Hiring one in-house IT person versus outsourcing to a managed IT provider isn't just a comparison of salary against a monthly fee. The real cost of each option includes overhead, risk and continuity that don't show up on the price tag.
What a single in-house hire actually costs
The salary is only the starting point. On top of it:
- Employment overheads: taxes, social contributions, insurance.
- Leave: you pay them whether they're at their desk or on holiday or sick.
- Tools and licenses: the software and hardware they need to do the job.
- Training: technology moves, so keeping one person current costs time and money every year.
The bigger risk is having a single point of failure. If that person is out sick, on holiday, or leaves, there's no backup, nobody checking their work, and all the knowledge of how your systems actually work leaves with them.
What managed IT actually costs
Instead of a salary, you pay a recurring monthly fee to an external provider. In exchange you get a team with a wider range of skills, and usually cover outside normal hours.
The hidden costs sit in the contract. Response times are set by a Service Level Agreement (SLA, the document defining how fast they must respond and fix things), and anything outside its scope can mean extra charges. A provider working across several clients also won't know your business as well as someone sitting in your office every day.
Comparing the two
In-house:
- On-site, and knows how your business actually works.
- Costly when they're away, and hard to find one person who's genuinely strong across security, networking, hardware and software.
Managed IT:
- A team, not one person, so someone can always step in.
- Predictable monthly cost, but slower on low-priority issues and can charge extra for anything outside the contract.
A hybrid is common
Many small companies land on a mix: one in-house generalist who knows daily operations and handles routine issues, plus a managed provider for specialist work, security, and after-hours cover. That removes the single point of failure while keeping someone local who understands the business.
Work out your own numbers
Fill this in with your own figures, since costs vary by market and by company:
In-house hire
- Monthly salary + taxes: _______
- Leave and benefits: _______
- Tools and training: _______
- Estimated cost of downtime when nobody's covering: _______
- Total: _______
Managed IT
- Monthly fee: _______
- Typical extra project fees: _______
- Cost of work outside the contract: _______
- Total: _______
Once you have both totals, weigh them against how much risk you're comfortable carrying, not just which number is lower.
