Quick Answer: Internal IT vs. Outsourced Managed IT
For most financial firms with 25–50 employees, outsourcing IT to a managed service provider delivers broader expertise and more dependable coverage than hiring one internal IT employee. A qualified MSP can provide help desk support, cybersecurity, Microsoft 365 management, backups, compliance assistance, vendor coordination, and strategic planning through one predictable monthly agreement.
An internal IT employee may be the better choice when the firm needs someone onsite every day, has highly customized systems, or has enough technology work to support a larger internal department. Some organizations benefit from a co-managed model that combines an internal employee’s business knowledge with an MSP’s tools, specialists, monitoring, and after-hours coverage.
The decision should be based on five factors: total cost, required expertise, availability, cybersecurity and compliance needs, and the amount of strategic support leadership expects.
Internal IT and Outsourced IT at a Glance
| Decision factor | Internal IT employee | Outsourced MSP |
|---|---|---|
| Availability | Usually limited to one person’s working hours | Team-based support with expanded or 24/7 coverage |
| Technical expertise | Dependent on one person’s experience | Access to help desk, cloud, network, security, and strategic specialists |
| Cybersecurity | May require additional tools and outside specialists | Security tools and monitoring may be included |
| Compliance support | Depends on the employee’s regulatory experience | Can provide industry-specific processes, reporting, and documentation support |
| Business knowledge | Deep day-to-day familiarity with the organization | Develops familiarity through documentation, account management, and recurring reviews |
| Vacation and illness coverage | Requires backup arrangements | Multiple technicians provide continuity |
| Recruiting and retention | The firm manages hiring, training, compensation, and turnover | The provider manages staffing and professional development |
| Strategic planning | May be limited if daily support consumes most of the role | Can include vCIO guidance, budgeting, and technology roadmaps |
The 5-Part IT Sourcing Decision Framework
1. Compare the Total Cost, Not Just Salary or Monthly Fees
The cost of an internal IT employee extends beyond base salary. A realistic comparison should account for:
- Salary and payroll taxes
- Health insurance and employee benefits
- Paid time off
- Recruiting and onboarding
- Training and certifications
- Computer and office equipment
- Cybersecurity and management tools
- Outside consultants for specialized projects
- Coverage during vacations, illness, and turnover
An MSP usually charges a predictable monthly fee based on users, devices, locations, services, or a combination of those factors. A 25–50 employee financial firm may spend approximately $100–$275 per user per month for comprehensive managed IT, or roughly $2,500–$13,750 per month.
| Firm size | Estimated monthly MSP range | Estimated annual MSP range |
|---|---|---|
| 25 employees | $2,500–$6,875 | $30,000–$82,500 |
| 35 employees | $3,500–$9,625 | $42,000–$115,500 |
| 50 employees | $5,000–$13,750 | $60,000–$165,000 |
These figures are planning estimates rather than quotes. Pricing depends on the firm’s systems, support expectations, cybersecurity stack, compliance responsibilities, locations, applications, and backup requirements.
2. Determine How Many Areas of Expertise You Need
A single IT employee may be excellent at desktop support but have limited experience with cloud security, regulatory documentation, network architecture, backup recovery, or cybersecurity incident response.
A financial firm may need expertise across at least eight areas:
- Employee help desk support
- Microsoft 365 administration and security
- Network and firewall management
- Endpoint protection and threat monitoring
- Backup and disaster recovery
- Financial application and vendor support
- Security and compliance documentation
- Technology strategy and budgeting
Hiring one person who is highly skilled in every area can be difficult. An MSP provides access to a team, although the firm should verify that the provider actually employs specialists and has a defined escalation process.
3. Evaluate Coverage and Response Expectations
Technology problems do not always occur when the internal IT employee is available. A compromised account, failed backup, server outage, or remote-access issue may happen at night, on a weekend, during vacation, or at the busiest point in tax or reporting season.
Ask these questions:
- Who responds when the primary IT employee is unavailable?
- Is support available outside normal business hours?
- How are cybersecurity alerts monitored overnight?
- Who handles simultaneous problems affecting multiple employees?
- Who escalates an issue that requires deeper expertise?
- How quickly must critical incidents receive attention?
An internal employee can provide immediate onsite familiarity, while an MSP can provide broader coverage. The correct model depends on whether the firm values daily physical presence, team availability, or both.
4. Assess Cybersecurity and Compliance Requirements
Financial firms handle sensitive client, financial, tax, identity, payment, and investment information. Supporting that environment requires more than troubleshooting computers.
A mature security program may include:
- Multi-factor authentication
- Endpoint detection and response
- 24/7 security monitoring
- Email and phishing protection
- Patch and vulnerability management
- Encryption
- Secure Microsoft 365 configuration
- Employee security awareness training
- Tested backups
- Incident-response planning
- Vendor-risk reviews
- Written security documentation
An internal IT employee may manage some or all of these controls, but the firm must ensure that the employee has enough time, tools, training, and independent oversight. A specialized provider can integrate these services into its broader cybersecurity program.
