What Are Co-Managed IT Services?
Co-managed IT is a partnership between your IT leadership and our delivery team. You keep what only an insider can do well: strategy, priorities, knowledge of the business and its people. We bring the engine room: a staffed service desk, engineering depth across Microsoft, security and infrastructure, and the tooling and processes that take years to build in-house. Your IT manager or CIO stays firmly in charge; we make their plans happen.
Where Co-Managed IT Works Best
The model shines in organisations that have IT leadership but not an IT workforce: a CIO, IT manager or operations leader who owns technology direction and wants a dependable team executing it. That is the arrangement we build for. Day-to-day support, projects, security operations and vendor wrangling land with us; architecture decisions, budgets and business priorities stay with you, informed by our advice whenever you want it.
By combining the expertise of in-house teams and outsourced, we can ensure you’re your security protocols are robust and up-to-date. This then reduces vulnerabilities within your organisation.
With our Co-Managed IT services, businesses can avoid the expense of hiring additional full-time experts while still having access to specialised skills when needed. They can also access additional support at specific times without paying for services that are not needed.
Imagine having the expertise of a seasoned IT company on call, 24/7. Grassroots IT comes with a wealth of knowledge, ensuring that every aspect of your business’s IT is handled expertly.
Why Choose Grassroots IT?
Because we treat your IT leader as the client, not the competition. Our reporting is written for someone who understands it: honest metrics, clear risk registers, no theatre. Our engineers document as they go, so knowledge lands in your systems rather than walking out the door with a contractor. And when your leadership asks for something ambitious, an office move, a security certification, a platform shift, there is a full project team behind the person who answered the phone.
Businesses choose this model when the alternative would be hiring three or four specialists to cover what one arrangement provides: service desk, security, infrastructure and project capability, at a fraction of the salary bill and with none of the key-person risk.
The Grassroots IT Difference
Co-managed clients get the full weight of our managed services practice: the same certified team, the same ISO 9001, 14001 and 27001 backed processes, and an account manager whose job is making your IT leader look good.
Dedicated Account Manager
Receive a dedicated Account Manager who will understand your needs and offer ongoing, attentive service.
Direct Access To Solution Specialists
Need specialist advice? Tap into our expert guidance instantly with specialists who are trained to help resolve your urgent IT issues either remotely or in person.
Annual Strategy Review & Roadmap
Your IT strategy should be refined regularly according to your changing business goals. Annual reviews hone your tech strategy for success.
Quarterly Alignment Reviews
Regular quarterly check-ins make sure we are aligned with your goals as they evolve. In these reviews, we can make the necessary tweaks to keep your business on track.
Monthly Performance Reporting
The latest insights into your IT performance can empower key decision-makers within your business to make the right decisions when they need.
Extended Helpdesk Hours
Need support? Our dedicated IT Help Desk is available even beyond business hours, providing our clients peace of mind.
Australia-Wide Onsite Support
Our IT Support staff are located all across Australia, to ensure we can assist you whenever and wherever you need us.
Dedicated Onboarding Team
We believe that a strong partnership should be defined from the very beginning, which is why we offer you a specialised team to assist with onboarding.
FAQs
What are co-managed IT services?
Co-managed IT pairs your internal IT leadership with an external delivery team. The business keeps ownership of technology strategy through its own IT manager or CIO, while the provider supplies the day-to-day capability: service desk, engineering, security and project delivery. It is one accountable partnership rather than two teams sharing a job.
How is co-managed IT different from fully managed IT services?
Fully managed IT means we act as your entire IT function, strategy included. Co-managed means your own IT leader sets the direction and we deliver it. The services underneath are largely the same; the difference is who holds the steering wheel, and in co-managed arrangements that is deliberately you.
What are the benefits of co-managed IT services?
Your IT leader gets leverage: a whole team executing instead of a to-do list that never shrinks. The business gets depth it could not hire one person at a time: security specialists, infrastructure engineers, project managers. And continuity stops depending on any single individual’s tenure or annual leave.
How does the collaboration between the in-house team and the external provider work in practice?
It works best with a clean division: your leadership owns decisions, we own delivery. In practice that means a shared plan, agreed priorities, our service desk handling requests end to end, and regular working sessions between your IT leader and our account manager. Clear lanes are what make the model fast.
What if we already have a strong in-house IT team?
If your team already covers day-to-day support end to end, a fully co-managed arrangement may not add much, and we would say so. Where we add the most is alongside IT leadership and management: your people set direction and manage the business relationships, we bring the delivery muscle. For organisations whose internal team is the whole IT function, we tend to help with specific projects, security programs or overflow instead.
Can co-managed IT services save my business money?
Compared with building the equivalent capability in-house, usually yes. One arrangement replaces several specialist hires, tooling comes included rather than licensed separately, and costs are predictable month to month. The stronger argument is risk: no single resignation can take your IT capability with it.
How is the workload divided in a co-managed IT service model?
Along the line between deciding and doing. Direction, priorities, budgets and internal relationships sit with your IT leadership. Support requests, maintenance, security operations, projects and vendor management sit with us. The split is documented at the start so nobody wonders whose job something is.
Who retains control over the IT strategy and decision-making in a co-managed setup?
You do, unambiguously. Your IT manager or CIO owns the strategy and makes the decisions; we contribute advice, options and honest numbers to inform them. We prefer it that way: an engaged internal leader makes our work better.
How do businesses ensure their data is secure with co-managed IT services?
The provider should meet a higher bar than it asks of you. We hold ISO 27001 certification for our own information security, build client environments to recognised frameworks such as the Essential Eight and SMB1001, and give your leadership full visibility of every control we operate. Access is scoped, logged and reviewable.
What should businesses look for when selecting a co-managed IT service provider?
Ask how they work with internal IT leaders, and listen for respect rather than tolerance. Ask to see their own certifications: ISO 27001 held by the provider means an external auditor checks them, not just you. Ask how knowledge is documented and handed over. And ask to speak with the IT managers of their current co-managed clients about what the relationship is actually like.
