the benefits of using managed IT services:

  • Minimal expenses: You’ll only need to incur one subscription fee when you hire an MSP. You won’t have to budget for employee training, benefits, and paid leave costs. The cost of hiring two in-house employees might be enough to cover a managed IT subscription.
  • Seasoned IT professionals: When businesses run into IT issues, they mostly call MSP experts since they’re experienced in handling the most complex IT infrastructure. So, you won’t have to outsource other IT solutions should your business IT needs change.
  • Tight security: Since they’re entrusted with data from different businesses, MSPs employ the safest measures to prevent cyber threats. Besides, they assess your IT system even during off hours, ensuring security in your business round the clock.

Limitations

Below are the limitations of managed IT services:

  • It’s challenging to get physical assistance: Managed IT services resolve IT glitches remotely and will only attend to a situation physically if it proves challenging to resolve virtually. This might make it difficult to identify hardware-related problems on time.
  • The technology might not be fully customized for the business: Most MSPs don’t spend time in the business, so they might not fully understand your unique needs. This can lead to IT solutions that are not perfectly curated to meet your demands.
  • Hard-to-learn IT solutions: Should you choose to terminate your subscription, it’ll be hard for your team to learn how to operate the system created by MSPs.

In-House IT Operations

In-house IT services are offered by a team of IT employees who work on-site. For this team to be efficient, it’ll require personnel such as a system administrator, data manager, cloud architect, cybersecurity expert, and help desk support staff.

Unlike managed IT, In-house IT gives you more control over IT policies, procedures, and security protocols. This means you can tailor IT solutions to your organization’s unique needs, enabling the development of custom applications or configurations that align with business goals.

Benefits

In-house IT services have the following benefits:

  • Physical support is available: Since the in-house team works on-site, employees can directly contact them when issues arise. It’s also possible for the team to troubleshoot hardware problems before they escalate.
  • Easy to align technology with your business culture: An in-house team can collaborate with other departments, such as finance, human resources, and administration, to align technology strategies with overall business objectives.
  • You develop company standards: When you hire employees, you develop guidelines for onboarding your team.

Limitations

Here are the limitations of in-house IT:

  • Staffing costs and frequent changes: Besides salaries, an in-house IT team accrues other expenses such as office space, equipment, and ongoing training. Also, since the IT industry is competitive, your employees will likely quit if they find an opportunity with better benefits. This means you’ll frequently incur training costs to onboard new employees.
  • Lack of round-the-clock monitoring: An in-house team usually works within specified business hours. As such, technical support may be unavailable during evenings, weekends, or holidays.
  • Skill gaps: As technology advances, your on-site team might not have the expertise to handle some aspects. This will require you to outsource experts to help you upgrade your system.

Pick the Best IT Solution for Your Business

When choosing an IT solution for your business, it’s critical to consider your business size. An IT system with less than 50 computers can work best with an in-house team. Beyond that, outsourcing managed IT would be a viable option for your operations to run smoothly. However, you should also weigh both solutions’ costs to see which is ideal for your business.

Want to learn more? Let’s have a conversation about how we can help you better manage and secure your IT network. Send us a message via our online chat to connect.