Option 1: In-house IT
An in-house team sits with you, knows your business intimately and is there in person. For larger organisations with complex, constantly-changing systems, that control is valuable.
But it’s expensive. A single competent IT hire costs far more than their salary once you add recruitment, training, holiday and sickness cover, tools and certifications. One person also can’t be an expert in everything — networking, cybersecurity, cloud and Microsoft 365 are now specialist fields — and when they’re off, you’re exposed. For many small and medium businesses, in-house IT means paying a lot for a single point of failure.
Option 2: Outsourced IT
Outsourcing hands your entire IT function to an external partner for a predictable monthly fee. You get a whole team’s worth of skills — service desk, security, cloud, strategy — for less than the cost of one or two hires, with no recruitment headaches and built-in cover.
The old worry was responsiveness: would an outside provider really care? With the right partner, remote-first support means issues are often fixed faster than waiting for someone to walk over — and a good provider gives you a dedicated account manager who knows your business as well as any employee would. The key is choosing a partner who takes genuine ownership rather than hiding behind a ticket queue. See how our managed & outsourced IT support works
Option 3: Co-managed IT
Co-managed IT is the middle ground: you keep your in-house people and add an external partner for extra capacity, specialist skills and out-of-hours cover. Your team handles the day-to-day; your partner provides 24/7 monitoring, project muscle and the deep expertise that’s hard to keep on staff. It’s increasingly popular with businesses that have outgrown one IT person but don’t need — or can’t justify — a full department.
Explore co-managed IT support
So which is right for you?
As a rough guide: if you have no internal IT and want it handled, outsource it. If you have a capable IT person or team who are stretched or lack certain skills, co-manage it. If you’re a large, complex organisation that needs full in-house control, build the team — but consider a partner for security and specialist projects even then.
Whatever model fits, the deciding factor is usually the same: do you want to spend your time running IT, or running your business?
