Managed IT means an outside provider handles all of your technology — helpdesk, security, monitoring, planning, and vendor management. Co-managed IT means that provider works alongside your existing internal IT person or team, filling gaps in coverage, expertise, or capacity without replacing them. The right choice depends on whether you already have IT staff, how stretched they are, and what your business needs to stay secure and productive over the next few years.

Here’s how both models work, what they actually cost, and how to decide which one makes sense for your company.

At a glance: Managed IT replaces the need for internal IT staff — the MSP handles everything from helpdesk to cybersecurity to strategic planning. Co-managed IT brings specialized expertise — cloud migrations, security architecture, network redesigns — alongside your existing IT team. Both models use flat-rate monthly pricing — no hourly billing, no per-ticket charges. Pricing varies based on the scope of services, security requirements, and compliance needs of your business. The right choice depends on whether you already have a dedicated IT employee and what level of expertise your environment demands.

What Is Fully Managed IT?

Fully managed IT is the model most people picture when they hear “outsourced IT.” A managed service provider, or MSP, is a company that serves as your outsourced IT department on a flat monthly fee. They handle everything: helpdesk calls, network monitoring, cybersecurity, backups, software licensing, hardware procurement, vendor coordination, and long-term technology planning.

You don’t need to hire an internal IT person. Instead, you get a team of technicians, engineers, and a virtual CIO (vCIO) who helps plan your IT budget and strategy for a flat monthly fee. A vCIO is a strategic technology advisor provided by your MSP who functions like a part-time Chief Information Officer, helping your leadership team make informed decisions about IT spending, security investments, and long-term planning.

This model works well for businesses with 20 to 150 employees that don’t have an IT person on staff, or whose “IT guy” is really the office manager or bookkeeper wearing a second hat. If nobody on your team is dedicated to technology, fully managed IT gives you the whole picture without hiring.

At Facet Technologies, our managed services clients get access to our in-house helpdesk in Peoria (live answer 8 AM to 5 PM, Monday through Friday), 24/7/365 emergency support, and quarterly strategic reviews where we plan projects, discuss the budget, and make sure your technology supports where your business is headed.

What Is Co-Managed IT?

Co-managed IT is a partnership model where a managed service provider works alongside your existing internal IT staff rather than replacing them. Most often, businesses bring in a co-managed partner because their environment has grown more complex than one person or a small team can handle alone — not because the internal team isn’t capable, but because the work now demands specialized expertise that’s difficult and expensive to hire for.

That expertise might include designing and executing a cloud migration, architecting a security overhaul, planning a full network refresh, navigating compliance frameworks like HIPAA or CMMC, or providing strategic IT direction at the leadership level. Your internal IT person keeps doing what they do well — managing daily operations, supporting users, maintaining line-of-business applications — while the MSP brings the deeper technical bench and long-range planning that complex environments require.

Co-managed IT also includes ongoing services like 24/7 network monitoring, cybersecurity management, and after-hours helpdesk coverage. But the reason most businesses seek it out isn’t routine support — it’s because they’ve hit a ceiling. Systems that were set up years ago are breaking down more often. Growth has outpaced the infrastructure. Security requirements from insurers or regulators have gotten more demanding. A strong internal IT person recognizes when it’s time to bring in reinforcements, and a good co-managed partner makes them look better, not redundant.

According to a 2026 ScalePad survey of 1,100+ MSPs, 42% of top-performing managed service providers now offer vCIO (virtual Chief Information Officer) services — and co-managed relationships are where that advisory role adds the most value. Your internal IT person handles day-to-day operations; the MSP brings the strategic planning, security expertise, and vendor relationships that are hard to build and maintain with a small team.

The ISC2 2024 Cybersecurity Workforce Study found a global shortfall of nearly 4.8 million cybersecurity professionals. That gap means even talented internal IT staff are unlikely to have deep specialization in every area a modern business needs — security architecture, compliance documentation, cloud infrastructure, and network engineering are each full-time disciplines on their own.

How Do I Know Which Model My Business Needs?

Start with three questions:

Do you have a dedicated IT employee right now? If the answer is no — if IT responsibilities fall on an office manager, a part-time contractor, or “whoever is good with computers” — fully managed IT is likely the better fit. You need a complete IT department, not a supplement to one.

Is your IT person constantly fighting fires instead of working on projects? If your internal IT staff spends most of their time troubleshooting recurring issues, resetting passwords, and responding to user complaints, there may be underlying infrastructure problems that need higher-level attention. Co-managed IT brings the engineering expertise to fix root causes — unstable networks, outdated server configurations, security gaps — so your IT person can get back to the work that moves your business forward.

Has your environment outgrown your team’s specialization? Cloud migrations, network redesigns, compliance implementations, and security architecture projects require deep, specific expertise. If your business is growing, your systems are aging, or your industry’s requirements have gotten more complex, a co-managed partner brings that next level of technical capability without forcing you to hire three more specialists.

What Does Each Model Cost?

In the Peoria market, fully managed IT services typically run between $100 and $200 per workstation per month. That range exists because pricing depends on the security and compliance requirements of your business, not just headcount. A 30-person professional services firm with straightforward needs will land differently than a 100-person manufacturer that needs to meet CMMC requirements, run 24/7 monitoring, and maintain compliance documentation across multiple sites.

Co-managed IT pricing is even more variable because the scope changes from client to client. Some businesses need Facet for cybersecurity management and strategic planning only, while their internal team covers everything else. Others want us deeply involved in a network redesign or cloud migration, then step back to a lighter ongoing arrangement once the project is complete. The monthly cost depends entirely on which services you need, how complex your environment is, and what level of security and compliance your industry demands.

