Managed IT · Outsourcing
The real costs of each model, what you gain and give up, and decision rules for businesses with 25 to 100 employees.
True cost of an IT hire
When outsourcing makes sense
Co-managed: the middle option
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For most businesses with 25 to 100 employees, outsourcing IT to a managed service provider costs less than building an in-house team and covers more skills. In-house IT makes sense when you need someone on-site all day, run complex custom systems or have enough work to keep several IT staff busy. Many growing businesses land in between: one internal IT person backed by an outside team, often called co-managed IT.
The right choice depends on your size, how much of your work needs hands in the office, your security requirements and how much risk you can accept if one person is away. The rest of this article gives you the costs, trade-offs and decision rules.
Salary is only the start. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median annual wage in May 2025 was $61,860 for computer user support specialists and $99,130 for network and computer systems administrators. BLS employer cost data for June 2026 shows benefits made up 30 percent of total compensation for private industry workers.
Using that ratio, a support specialist at the median wage costs roughly $88,000 a year in total compensation, and a systems administrator about $142,000. Then add the items that do not show up in a salary line.
Wages vary by region and experience. Use local salary data for your area when you build the comparison.
Managed IT is usually priced per user or per device each month. As of 2026, Dataprise’s pricing guide puts the average for midsize companies at $100 to $200 per user per month, and Datapath’s 2026 guide puts security-forward plans at $200 to $400 per user. Both are published by managed service providers, and ranges vary widely by region and scope. For a 40-person business, $100 to $200 per user works out to $48,000 to $96,000 a year, for a team rather than one person. Software licenses, hardware and projects are commonly billed separately.
To see what a plan for a 25 to 100 person business covers, see our managed IT services page.
Strengths: always in the building, knows your people and processes, can handle walk-up requests and odd jobs, and has no contract to manage. Weaknesses: one person cannot cover help desk, networking, security, cloud and backups equally well, coverage stops when they are away, and losing them can mean losing your passwords and documentation.
Strengths: a team with a range of skills, predictable monthly cost, tools included, coverage during absences and documented processes. Weaknesses: less physical presence, response depends on the provider, and quality varies a lot between providers. You still need someone inside the business to make decisions.
Strengths: you keep internal knowledge and on-site presence while the outside team adds help desk capacity, security tools, after-hours cover and backup. Weaknesses: you pay for both, and responsibilities must be written down so nothing falls between the two.
No rule fits every business, but these help most owners decide quickly.
One more test: imagine your IT person gives two weeks’ notice tomorrow. If nobody else knows the admin passwords, how the backups run or which vendors to call, you have a single point of failure. Fixing that is worth doing whichever model you choose, and it is often the moment businesses decide to bring in outside help.
Not sure which model fits your business? Our free Technology Health Assessment takes about 30 minutes of data collection. The next day you get a plain-language report rating your IT operations, cybersecurity, applications, technology spending and business continuity, with a short list of next steps in order. It is yours to keep, with no obligation. Book your assessment.
The biggest difference between the two models is often security. A single IT generalist is usually busy with daily requests, so security work that has no deadline tends to slip. CISA’s Cyber Essentials guide for small businesses recommends basic steps such as multi-factor authentication, automatic updates, quick patching and automatic, continuous backups. Those steps are simple to list but take steady attention to maintain.
Whichever model you choose, confirm these are in place and assigned to a named person or provider.
If the answers show that most work is remote, that coverage disappears when one person is away, or that nobody can say when backups were last tested, outsourcing or co-managed support is likely the better fit.
If you are keeping an internal IT person, involve them early. They know the history, and a good outside team should make their job easier, not threaten it.
JLB USA provides managed IT for businesses with roughly 25 to 100 employees: help desk, computers, Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace, backups with tested restores, vendor management and security. We can run IT fully or work alongside your existing IT person. We reply within 5 minutes by email or phone and start a screen share within an hour. On-site support is available in Atlanta, Birmingham and Chattanooga, with remote support everywhere else. Pricing is based on users, locations, systems and support needs.
For security in particular, our cybersecurity services cover multi-factor authentication, access reviews, endpoint protection, encryption, email security, monitored backups, a written recovery plan and help with cyber-insurance questionnaires.
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Choose a slot that suits you. We’ll confirm by email, collect the data with you on the call, and send your report the next day. It’s free, and the report is yours to keep with no obligation.
Prefer to talk first? Call 954-539-5678, or send the form and we’ll contact you.
For most businesses with 25 to 100 employees, outsourcing costs less once you include benefits, tools, training and coverage gaps. BLS data shows a median wage of $61,860 for computer user support specialists in May 2025, and benefits add about 30 percent of total compensation.
Co-managed IT pairs an internal IT person with an outside provider. The provider typically adds help desk capacity, security tools, after-hours cover and backup during absences, while the internal person focuses on projects and the business.
When you need someone physically present all day, run complex custom systems, or have enough IT work to keep several staff busy. Even then, many businesses outsource specialist areas such as security.
Quality varies between providers, and a poor contract can lock you in. Reduce the risk by getting response times in writing, keeping admin passwords and documentation in the business’s name and confirming the exit process before you sign.
Not necessarily. Many providers, including JLB USA, can work alongside an existing IT person so that person spends less time on routine tickets and more on projects.
