Co-Managed IT Services
Your IT team, with more hands and more expertise behind it.
We work alongside your in-house IT staff and take on the pieces they are short on: help desk, security, Microsoft 365, backups, compliance, and projects. You keep control of your systems.
Co-managed IT, answered directly
By Joe Engelking, CEO. Updated October 2026.
What is co-managed IT?
Co-managed IT is an arrangement where an outside provider works alongside your internal IT staff instead of replacing them. Your team keeps ownership of its priorities and the systems it prefers to run, and the provider covers the gaps, such as help desk overflow, cybersecurity, Microsoft 365 administration, backups, compliance, or larger projects.
How is co-managed IT different from fully managed IT?
Fully managed IT puts broad responsibility for day-to-day technology operations with the provider. Co-managed is narrower and more collaborative: you choose the functions you want covered, and your internal team keeps the rest. It suits companies that already employ IT people and want targeted help, not a replacement.
Who is co-managed IT for?
Companies that already have an IT person or a small IT team and have outgrown what one or two people can cover. Typical reasons are vacation and sick-day coverage, after-hours support, security expertise the team does not have, or a project that is too big for their spare time.
How does co-managed IT work with an internal team?
We start by writing down who owns what: which systems, which kinds of requests, and who escalates to whom. Then we provide only the pieces your team needs, such as remote support, monitoring, security tools, cloud administration, or project help. Clear ownership and regular communication keep us from duplicating work or stepping on your staff.
| Topic | Co-managed with LME | In-house only |
|---|---|---|
| Coverage | Your team plus ours, including after-hours help | Business hours, limited by headcount |
| Expertise | Security, cloud, and compliance help when you need it | Whatever your staff knows today |
| When someone is out | Support continues | Gap in coverage |
| Control | Your team keeps ownership of the systems it chooses | Full control and the full workload |
| Cost | A monthly plan scoped to the functions you pick | Salary and benefits for every skill you need |
More questions about co-managed IT
Yes. We can add threat monitoring, managed detection and response, endpoint protection, identity and access management, security audits, and compliance guidance on top of what your team already runs. The right split depends on your existing tools and staff, and the goal is better visibility and faster response without taking ownership away from your people.
Yes. We support Microsoft 365 security settings, users and groups, SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams, licensing, backups, and email audits. Your team can keep administrative control while we handle the specialized tasks or the work that exceeds your capacity.
Yes. We can manage backups of servers, workstations, and cloud data with offsite replication and ransomware-resistant versioning, run periodic test restores, document recovery targets, and perform the restore when something goes wrong. That complements your internal processes and verifies that critical data can actually be recovered.
Yes. We handle Office 365 and cloud migrations, data transfers, system decommissioning, and infrastructure changes, including planning, build and testing, cutover, and support afterward. That gives your team extra project capacity while they keep running day-to-day operations.
Yes. We help with risk assessments, policy development, gap analysis, control implementation, documentation, staff training, and coordination with auditors and CPAs for HIPAA, SOC 2, ISO, and other frameworks that apply to your business.
Call or request a consultation. We meet with you and your IT staff, learn what you run and where the gaps are, and propose which functions we would cover and how escalation would work. You get a quote after that conversation.