Organizations subject to SEC, FINRA, GLBA, IRS, PCI DSS, insurance, contractual, or other obligations should work with qualified legal and compliance professionals to interpret their requirements. An IT provider can help implement technical safeguards and maintain supporting evidence.
5. Decide How Much Strategic Guidance Leadership Needs
Daily support can consume an internal employee’s schedule, leaving little time for long-term planning. A strong MSP relationship may include a virtual chief information officer, or vCIO, who helps leadership:
- Build an annual technology budget
- Plan hardware replacements
- Prioritize security improvements
- Evaluate cloud systems
- Coordinate technology vendors
- Prepare for office moves or growth
- Review compliance-related risks
- Create a multi-year technology roadmap
Strategic planning is especially valuable when owners or executives are making technology decisions without a senior technology leader on staff.
What Does an Internal IT Employee Do Well?
An internal employee can be a strong fit when the firm benefits from constant onsite availability and deep institutional knowledge.
Potential advantages include:
- Daily familiarity with employees and workflows
- Immediate access to offices, equipment, and conference rooms
- Knowledge of customized systems and business processes
- Direct alignment with company culture
- Ability to focus exclusively on one organization
- Closer involvement in internal projects and leadership meetings
An internal employee may also be valuable when the firm has proprietary software, complex integrations, frequent onsite projects, or technology that requires daily hands-on attention.
What Are the Risks of Relying on One Internal IT Employee?
The greatest risk is often not the employee’s ability. It is the lack of redundancy.
- Single point of failure: Important passwords, processes, and system knowledge may depend on one person.
- Limited availability: Vacation, illness, emergencies, or turnover can leave the business without support.
- Skill gaps: One person may not be an expert in support, cloud, networking, cybersecurity, compliance, and strategy.
- Competing priorities: Urgent tickets can delay security projects, documentation, and planning.
- Limited independent review: The same person configuring systems may also be responsible for evaluating whether those systems are secure.
- Recruiting challenges: Experienced IT and cybersecurity professionals can be difficult to hire and retain.
These risks can be reduced through documentation, cross-training, outside security assessments, backup support, and co-managed IT.
What Does an Outsourced MSP Do Well?
A qualified MSP provides an entire service structure rather than one employee. Its responsibilities may include:
- Live help desk support
- Remote and onsite troubleshooting
- Proactive device and network monitoring
- Patch management
- Microsoft 365 administration
- Endpoint and email security
- Backup monitoring and recovery testing
- Vendor coordination
- Employee onboarding and offboarding
- Technology planning and budgeting
- Reporting and documentation
- After-hours monitoring and escalation
Explore the services commonly included through 911 IT’s managed IT services.
What Are the Risks of Outsourcing IT?
Not every managed service provider offers the same level of service. Potential disadvantages include:
- Less daily onsite presence: Most support begins remotely unless onsite service is scheduled.
- Inconsistent technicians: Large providers may route requests to unfamiliar staff unless they maintain good documentation.
- Unclear service boundaries: Projects, onsite support, security tools, or after-hours work may cost extra.
- Slow response: A provider without sufficient staffing may acknowledge requests without resolving them promptly.
- Generic recommendations: Some MSPs apply the same technology package to every client.
- Weak industry knowledge: A general provider may not understand financial applications, compliance pressures, or busy-season requirements.
These concerns make provider selection important. Financial firms should evaluate experience, service commitments, technical controls, references, reporting, and contract scope before signing.
When Should a Financial Firm Hire Internal IT?
Internal IT may be the better choice when several of the following are true:
- The organization requires a technician onsite almost every day
- The firm has highly customized or proprietary systems
- Technology projects require constant internal coordination
- The company has enough work to support multiple internal IT roles
- Leadership wants technology staff embedded directly in operations
- Strict internal policies require dedicated employees
- The firm can recruit, train, and retain the required specialists
A single employee should still have documented backup coverage, access to specialized consultants, and a plan for security monitoring outside business hours.
When Should a Financial Firm Outsource IT?
Outsourcing is often a strong fit when the firm:
- Has 25–50 employees but does not need a full internal department
- Depends on Microsoft 365 and cloud applications
- Needs stronger cybersecurity controls
- Wants predictable monthly costs
- Needs support beyond one employee’s working hours
- Has experienced slow or inconsistent support
- Needs help with backups, documentation, and compliance
- Wants a technology roadmap and budget guidance
- Is growing, adding locations, or supporting remote employees
- Needs access to multiple technical specialties
Financial firms can review 911 IT’s dedicated IT support for CPAs and financial organizations.
When Is Co-Managed IT the Best Option?
