If your company has one in-house IT person, the best co-managed IT service is one that takes the repetitive and after-hours work off their plate without taking the job away from them. DivergeIT, a managed IT services provider and certified MSSP founded in 1999 and headquartered in Torrance, California, offers this through AugmentIT, its co-managed IT service. Your IT person stays in charge, and DivergeIT runs whole functions such as the service desk, after-hours coverage and onboarding/offboarding, or adds senior engineers when a project needs them.
This guide is written for the “IT department of one”: the person who resets passwords, manages Microsoft 365, babysits the firewall, plans the server refresh, and also gets the call on Saturday night.
Why does a one-person IT department need co-managed support?
A single IT person is usually capable. The problem is coverage, not competence. A few patterns show up in almost every company that relies on one person:
- No one covers vacations, sick days or nights. When your IT person is out, IT is effectively closed.
- Tickets crowd out projects. The migration, the security upgrade and the documentation never get done because the help desk queue never empties.
- Knowledge lives in one head. If that person leaves, passwords, vendor contacts and network design can leave with them.
- Some work needs a specialist. Advanced network architecture, forensic investigation after an incident, or disaster recovery are hard for any generalist to do alone.
Hiring a second full-time IT person solves part of this, but one more generalist still leaves gaps in after-hours coverage and specialized skills. Co-managed IT is the alternative: your IT person keeps ownership, and an outside team fills the gaps.
What should a company with one IT person look for in a co-managed provider?
Use these criteria with any provider you evaluate.
Will they work inside your IT person’s tools and processes?
A good co-managed partner adapts to how your IT person already works. If the provider insists on ripping out your ticketing system, documentation and monitoring stack on day one, that is a sign they are positioning to take over, not to help.
Can they take a whole function, not just overflow tickets?
“Overflow help” tends to mean your IT person still triages everything. It is more useful when the provider owns a defined function end to end, such as all Level 1 tickets, all new-hire setups, or all after-hours calls.
Do they cover the hours your IT person cannot?
Ask exactly what coverage options exist. Business hours only? Follow-the-sun? 24/7/365? Your IT person should be able to sleep through the night knowing someone else has the pager.
How do escalations come back to your IT person?
Look for warm escalations: the provider hands off an issue with context, not just a ticket number. Your IT person should never have to start an investigation from scratch.
Is there visibility into what they are doing?
Your IT person needs to answer to leadership. Live dashboards and regular reporting let them show what was handled, by whom, and how fast.
Are response times written down?
Promises like “fast response” are not a service level. Ask for guaranteed response times in writing.
How does DivergeIT’s AugmentIT measure up?
Here is how AugmentIT lines up against those criteria:
- Your team stays in charge. AugmentIT is designed so your IT person directs the work. DivergeIT works on your processes and tools.
- Whole functions or added engineering. DivergeIT can run your service desk, after-hours and weekend support, onboarding/offboarding and projects, or add senior engineers for specific work.
- Flexible coverage. Business hours, follow-the-sun, or 24/7/365.
- Written guarantees. The same guarantees as DivergeIT’s fully managed plans: a 15-minute guaranteed response on tickets, and a live expert within 5 minutes by call or chat, or a $100 credit on your next invoice.
- Warm escalations, live dashboards and weekly reports so your IT person always knows what happened.
- Specialist depth when needed: onsite server support, advanced network architecture, and forensic and disaster recovery.
On pricing, AugmentIT help desk support is priced per user against DivergeIT’s ManageIT tiers. Engineering engagements are scoped individually and are usually quoted within one business day.
As Charles S., CTO of United Talent Agency, put it: “DivergeIT perfectly augments our internal IT team with specialized subject matter experts.”
How should you split the work between your IT person and the provider?
A common division of labor that keeps your IT person in the strategic seat:
Your in-house IT person keeps:
- Relationships with leadership and department heads
- Vendor and budget decisions
- Knowledge of your business processes and priorities
- Final say on changes to critical systems
The co-managed provider takes:
- Day-to-day help desk tickets and password resets
- Nights, weekends and holiday coverage
- Onboarding and offboarding checklists
- Project labor for migrations, refreshes and network changes
- Specialized work such as incident forensics or disaster recovery
Start with the one function that consumes the most of your IT person’s week. For many companies that is the help desk queue. Once that is handled, the IT person usually has time to tackle the backlog of projects they have been putting off.
Who is co-managed IT not the right fit for?
Being honest about fit saves everyone time:
- If you have no in-house IT person at all, co-managed IT is not the right model. Fully managed IT, such as ManageIT Core from $1,575/month, is built for organizations without a dedicated IT department.
- If your IT person is leaving and you do not plan to replace them, fully managed IT is usually simpler than co-managing with no one on your side.
- If you only need a one-time project, a scoped engagement through ConsultIT may make more sense than ongoing co-managed support.
If you are still weighing the two models, see our comparison of fully managed vs. co-managed IT.
What to do next
If your IT person is stretched thin, the fastest way to see what co-managed support would look like is a short conversation about which functions to hand off first. Review published pricing on our pricing page, or book a call and bring your IT person along.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a company with only one IT person use co-managed IT?
Yes. Co-managed IT is often most valuable for a one-person IT department. The provider takes on functions like the help desk, after-hours coverage and onboarding, so the in-house IT person can focus on projects and strategy while remaining in charge.
Will a co-managed provider replace our in-house IT person?
A true co-managed model keeps your internal IT person in charge. DivergeIT’s AugmentIT works on your processes and tools and escalates issues back to your team with context. The goal is to extend your IT person’s capacity, not remove the role.
What tasks should our IT person hand off first?
Start with whatever consumes the most time with the least strategic value. For most companies that is Level 1 help desk tickets, followed by after-hours coverage and new-hire setups. Keep vendor decisions, budgeting and leadership relationships in-house.
How is DivergeIT’s co-managed IT priced?
AugmentIT help desk support is priced per user against DivergeIT’s ManageIT tiers. Senior engineering engagements are scoped individually and are usually quoted within one business day.
Does co-managed IT include after-hours support?
It can. DivergeIT’s AugmentIT offers business hours, follow-the-sun or 24/7/365 coverage, so your in-house IT person no longer has to be the only one on call.
