Hiring an in-house IT team seems logical for many growing businesses. You want someone on-site, someone who “knows the ropes.” You desire an on-site individual with extensive knowledge and experience. However, as your company scales and technology becomes more critical to your operations, an internal IT model’s financial performance often begins to show quickly.
The decision to keep IT in-house or partner with a managed service provider (MSP) is about hidden costs. Those operational slow leaks that quietly drain resources and impact productivity leave leadership scrambling when systems fail or security falters. Let’s read more about this decision.
The True Financial Cost of In-House IT
Recruiting top IT talent doesn’t come cheap. The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) reports that the average cost per hire for a new IT professional in the U.S. is approximately $4,700. For more specialized IT roles, that number often climbs significantly higher.
But hiring is just the start. Training a new IT hire typically takes 8 to 26 weeks, during which productivity is hampered, and knowledge gaps persist. 79% of HR managers in any-sized business consider technical certifications recognized by the industry when hiring new employees. That ongoing training isn’t free. It costs time, budget, and internal bandwidth.
Then there are salaries. U.S. IT professionals earn anywhere from $60,000 to $100,000+ annually. Add in benefits, payroll taxes, PTO, and tools/licenses, and you’re looking at total compensation packages that stretch well beyond those base figures.
Now multiply those costs across multiple hires, consider the turnover risk (especially in a competitive tech job market), and suddenly your “lean” IT department isn’t so lean. This model can work for some. For many other businesses, it leads to an inefficient and expensive cycle.
The Hidden Operational Drains of In-House IT
Reactive support can trap even a strong internal team. Most in-house IT departments spend most of their time putting out fires rather than building scalable, strategic solutions. They’re trapped in maintenance mode, which means they can’t fix email problems, change passwords, or fix issues caused by downtime.
And downtime is expensive. Gartner estimates that the average cost of IT downtime is $9,000 per minute. This incredible amount gets even bigger when you consider the lost work, money, and customer trust. Reactive IT is rarely proactive about cybersecurity for C-suite executives, executive cybersecurity strategy, or business continuity planning. These are all critical areas that require rapid response and forethought.
Moreover, most in-house teams don’t have the resources to stay ahead of threats. Cyber risk leadership and IT security governance require constant vigilance and time, which internal teams often lack when overburdened.
Scalability Isn’t Just About Growth; It’s About Flexibility
Here’s a scenario: your company expands rapidly, opens a new office, or takes on a significant contract. Can your in-house IT team work with you immediately and seamlessly?
Chances are, you’ll face bottlenecks. Hiring new talent takes time, onboarding takes longer, and sudden growth can overwhelm internal capacity. With a scalable tech infrastructure, such scenarios shouldn’t be a problem. However, most in-house setups are built around what the company needed at the time of hire, not what it might need tomorrow.
Managed service providers, like Level5 Management, offer on-demand scalability. Whether you’re adding users, locations, or services, they adapt in real time. This model operates without the delays associated with hiring cycles or procurement processes. This model supports growth and protects you from overbuilding infrastructure you don’t need yet.
Security Isn’t Optional, It’s Existential
Let’s delve into the topic that keeps leaders awake at night: cybersecurity. This includes firewalls and antivirus software, cybersecurity for C-suite executives, executive cybersecurity strategy, and data protection for businesses. A breach isn’t just an IT problem; it’s a boardroom crisis.
In-house teams are often under-equipped to tackle the rapidly evolving threat landscape. Advanced persistent threats, phishing campaigns, and ransomware require more than just vigilance. They need layered security frameworks, policy enforcement, incident response plans, and compliance expertise.
And they require time. Your in-house team often doesn’t have time to juggle printers, software updates, and broken email filters.
MSPs provide continuous monitoring, proactive threat detection, and tested incident response protocols. IT security governance is built into every layer of managed service delivery. That matters when you’re trying to protect not just your business, but your brand.
Strategic IT Planning Shouldn’t Be a Side Hustle
Your IT function should serve your broader business goals. But when internal teams are busy with daily help tickets, they don’t have time to think strategically.
That’s a problem.
Strategic IT planning helps organizations innovate, digitize operations, and gain competitive advantages. Without it, you’re just surviving, not thriving. Managed IT partners bring deep bench strength and consultative insights to the table. They help you assess current infrastructure, identify opportunities, and plan forward, not just patch holes.
By outsourcing, you transform IT from a cost center into a strategic lever.
Business Continuity Is Essential
It’s a scenario no business wants to imagine: a server goes down. A flood hits your office. A ransomware attack locks your data. What’s next?
Relying solely on an in-house team may result in a slow and costly recovery process. However, with a partner like Level5 Management, business continuity planning is already in motion. Backup protocols, disaster recovery drills, and cloud infrastructure all come standard. They are not expensive add-ons but are core protections.
Cyber risk leadership means planning for the worst so your business can keep operating at its best.
Why Level5 Management Is the Smarter Investment
You don’t hire a managed IT provider just to “fix computers.” You hire one to reduce IT costs, protect your data, support growth, and ensure your technology fuels your business.
Level5 Management delivers what internal teams often struggle to provide: 24/7 support, on-demand expertise, enterprise-grade tools, and proactive planning. We specialize in data protection for businesses, IT security governance, and cybersecurity for C-suite executives, as today’s business challenges require more than just reactive support.
Whether you’re trying to scale, recover from downtime, or build a future-proof tech foundation, we make it simple and cost-efficient.
Ready to stop guessing and start optimizing? Let’s talk about how Level5 Management can help you get out of reactive mode and into a strategic rhythm that drives your business forward.
