Ransomware, phishing, encryption Trojans, fixing security vulnerabilities, raising employee awareness – these are all topics that have increasingly become the focus of IT departments in recent years. The IT team must therefore always ensure that its own IT infrastructure and employees are kept up to date in order to create maximum IT security for the company. And it is precisely because of these constantly growing requirements that companies are increasingly finding themselves in a tense situation, as these elementary tasks are often put off and only dealt with in a rudimentary way due to limited personnel capacities and the focus on the core business.

However, a solution to this challenge is not far away: in this blog article, you can find out more about co-managed IT, what is behind it and how this type of collaboration relieves your IT department, secures your company and creates space for the further development of your company.

 

What is co-managed IT?

Co-managed IT means exactly one thing: efficiency. By having a clearly defined range of tasks performed by an external IT service provider, the internal IT department can focus on its core areas. Cooperation between the IT service partner and the IT department is essential. This means that with co-managed IT, entire IT departments are never taken over, but merely supported by specialized IT specialists. The assigned subject areas are clearly defined and standardized tools and platforms are used to ensure consistently high service quality, IT security and user satisfaction.

In today’s world, it is almost impossible to manage all the requirements that modern IT entails on a daily basis internally. Accordingly, co-managed IT is an enormous opportunity for companies to shed light on the challenges with an IT service provider specializing in cooperative collaboration and to redistribute tasks over “several shoulders”.

 

Why co-managed IT?

The rapid pace of development in the IT sector means that a lot is demanded of your IT department. Everything must be up to date, security gaps must be closed or proactively prevented, users must be supported in daily operations in the event of IT problems and, of course, IT must be continuously developed. In addition, IT has an enormous impact on the competitive strength of your company. With so many items on the agenda, it is therefore inevitable that important IT issues cannot be dealt with due to a lack of time, tools or even IT specialists.

With co-managed IT, some of these IT tasks are placed in the hands of a specialized IT service provider. This allows the internal IT team to focus optimally on prioritized tasks and use the existing skills of the employees more skillfully and, above all, in a more targeted manner. Nevertheless, security-relevant and complex IT issues are always dealt with.

This not only optimizes the business process and increases security for the company, but also increases employee satisfaction, as they can devote themselves to areas that are even more suited to their skills.

 

What support does co-managed IT offer?

With the help of co-managed IT, various elements of your IT can be handed over to the external IT partner. Managed services are a typical example of this: This involves placing tasks such as the proactive maintenance and care of server and network structures, the implementation and monitoring of backups and the functional monitoring of the IT infrastructure in competent and trustworthy hands. Of course, it is also possible to outsource only parts of these functions: the individual structure therefore depends on the individual needs of the existing IT department, to which the IT service provider seamlessly connects.

 

What are the advantages of co-managed IT?

Security

Not least due to working from home or on the move and the increasing number of attacks on company structures by hacker groups, the issue of company data security is coming to the fore even more. As the scope of work is now not just limited to the company’s premises, but extends to different locations, the security risk increases exponentially. For this reason, it is extremely important to anticipate security gaps, continuously develop processes and technical measures and train and sensitize employees. At the same time, care must be taken to ensure that day-to-day business does not fall behind and that tools and systems are stable and functional. However, as both areas of responsibility entail a large amount of work, it is virtually impossible for IT departments in small and medium-sized companies to cover everything in line with requirements. Accordingly, co-managed IT makes a significant contribution to your company’s IT security by providing you with an external IT partner that you can rely on and who can provide your own IT department with reliable support exactly where it is needed.

 

Employee satisfaction

Another aspect concerns employee satisfaction. Nobody likes working with slow, unstable and outdated systems. And even on modern systems, things can sometimes get stuck – in which case quick help from available and knowledgeable IT colleagues is required. In most cases, however, it is precisely these elementary tasks of an IT department that may take a back seat, as more “urgent” IT issues need to be dealt with. Limited personnel capacities are now part of the everyday life of almost every company – accordingly, it is also a great advantage for employer attractiveness if employees are satisfied – and the IT environment plays a very important part in this nowadays. With co-managed IT, you can outsource defined tasks of your IT department, absorb limited personnel capacities and thus distribute the available resources of your employees in the best possible way.

 

Competitiveness

Nowadays, IT is a key factor in most companies that can make the difference between success and standstill. “Good” or ‘not so good’ IT has an enormous impact on your company’s ability to compete and grow. Consequently, not only should the strategy and business plan be regularly revised and adapted for future viability, but also the IT structure of your company. However, although everyone involved is aware of the importance of these issues, they tend to be pushed into the background or “endlessly” put off due to the abundance of challenges in day-to-day business. As a result, regular problems with IT stability and IT security are not uncommon. To ensure that this is not the case and that your company is always highly competitive and can take advantage of growth opportunities through flexible and adaptable IT structures, co-managing IT is an important lever for sustainably influencing the competitiveness of your company.

 

Collaboration at the heart of co-managed IT

It has already been emphasized several times: Co-managed IT is based on cooperation and trust. Communication takes place at eye level and a partnership-based, open and absolutely trusting relationship is maintained. Thanks to the lively exchange and defined communication channels, no tasks fall by the wayside and the area of responsibility is precisely defined. This means that it is always clear who is responsible in certain situations and misunderstandings are avoided.