At ABS, we frequently meet with clients who feel conflicted. While they are no longer able to manage their own IT internally, they don’t want to give up all their control to an outside company. And that’s understandable.

There are times when you need a little help managing your IT systems, but you don’t want to completely switchover to a new solution. There are still elements of your current system that you want to keep in place, and there are still internal IT staff members that you want to keep aboard.

Co-managed IT services are the solution.

We have clients like our construction clients — clients who are growing rapidly and scaling upwards. They need support to manage their aggressively fast-moving systems, but they have their own proprietary systems.

We have clients like one of Toronto’s largest electronics display manufacturers. These clients realize that they are locked into a continuous cycle of hiring new IT personnel, and they need a break.

And we have clients who have a good thing going already, but they recognize they need some help. Security standards are changing, and they have issues of compliance and accessibility to meet.

Maybe these situations sound familiar to you. Maybe you have an internal IT team that you don’t want to lose, niche and proprietary systems you want to continue to support, or services that are already working quite well. At ABS, we have decades of experience working with our clients’ systems, supporting them, and making sure that they get exactly what they want — nothing more, nothing less.

Through co-managed systems, you have the opportunity to gain the advantages of an MSP without having to switch over completely to an MSP. Our technicians can work with you to support mundane, day-to-day tasks, help desk tickets, and other support issues, while your internal IT team still does what it does best.

What is Co-Managed IT? Breaking Things Down

At its core, co-managed IT is exactly what it sounds like. It’s an arrangement where your own internal IT department continues to handle some of the tasks and issues related to your infrastructure, while a third party services provider handles many of the others.

So instead of offloading everything to a third party, you’re allowing someone to come in and handle things like proactive cyber security, thorough and robust backups, the management of help desk requests, and even things like password resets.

These are the types of tasks that are absolutely essential… but that doesn’t make them any less irritating. So from that perspective, co-managed IT is an opportunity for many organizations to “have their cake and eat it, too” as far as their technology is concerned.

When Co-Managed IT Might Be Right For You

As is true with so many other areas of technology, co-managed IT isn’t going to be the perfect fit for everyone out there. Some companies have grown at such a rate where they NEED to go “all in” on managed support. Others are still small enough where their own people are getting along just fine.

But those organizations in the middle – and there are many of them out there – are the ones that stand to benefit the most from a co-managed arrangement.

Every minute that your own people are focusing on resetting passwords yet again, wading through help desk tickets, or handling any one of the other mundane tasks that usually fall on IT’s plate is a minute they’re not making your business money.

Imagine if they didn’t have to worry about any of these things and could devote the entirety of their attention to optimizing workflows and internal processes so that your organization can run more efficiently and profitably. What do you think your IT person would say if you told him or her they never had to spend another minute on updating existing software, and could instead get back to work on building that custom app that will revolutionize your productivity that they’ve been working on?

Or, think about it from your perspective. Imagine never again having to deal with a “technology nightmare day” every time your internal IT person calls in sick. Remember that time when your last IT person unexpectedly quit, causing never-ending problems until you could finally hire and train a new person? Picture the relief that would come with knowing you never have to worry about that in the future.

These, ultimately, are the reasons why co-managed IT might be right for your business. It’s less about replacing your existing IT workforce and is more about supporting and empowering them. By taking as many of the routine, time consuming and administrative tasks off their “To Do” list as possible, they’re free to devote themselves to the “bigger picture” issues that will add to your bottom line.

Ultimately, what could be more important than that?

Does co-managed IT solutions sound right for you? Or do you think a managed IT service would be better? The easiest way to find out is to call us for a consultation.