Co-Managed IT Services · Serving WA · OR · ID · MT
Co-Managed IT Services
in Kent, Washingtone
Or call (206) 397-8070
You already have an IT person. They are good at their job. They know the business, the people, and the weird custom ERP from 2014. So why are you reading a co-managed IT page?
Probably because that one person cannot be in three places at once. They cannot run a 24/7 SOC alone. They cannot personally negotiate enterprise tooling at small-business pricing. They cannot be on call for a ransomware page at 2:00 a.m. and also lead the Microsoft 365 migration in the morning.
That is what co-managed IT is for. We slot in next to your existing IT lead and give them leverage. We are inTech Consulting, based at 25725 101st Ave SE in Kent. Our co-managed clients across King County (Kent, Tukwila, SeaTac, Auburn, Renton) and the Pacific Northwest range from manufacturers with one in-house IT director to law firms with a small internal helpdesk team.
What co-managed IT actually looks like
Co-managed is not "we do half, you do half." It is a clean split based on what your in-house person should be doing and what we can do better at scale.
Your in-house IT keeps:
- Direct relationship with users (they know who the squeaky wheels are)
- Knowledge of business processes and the line-of-business apps
- Project leadership for anything custom or strategic to your operation
- Vendor management for systems we did not build
- The friendly face for executives
We add on top:
- 24/7 SOC and SIEM monitoring with humans actually watching
- After-hours and weekend coverage so your IT person can take vacations again
- Enterprise tooling at MSP pricing (EDR, MFA, conditional access, dark web monitoring)
- A vCIO available for strategic conversations
- TCompliance and audit support for CMMC, HIPAA, SOC 2, PCI DSS
- Procurement leverage on hardware and licensing
- Backup peer review of architecture decisions before they go live
That last one matters more than people think. Most IT people in small businesses are working alone. Having a peer to sanity-check a design before you commit is genuinely valuable.
Why Kent businesses choose co-managed over fully managed
The honest math is this: if your business is under 25 employees, fully managed IT is usually cheaper and simpler. If you have over 75 employees, you almost always need someone in-house. The interesting band is 25 to 75, where co-managed wins for most Kent businesses we talk to.
A few patterns we see often:
- 1. The Kent manufacturer with one IT generalist. They can keep the line running, but they cannot also stand up a SOC, run quarterly phishing simulations, and prepare for a CMMC audit.
- 2. The professional services firm with a small helpdesk team. Two or three people doing user support, who lack the security and compliance depth to handle ransomware response or a cyber insurance application.
- 3. The healthcare practice with a part-time IT consultant. That consultant is fine for day-to-day, but HIPAA gaps or an EHR migration overwhelm the schedule.
In every case, the answer is not to replace the existing IT person. It is to give them a force multiplier. Read about our managed IT services in Kent for the full-service alternative if your situation is different.
How we structure the partnership
We do not charge by the ticket, and we do not micromanage your IT lead. The structure is simple:
- Flat monthly fee based on user count and the scope you pick. Predictable for budgeting.
- Quarterly business review with your IT lead and any executives who want to attend, run by your assigned vCIO.
- Shared documentation. Your runbook is our runbook. We add to it, we do not replace it.
- Direct escalation path from your IT lead to our senior engineers, no ticket queue between you and the help.
- 90-day money-back guarantee because we know co-managed only works if both sides are happy.
Pricing and scope ranges
Co-managed pricing is more variable than fully managed because the scope can be tuned. Typical Kent ranges:
- Full co-managed with vCIO (everything above plus quarterly strategy and procurement):
$100 to $150 per user per month
For a 50-person Kent manufacturer with full co-managed, that lands at roughly $4,250 to $5,750 per month, on top of your existing IT person's salary. That is about half what a second senior IT hire would cost, with broader capability.
What we will not do in a co-managed engagement
We are direct about this on the first call, so nobody is surprised:
- We will not undermine your IT lead with executives. If we disagree on a decision, we work it out with them first.
- We will not promise to "manage your IT person." That is not our job.
- We will not pretend everything is fine when something needs to change. If we see a real problem, we will name it.
- We will not lock you in. Every agreement includes an SLA opt-out clause if we are not meeting our commitments, plus a 90-day money-back guarantee.
Compliance and security depth your IT person
probably does not have time for
This is the single biggest reason Kent businesses bring us in. A talented in-house IT person can keep a network healthy. They generally cannot:
- Run a 24/7 SOC and respond to alerts at 3:00 a.m.
- Prepare and submit an SPRS score with a defensible POA&M
- Map and document all 110 NIST SP 800-171 controls
- Build out HIPAA business associate agreements and audit logs
- Manage a SOC 2 Type II readiness project
- Negotiate with cyber insurance carriers on technical questionnaires
We do all of this regularly. Our CMMC compliance services in Kent and managed security services in Kent plug directly into a co-managed engagement.
Frequently Asked Questions
What if our internal IT person feels threatened by bringing in an MSP?
Common concern. The answer is that we work for them as much as for the business. Their feedback shapes the engagement. We have had several Kent clients where the internal IT lead was the one who advocated for bringing us in after meeting our team.
Do we still need our own IT person if we engage you?
Yes. That is the whole point of co-managed. If you do not need an internal person, you probably want fully managed IT instead.
How do tickets get routed between our team and yours?
We agree on a routing model in week one, then publish it as a one-page runbook everyone can see. Most Kent clients route user-facing tickets to internal first, infrastructure and security tickets to us first, with clean escalation between sides.
Can you provide vacation coverage for our IT person?
Yes. Several Kent clients use us specifically for that. We become the backup so your IT person can actually take time off without a phone glued to their hand.
What happens if our IT person leaves the company?
We can stay in co-managed mode while you hire, or temporarily expand to full coverage during the gap. The decision is yours and we make the transition smooth either way.
Is co-managed IT a stepping stone to fully managed?
Sometimes, sometimes not. Most of our Kent co-managed clients stay co-managed for years because their internal person is genuinely good at their job. Others end up moving to fully managed when their internal person retires or moves on. Both paths are fine.
Ready to give your IT person backup?
If your in-house IT lead is tired, on the edge of burnout, or covering ground they should not be covering, the cost of a free consultation is zero, and the cost of waiting can be losing them. We will spend 30 minutes on a call with you and your IT lead, no sales script, no obligation.
Call (206) 397-8070 or book a free consultation at intechnw.com.
inTech Consulting, LLC. | 25725 101st Ave SE, Kent, WA 98030 | Certified Minority Business Enterprise (Washington OMWBE) | 90-day money-back guarantee on managed IT and managed security engagements
Book a Free Consultation Call (206) 397-8070