Both models should be quoted as flat-rate, predictable monthly fees. If a provider is charging you hourly or billing by the ticket, that’s a break/fix arrangement — not managed services. Break/fix IT is a reactive model where you pay only when something breaks, which sounds economical but creates an incentive for problems to recur and makes IT costs unpredictable.

What Does the MSP Handle vs. What Does My IT Person Handle?

In a co-managed relationship, responsibilities are split based on where each party brings the most expertise. There’s no one-size-fits-all division, but here’s a common setup:

Your internal IT team typically handles: day-to-day user support, new employee onboarding and offboarding, line-of-business application management, hardware setup and deployment, and internal project coordination. They know your people, your workflows, and your business — that institutional knowledge is hard to replace.

The MSP typically handles: IT strategy and direction (vCIO advisory), cybersecurity architecture and management (endpoint protection, firewall management, email filtering, MFA), 24/7 network monitoring and alerting, cloud migration planning and execution, network redesigns and infrastructure refreshes, compliance tracking and audit documentation, backup management and disaster recovery, and vendor coordination for software licenses, internet, and phone systems.

The split is flexible and evolves over time. Some co-managed clients bring Facet in specifically for a large project — a network overhaul or a compliance push — and then settle into a lighter ongoing arrangement focused on monitoring and security. Others want Facet deeply embedded in their IT strategy from day one, attending leadership meetings, advising on technology investments, and planning the roadmap alongside their internal team.

The common thread is that Facet brings the specialized engineering and strategic depth that a one- or two-person IT team can’t reasonably maintain on their own — not because they aren’t good at their jobs, but because the work has expanded beyond what any small team can cover.

Can We Start With One Model and Switch Later?

Yes — and this is more common than most businesses realize.

Many Facet clients start with fully managed IT because they don’t have internal IT staff. As their business grows and they hire an IT person, they transition to a co-managed arrangement where Facet provides the monitoring, security, and strategic planning while the new hire handles day-to-day support.

The reverse happens too. A company might start co-managed, and when their IT person leaves or retires, they shift to fully managed rather than trying to replace a hard-to-find IT employee.

A good MSP builds the relationship to flex in either direction without starting over from scratch. Because Facet already knows your network, your systems, and your business, shifting between models is a conversation — not a migration.

What Happens When My IT Person Is Out Sick or Leaves?

This is one of the strongest arguments for co-managed IT. When your only IT person takes vacation, calls in sick, or quits, who covers their responsibilities?

With a co-managed partner, the answer is already solved. Facet’s helpdesk and monitoring run continuously, so your team isn’t left without support. If your IT person leaves the company entirely, we can immediately step up to fully managed coverage while you decide whether to hire a replacement or stay with us long-term.

Without a co-managed partner, a single IT employee leaving can create weeks or months of disruption. Institutional knowledge walks out the door, and whoever you hire next has to learn your environment from scratch — assuming you can find a qualified candidate in a market where cybersecurity and IT talent is in short supply.

How Does Facet Technologies Handle Co-Managed IT Differently?

A few things matter here:

We bring in-house engineering expertise, not just monitoring tools. Facet’s team includes engineers and technicians who handle cloud migrations, network redesigns, security architecture, and compliance implementations. When your business needs a complex project executed, not just talked about, our team does the work. That’s the level of capability most one- or two-person IT teams can’t maintain internally, and it’s the primary reason companies bring us in.

We don’t compete with your IT person. We make them more effective. Some MSPs treat co-managed arrangements as a foot in the door to eventually replace your internal staff. That’s not our approach. A good internal IT person with a strong co-managed partner behind them is more effective than either one alone. We want your IT person to succeed, because when they succeed, your business runs better and the partnership works. Many of our long-term partnerships are co-managed arrangements.

We’re local and in-house. Every helpdesk call is answered by a trained team member in our Peoria office. If your IT person needs to escalate something or collaborate on a project, they’re working with real people who know your network — not a remote NOC reading from a script.

We bring 30+ years of experience across Central Illinois industries. Facet Technologies has supported manufacturing facilities, healthcare practices, agricultural businesses, professional services firms, and government offices throughout the region. That industry knowledge means we understand the compliance requirements, operational realities, and the specific software environments your internal IT person is dealing with.

Quarterly strategic reviews keep everyone aligned. We sit down with your leadership and your IT person every quarter to review the technology plan, discuss upcoming projects, and plan the budget. This keeps priorities clear and avoids the “my IT person says one thing, my MSP says another” problem that derails some co-managed relationships.

What Questions Should I Ask Before Choosing a Model?

Before signing with any provider — for managed or co-managed services — ask these:

“Will you show me exactly what’s included in the monthly price?” No surprises, no hidden project fees. A good MSP gives you a clear scope of what’s covered.

“How do you handle the handoff with my internal IT person?” For co-managed, the answer should include a defined process for splitting responsibilities, shared documentation, and regular check-ins.

“What happens if my IT person leaves?” The right answer: “We step in immediately and keep things running while you figure out next steps.” The wrong answer: “That’s not part of our agreement.”

“Do you offer strategic planning, or just support?” Helpdesk-only MSPs solve today’s problems. A real IT partner helps you plan for next year.

Frequently Asked Questions

Ready to figure out which model makes sense for your business? We’re happy to walk through the options — no commitment, no pressure. Call us today at (309) 689-3900 or fill out the form below to contact us.

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