Co-managed IT

Your IT person keeps the tribal knowledge and the hallway relationships. We take monitoring, security operations, overflow, and after-hours so the environment does not depend on one human.

How the work holds up

99.5%
CSAT
~10 min
typical Managed IT close
24/7/365
coverage
10+ years
longest client relationships

Trusted by national organizations.

We keep a bench of channel partners so the stack fits the job, not only the tools we happen to standardize on.

What co-managed IT is

Co-managed IT is a split of Managed IT where your internal person or small team stays. They own tribal knowledge and the user relationship. We own monitoring, patching, backup, security operations, and overflow so nights and specialized work are not a second unpaid job.

Co-managed IT versus common alternatives

	Co-managed IT	Typical alternative
Your staff	Stay; they keep context and first-line relationships	Replaced, or left alone with no operating stack
Our work	Monitoring, backup, security ops, overflow, after-hours	A ticket vendor who only appears when something breaks
Fit	A coordinator or small team that needs depth and coverage	No internal IT, or a full department you do not want to share

Who owns what

The split is written down before you sign. Your person is not guessing which queue to call, and we are not stepping on their hallway work.

Your side: tribal knowledge, local priorities, and the first conversation with users when that is the deal
Our side: monitoring, patching, backup, endpoint protection, and vendor tickets for the stack we operate
Shared: escalation paths, documentation, and a named owner on each side
After-hours and overflow land with us so one illness or vacation does not stall the firm

When fully managed is the better fit

Co-managed is not automatic. If there is nobody on your side to hold the local half, fully managed IT support is cleaner.

No internal IT person, or a coordinator who already has a full non-IT job
You want one firm on tickets, monitoring, and ownership without a split RACI
See IT Support and Managed IT when the ask is an external team that runs the whole operating layer
Fractional CIO still sits above either model when budget, vendors, and risk need a seat in the room

First 90 days

The first quarter is about the handoff, not a surprise takeover. We inventory, document, and agree who touches what.

Inventory of users, devices, vendors, and the tools your person already trusts
A written split for tickets, monitoring, and after-hours
Priority gaps first: backup, MFA, stale accounts, and anything that would fail a quiet Sunday
A rhythm your coordinator can live with: who gets which alert, and when we loop them in

Where co-managed sits

Co-managed IT is still Managed IT. Leadership, security depth, and fully managed support sit beside it.

Your person keeps the context. We keep the environment from depending on one calendar. That is the whole point of a co-managed split.

Project cadence

Honest, orderly project management keeps work on track. Milestones are set before the work ramps, status reaches stakeholders before decisions pile up, and scope changes get a conversation instead of a surprise invoice.

Co-managed retainers use the same Managed IT cadence, with an agreed split for who sees which alert and who talks to which user.

Plan
Milestones and owners agreed before the work starts moving.
Status
Regular updates — you should not have to chase us for a status report.
Decisions
Trade-offs get surfaced early so leadership can make the call, not discover it after.

Questions we hear first

Is co-managed IT a different product than Managed IT?

No. It is a Managed IT partnership with a written split. Your person stays. We take the operating stack and overflow. If you want an external team on the whole desk, start with IT Support.

Will you replace our internal IT person?

Not in this model. They keep tribal knowledge and, when we agree, first-line user contact. We add monitoring, backup, security operations, and coverage they cannot staff alone. Replacement is a different conversation, and it belongs in briefing, not as a surprise after kickoff.

How do you decide who owns which tickets?

We write it down in the first weeks: which issues stay with your coordinator, which escalate to us, and what happens after hours. The split can move as the environment settles. Documentation is part of the engagement so the next hire on either side is not starting from rumor.

What happens in the first 90 days?

Inventory, tooling, a written split, and priority remediation. Support and monitoring come online early. The quarter is about making the split boring: fewer surprises, fewer Sunday-night heroics, a named path on both sides.

When should we pick fully managed instead?

When there is no one on your side to hold the local half, or that person already has another full-time job. Fully managed IT support is cleaner then. Growing firms that need a leadership seat as well should look at Fractional CIO/CISO and medium business.

Does this work across Ohio, or only in Cincinnati?

Co-managed IT runs the same way in Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, and Dayton. Remote monitoring is 24/7. On-site follows the market: routine in Greater Cincinnati, scheduled in the other three. Start at Become a Client or call (513) 657-1800.