In this guide 9 sections
Managed IT vs in-house IT: for most Australian businesses with fewer than about 50 staff, managed IT services cost less than an in-house IT team and give you access to more specialised expertise, longer support hours and stronger security. An in-house team makes sense when you have enough daily IT work to keep someone busy full time, or specialist systems that need deep internal knowledge. Many growing businesses end up co-managed: an internal team member plus a managed service provider behind them.
Understanding managed IT services
With managed IT services, an external provider, a managed service provider (MSP), runs your IT systems for a fixed monthly fee, usually per user. The services offer helpdesk and technical support, proactive maintenance and patching, remote management and monitoring, security tools, backups and strategic planning. You get a dedicated team of IT professionals rather than one person, and predictable costs.
Understanding an in-house IT team
An in-house IT team is your own IT department: one or more IT professionals employed by the business. They work on-site, know your business processes and company culture, and give you direct control and complete control over priorities. The trade-off is cost, cover and breadth of skills.
Managed IT vs in-house IT compared
| Managed IT services | In-house IT team | Co-managed | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Typical cost | A fixed monthly fee per user, tailored to your business, support requirements and security needs | Salaries plus super, leave, training, tools and recruitment | Salary plus a smaller managed services agreement |
| Expertise | A diverse team: helpdesk, network infrastructure, security, cloud, Microsoft 365 | One or a few people's skill sets | Internal knowledge plus external expertise |
| Hours | Standard business hours as standard; round the clock support by agreement | Their working hours; gaps for leave and sick days | Continuous |
| Security | Enterprise grade tools usually included (EDR, email security, monitoring) | Bought and managed separately | Shared |
| Knowledge of your business | Documented; less day-to-day presence | Deep understanding of business processes and culture | Both |
| Control | Defined by the agreement | Direct control | Shared |
| Scaling as your business grows | Add users to the agreement | Hire and train | Flexible |
| Key-person risk | Low | High: if they leave, internal knowledge goes with them | Low |
See how Static Computers prices.
Cost savings: which is more cost effective?
For small and medium sized enterprises, managed IT is usually more cost effective. A 20-person business paying $150 per user per month spends about $36,000 a year on managed IT services, including security tools and a whole team's expertise. One in-house IT professional costs more than that in salary alone once super, leave, training and the tools they need are added, before any significant upfront investment in monitoring or security software. Managed IT also turns IT spending into predictable costs, which helps financial planning.
The picture changes as the business grows. Somewhere around 50–100 staff, there's enough daily work to justify an internal team, and many businesses move to co-managed IT.
When managed IT services are the better choice
- Your IT work is bursty: some weeks nothing breaks; some weeks everything does.
- You need security against cyber threats (patching, monitoring, backups, MFA) that one person can't run alone.
- You can't afford lost productivity when one person goes on holiday.
- You want your team focused on core business activities and business goals, not IT management.
- You work in regulated industries and need evidence of controls for insurers or clients.
When an in-house IT team makes sense
- There's enough daily work (new starters, device issues, internal systems) to fill full-time roles.
- You run specialist or in-house software that needs deep internal knowledge.
- Staff need someone physically on site every day, for example in a lab, warehouse or clinic.
- You want direct control over every IT decision and have the budget for your own IT department.
Co-managed IT: the middle ground
Co-managed IT pairs an internal team with a third party provider. The in-house team handles day-to-day requests and brings business knowledge. The managed provider supplies enterprise grade tools, security monitoring, after-hours cover and specialised expertise, and covers leave. For growing businesses going through rapid growth, it combines direct control with external expertise and protects business continuity if a key person leaves. Static Computers offers this through IT outsourcing.
Static Computers' view
Most businesses that come to Static Computers with an in-house IT person aren't looking to replace them; they want backup for that person and the security tooling one employee can't realistically run. For businesses under about 30 staff with no internal IT, managed IT services are almost always cheaper and safer than relying solely on a first IT hire.