At a certain size, every company reaches the same point: IT no longer runs on the side. Printers, servers, Microsoft 365, security, backups. Somebody has to take care of it. The classic answer is a dedicated IT position. The alternative is a managed service provider, MSP for short. We see both models every day at our clients. Here is our honest comparison.
In-house IT admin: strengths and limits#
An in-house administrator knows the company inside out. They are on site, know every workstation and every quirk of the applications. For companies with many individual requirements, that is real value.
The limits show in day-to-day operations. One person cannot know everything: networking, cloud, security, licensing and data protection are each specialist fields in their own right. During holidays or sick leave, IT is left without cover. And a full-time position quickly costs 70,000 to 90,000 euros a year including salary, social contributions and training, often more given the shortage of skilled staff.
What does a managed service provider do?#
An MSP runs your IT as a service provider with a whole team behind it. That fundamentally changes three things:
Broad expertise instead of one person. There is a specialist behind every topic. Firewalls, Microsoft 365, server operations and monitoring are not handled by one person side by side, but by someone who has mastered each subject.
Availability is built in. Monitoring runs around the clock. Holidays and sick leave are the provider's problem, not yours.
Predictable costs. Instead of a full-time position, you pay a monthly flat rate for defined services. For many mid-sized companies, that is well below the cost of their own hire.
When an MSP is not the right fit#
An MSP is not always the right answer. If you run highly specialised line-of-business applications or need hands-on support on site every day, you are better off with your own hire or a mixed model. In practice, the combination often works best: an internal point of contact for day-to-day business, the MSP for infrastructure, security and everything that needs specialist knowledge. We run this co-managed model with several clients.
Choosing an MSP: three questions#
Three questions help with the selection. First: does the provider work proactively with monitoring and maintenance windows, or only reactively after something breaks? Second: do you get a dedicated contact person who knows your environment? Third: where is your data stored and who has access? A reputable provider answers all three questions without hesitation.
Conclusion#
The question is not whether IT support costs money. It does in every model. The question is how much security, expertise and availability you get for that money. For most companies between 10 and 250 employees, an MSP or a co-managed model delivers the better ratio.
Facing this decision right now? Talk to us. We will also tell you if an MSP is not the right model for you.