Challenges
Outgrowing your in-house IT person
Your IT person is capable but stretched. Patching, monitoring and tickets crowd out the projects the business needs. Support can sit behind them, or take the lot on, and the split is yours to set.
The challenge
The business has grown and your IT is still one person. They are good at it, but routine work fills their week, the projects keep slipping, and when they are away there is nobody for your staff to call. When something unusual goes wrong, there is nobody for them to ask either.
If it is left
The routine work wins, because it shouts loudest. Patching slips, the backup is assumed rather than tested, the firewall is never touched, and the project the board asked for is still at the planning stage next quarter. The person carries the whole estate in their head, so a fortnight's holiday is a fortnight of risk and a resignation is a crisis. The usual fixes both cost the business: a second hire doubles the salary bill and leaves the same single point of failure on the hard problems, and an outsourced contract throws away the one person who knows how the business works.
What good looks like
Your IT person still in charge and still here, with the routine work done on a schedule by a team behind them, a service desk your staff can call when they are away, a senior engineer they can ask about the problem they have never seen before, and the time to deliver the projects. The split of responsibilities is written down, reviewed as you grow, and if you ever decide you would rather not run an in-house team at all, we can take it on.
What to do first
Before you call anyone
Ask your IT person where the week goes
A fortnight of honest notes, by category: password resets, patching, new starters, firefighting, projects. It usually shows that most of the week is work that could be scheduled or handed over.
List what only they know
Admin passwords, the backup set-up, the firewall rules, the licence renewals, the supplier contacts. Anything that lives only in one head is the first thing to document, whoever ends up doing the work.
Separate the routine from the projects
Updates, monitoring, backups and the service desk are routine and predictable. The new CRM, the office move and the Microsoft 365 security work are projects. The split you want is usually along that line.
Decide what you want them to be
A business that keeps its IT person usually wants them closer to the business and further from the printer. Say so; it shapes the split.
What we would do first
-
Look at the whole estate
An IT wellness assessment of hardware, software, networks, security and backup readiness, with the risks ranked and explained to you in person.
-
Agree who does what
A split of responsibilities between your IT person and our team, covering patching, monitoring, security policies, service desk tickets and projects.
-
Take the routine work off their hands
Devices and servers monitored and kept up to date, and our service desk taking the tickets your IT person passes to us, including when they are away.
-
Adjust the split as you grow
Responsibilities can change as your team grows or its priorities change. If you would rather not have an in-house team at all, we can be your IT team.
How we approach it
-
Health check, with your IT person in the room
The whole estate reviewed together: hardware, software, networks, Microsoft 365, security and backup readiness, with the risks ranked and the plan explained in person. It gives both sides the same picture before anything is divided up.
-
Write the split
Who does patching, monitoring, Microsoft 365 security policies, the service desk and projects. Your person keeps the applications, the relationships and the work they want; we take what they would rather hand over.
-
Bring our half under management
Our monitoring and patching tools on the devices and servers in our half, Microsoft Defender with Huntress detection and response, Entra sign-in policies and Intune device compliance to the agreed standard, and the documentation shared with your team.
-
Run the split
Your person passes us tickets and escalates the difficult ones to a senior engineer or tech consultant at the same rate as any other hour; our service desk covers your users when they are busy or away.
-
Review as you grow
The monthly report shows where the hours went and where the demand comes from. When the split should change, because someone joins your team or a project lands, it changes.
The services that apply
-
Co-managed IT
The service built for exactly this: your IT person stays in charge, and the routine work and the difficult tickets go to a team behind them on a written split.
-
Complete Managed IT
The other answer, if the business decides it would rather not run an in-house team at all; the service desk, patching and monitoring without the split.
-
IT health check
The first step. It gives you and your IT person the same picture of the estate and the risks before anyone decides who does what.
-
Microsoft and Azure
Microsoft 365 security and licensing is the routine work most often left undone by a stretched IT person, and the first thing we usually take on.
How you would buy it
Every hour we work falls under one of four engagement models. These are the ones that fit this situation; How we work compares all four.
-
02
Fixed price
A defined piece of work or project
The health check is a fixed fee, and the projects your IT person has been unable to reach are each surveyed and priced as a fixed sum.
-
03
Retainer
The way most of our clients work with us
How co-managed and managed IT are bought: hours each month sized to our half of the estate, at one rate whoever does the work, with a cap you set and unused hours carrying forward for three months.
-
04
Fractional
Scheduled on-site days, added to a retainer
If what your IT person needs is a colleague in the building on fixed days rather than only a remote desk, scheduled engineer days are added to the retainer; the engineers rotate so several of the team know your business.
Who you would work with
An account manager
Runs the split conversation with you and your IT person, and reviews it with you as the business grows.
Our engineers and senior engineers
Do the routine work in our half of the estate and answer your staff when your IT person is away; every one an Odyssey employee.
A tech consultant
The second opinion on the problem your IT person has never seen, and the lead on the projects they hand over.
The Head of Managed Service
Owns the quality of the managed service behind your team and the monthly report of where the hours went.
A client who has been here
-
Client story, Logistics and haulage
Prestons of Potto
A 20-year telephony relationship grew into full IT support, moving a nationwide haulage firm onto Microsoft 365.
Read the story →
-
Guide
Why personalised IT solutions are key to success
Every business is different. Why IT built around how you work does more for you than off-the-shelf technology.
Read the guide →
Questions people ask
How is co-managed different from fully managed IT?
With fully managed IT we are your IT team. With co-managed IT your own team stays in charge and we take on the parts it hands to us, from routine patching to the difficult tickets, on a split that is written down and can change.
Will our IT person see this as a threat?
Usually the opposite, once they see the split. Most want to be closer to the business and further from the printer, and the health check puts them in the room from the start. They agree the split with us before anything changes.
Do we have to use Odyssey to fix what the health check finds?
No. The plan is yours to act on however you choose, with us, with your own IT person or with another supplier.
Can you cover when our IT person is on holiday?
Yes. Our service desk takes your users' calls and the tickets your IT person passes to us when they are busy or away, answered within three rings, so nothing waits for them to come back.
Can we change the split over time?
Yes. The responsibilities are agreed at the start and adjusted as your team grows or its priorities change. If you later decide not to run an in-house team at all, we can take the whole of it on.
Can you help with difficult problems as well as routine work?
Yes. Escalating a difficult ticket to one of our senior engineers or tech consultants costs the same as any other retained hour, so your IT person never has to weigh up whether a question is worth asking.
Is this cheaper than hiring a second person?
Usually, and it buys something a hire cannot: a team rather than a person, so holiday, sickness and the unusual problem are covered. A retainer is sized to the work in our half of the estate, and the monthly report shows you exactly what it bought.
What if our IT person leaves?
Because the estate is documented and our half is already under management, the business carries on. We can cover the gap under managed IT while you recruit, or take it on for good; either way your staff keep ringing the same number.
Talk to a human about support for your IT person
Call and we answer within three rings. Or tell us what you need and we will call you back at any time.