Is In-House IT Holding Your Business Back?

Discover how in-house IT and managed services costs compare to ensure you make the right choice.

From DoorDash to valet parking, we constantly debate whether to do things ourselves or delegate. This isn’t exclusive to our personal lives. IT decision-makers often find themselves at a similar crossroads when choosing between managed services and in-house resources.

There are benefits to building your IT team, like more control over data, technologies, and capabilities. However, the harsh reality is that managing IT effectively in the modern business landscape ultimately comes down to cost. And when you add up the cost of salaries, benefits, training, and keeping up with tech changes, it quickly becomes apparent that deploying a fully-fledged in-house IT department isn’t the best approach to protect the bottom line.

In contrast, a reliable managed services provider delivers proactive, scalable, and predictable IT support at a fraction of the cost. This means you can finally grow with peace of mind.

Azure Managed Services and the role of an Azure Expert MSP

An experienced Azure Expert MSP can help you to:

• Expand your capabilities
• Boost efficiency
• Reduce costs
• Increase your uptime
• Ensure your compliance
• And much more

Azure Managed Services provide a comprehensive suite of cloud solutions designed to help businesses manage their IT infrastructure more efficiently. By leveraging Azure's robust platform, organizations can benefit from automated monitoring, maintenance, and support, ensuring optimal performance and security. These services include everything from virtual machines and databases to networking and storage, all managed by Azure experts.

A professional approach to managed services, including an Azure Expert MSP like Core BTS enables companies to focus on their core business activities while Azure handles the complexities of cloud management, offering scalability, reliability, and cost-effectiveness. Whether you're looking to migrate to the cloud or optimize your existing cloud environment, Azure Managed Services offer the expertise and tools needed to achieve your goals.

Read on to learn more about the cost-saving benefits of Azure Managed Services  from an Azure Expert MSP vs. in-house IT teams and make the right choice.

Key Cost Drivers of In-House IT Teams

What’s the actual cost of running an IT department?

Let's break it down.

We’ll start with where it financially hurts the most—salaries.

Glassdoor estimates an IT manager’s salary is about $120,000 annually.

And that’s before considering the cost of experts who manage your network, cybersecurity, and other critical aspects of your IT operations.

On top of handsome salaries, decent benefits, retirement plans, and other perks are required to attract and retain top talent.

Next, there’s the money expended on training workers to stay updated about technology trends and best practices. This isn’t cheap, either. And significant tradeoffs exist—every hour spent in training is diverted from managing IT operations.

Finally, an in-house IT department can’t run without the right tools.

This means investing in servers, storage systems, and software licenses—many of which require ongoing subscription fees.

Plus, maintenance, upgrades, and eventual replacements are inevitable, creating a cycle of spending.

So, while owning your infrastructure offers control, it also locks you into a costly game of upkeep.

Managed Services Provide Predictable and Scalable Costs

Managed services providers (MSPs) typically operate on a flat monthly rate.

There are no hidden fees, sudden repair bills, or unexpected costs when someone quits or a server crashes.

This means you know exactly what you’re spending on IT each month and can plan your budget accordingly.

It’s the kind of predictability your CFO dreams about.

And here’s more news they will love: the organization can slash its IT budget by up to 30% by outsourcing (Deloitte).

That’s real money you can reinvest into growth, innovation, or simply staying competitive.

Speaking of growth, this exciting venture can be a nightmare when running an in-house IT team.

Need more capacity? Time to hire. Facing new challenges? Brace yourself for costly training or new tools.

MSPs eliminate these headaches.

They’re built to scale with your business, adding resources, expertise, and support as you grow. So, whether you’re onboarding new employees, expanding into new markets, or adopting cutting-edge technologies, an MSP can adjust seamlessly to meet your needs.

Read more: 7 factors to keep in mind when choosing an MSP

Access to Advanced Tools and Expertise Without Extra Costs

MSPs also continuously invest in top-of-the-line tools and technologies to keep you competitive.

Considering the upfront costs involved, that’s tough to achieve using in-house IT.

How is access to the latest tools so affordable with an MSP?

Simple. Economies of scale.

Because MSPs serve multiple clients, they can spread costs to reduce your average IT spending.

Working with businesses of all sizes and across industries also adds to their overall experience and dexterity.

Pause for a moment and consider this compelling fact.

Your MSP has navigated countless cyber threats, system upgrades, and compliance hurdles.

That means you can rely on them to handle any IT issue that comes your way, regardless of complexity.

Furthermore, continuous training and certification for their staff ensures you’re leveraging current expertise.

Imagine having a dedicated team of specialists who can optimize your IT environment, identify hidden bottlenecks, and address potential issues before they hurt your business.

It’s game-changing.

Among other benefits, you could reduce downtime and security breaches.

Avoid Hidden Costs of Downtime and Security Breaches

Proactive security and uptime initiatives are more essential than ever. Data breaches now cost about $4.88 million per incident, while downtime sets you back $5,600 for every lost minute. The consequences are much worse if your reputation takes a hit.

With a reliable IT partner, downtime and security breaches are two less things to worry about.

For example, MSPs deploy advanced tools to monitor your technology ecosystem continuously. That way, you can identify and fix potential issues like hardware failures, software glitches, or network bottlenecks before they interfere with operations and cause lasting damage.

Tapping an MSP also brings the benefit of real-time threat detection and regular security assessments to fortify the IT environment as new risks emerge.

Ultimately, the choice between managed services vs. in-house IT is a no-brainer. Managed services provide better ROI.

Next steps

As we wrap up, pause and evaluate your current in-house IT spending and ROI. Is it optimal? If the answer is anything short of a resounding YES, it’s time to leverage Core BTS managed services.

With predictable costs, a dedicated team of elite IT pros, and cutting-edge tools at your fingertips 24/7, you can finally unlock efficiency, resilience, and growth—no more downtime, surprise repair bills, or any other IT headaches.

As a Microsoft Azure Expert MSP partner, we provide continuous reinforcement of Azure best practices from both a process and policy perspective. This means our team monitors your cloud environment to help ensure its compliance with the latest industry standards and regulations. And it also means that we’ll help you maximize Azure, assisting with everything from planning and deployment to monitoring and 24/7 support.

Contact Core BTS to maximize returns of IT spending, reclaim peace of mind, and focus on what you do best—running your business.