Co-managed IT combines an internal technology employee or small team with an outsourced provider. It can preserve internal knowledge while filling gaps in tools, staffing, security, and availability.
| Internal IT may handle | The MSP may handle |
|---|---|
| Daily onsite support | 24/7 monitoring and escalation |
| Internal application ownership | Cybersecurity tools and operations |
| Business-specific projects | Network, cloud, and backup expertise |
| Employee relationships | After-hours help desk coverage |
| Leadership coordination | Specialized engineering and project resources |
| Asset and purchasing decisions | Risk assessments, reporting, and strategic guidance |
Co-managed IT can also prevent burnout by allowing the internal employee to focus on high-value business projects instead of handling every password reset, software update, alert, and after-hours emergency.
A Practical Example: 35-Employee Accounting Firm
Consider a 35-employee accounting firm with Microsoft 365, tax and accounting applications, remote employees, sensitive client information, and a heavy tax-season workload.
Option 1: One internal IT employee
The employee handles help desk requests, equipment, Microsoft 365, vendors, backups, cybersecurity, and strategic planning. The firm must also provide security tools, training, vacation coverage, and outside expertise when specialized issues arise.
Option 2: Fully outsourced managed IT
The MSP supplies help desk support, monitoring, security tools, cloud administration, backups, documentation, and strategic reviews. At $100–$275 per user per month, the estimated investment would be approximately $3,500–$9,625 per month.
Option 3: Co-managed IT
An internal employee handles onsite needs and business-specific projects. The MSP supplies monitoring, cybersecurity, after-hours coverage, backup expertise, escalation, and strategic resources.
The best choice depends on the firm’s workload, internal capabilities, risk tolerance, and need for onsite support. The comparison should include all costs and responsibilities rather than salary and monthly fees alone.
10 Questions to Ask Before Making the Decision
- How many hours of IT support do our employees need each month?
- Do we require someone onsite every day?
- Who currently monitors cybersecurity alerts after hours?
- Who covers IT during vacation, illness, or turnover?
- Do we have expertise in Microsoft 365, networks, security, backups, and compliance?
- Are our systems and processes documented well enough for another technician to take over?
- When was our last successful backup recovery test?
- Who creates our annual technology budget and roadmap?
- What would the total cost of an internal employee be after benefits, tools, training, and outside consultants?
- Would a co-managed model address our gaps without replacing our current employee?
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Comparing an employee’s salary with an MSP’s full-service fee. The two options include different responsibilities, tools, and overhead.
- Assuming one person can cover every specialty. Modern financial IT requires support, cloud, networking, security, backups, documentation, and strategy.
- Ignoring availability. The firm needs a plan for nights, weekends, vacations, illness, and turnover.
- Choosing an MSP based only on price. Review what is included, excluded, monitored, tested, and documented.
- Failing to document systems. Poor documentation creates risk under either model.
- Replacing internal IT unnecessarily. Co-managed support may strengthen an effective employee rather than replace that person.
- Leaving cybersecurity as a secondary duty. Security requires recurring monitoring, testing, training, and improvement.
What Financial Clients Say About Outsourcing to 911 IT
“Working with 911 IT feels like having an entire IT department at my fingertips, without the hefty salary of a full-time IT person.”
The same client explained that 911 IT provided prompt responses, broader expertise, and industry-specific suggestions that improved the firm’s systems. Other financial clients describe the team as proactive, accessible, knowledgeable, and committed to resolving issues completely.
“They are part of our team. They want us to succeed and they have our best interest in mind.”
Why Financial Firms Choose 911 IT
911 IT helps financial organizations access the capabilities of an IT department without building every role internally. Services include:
- 24/7 access to live IT support
- Remote and onsite assistance
- Microsoft 365 and cloud management
- Cybersecurity monitoring and incident response
- Backup and business continuity planning
- Compliance-focused technical safeguards
- Employee onboarding and offboarding
- Vendor coordination
- Technology budgeting and strategic planning
- Predictable managed service options
Learn more about managed IT services, cybersecurity protection, and business continuity planning from 911 IT.
Take One Action This Week
Create a list of every IT responsibility currently assigned to your internal employee, office manager, outside technician, or MSP. Include support, Microsoft 365, security monitoring, backups, vendor management, documentation, compliance, purchasing, and strategic planning.
Next to each responsibility, record:
- Who owns it
- Who provides backup coverage
- How often it is reviewed
- Whether it is documented
- What happens when the responsible person is unavailable
Any blank or uncertain answer represents a gap that should be addressed regardless of which staffing model you select.
Get a Clear Internal vs. Outsourced IT Comparison
The right model should give your firm the expertise, availability, cybersecurity, accountability, and strategic guidance it needs at a sustainable cost. That may mean internal IT, a fully outsourced provider, or a co-managed combination of both.
Schedule a discovery call with 911 IT to review your current support model, internal capabilities, security needs, applications, compliance concerns, and projected growth. The discussion can help identify which responsibilities should remain internal and where outside support would create the most value.
