Why outsourcing IT is often smarter than hiring an IT manager in a mid-sized business
Posted on September 11, 2025 by Dan May
In the ever evolving world of business technology, mid-sized organisations often find themselves at a crossroads: should we hire a full-time IT manager or outsource our IT function to a specialist provider? On the surface, employing someone in-house may appear simpler and more controllable, but dig deeper, and the numbers, risks, and strategic benefits often tell a different story.
Let’s break it down.
The risks of the one-person band
Single point of failure
If your IT Manager is on holiday, off sick, or leaves the company unexpectedly, you’re immediately exposed. Systems updates, support queries, cybersecurity issues, they don’t wait. An outsourced provider, by contrast, offers a team of experts with holiday cover, built-in redundancy, and 24/7 availability.
Limited knowledge breadth
No single person can be an expert in cloud infrastructure, networking, cybersecurity, user support, compliance, strategy, automation, AI, and everything in between. An outsourced team typically offers access to specialists across a broader range of domains for a fixed monthly fee.
Scalability constraints
As your business grows or faces transformation (e.g. cloud migration, remote workforce expansion), an in-house IT Manager may struggle to keep up. Outsourced partners can flex and scale their resources to meet your business needs, without the need to rehire or upskill internally.
The true cost of employing an IT manager
Many businesses look at salary alone when hiring, but that’s only part of the picture. The true cost of employing a full-time member of staff is considerably higher.
Let’s consider a mid-weight IT manager on a £55,000 base salary:
| Cost Component | Approximate % / Amount |
| Base Salary | £55,000 |
| Employer National Insurance | ~13.8% of salary = £7,590 |
| Pension Contributions (Auto-enrolment, 3%) | £1,650 |
| Holiday & Sickness Cover | ~10% cost of absence = £5,500 |
| Training & Certifications | £1,000 – £3,000 annually |
| Recruitment (agency or internal time) | £5,000 – £10,000 (one-off, but impactful) |
| Hardware/Software (laptop, tools) | £1,000 – £2,000 |
| Office Space, Utilities, HR Overhead | £1,000+ |
Total estimated annual cost: £72,000 – £85,000+
and that’s for one person. One skillset. One level of experience.
The strategic advantage of outsourcing
Predictable, all-inclusive costs
Outsourcing IT often involves a fixed monthly fee, inclusive of monitoring, support, patching, backups, security, and strategic consultancy. You gain clarity over budgeting, without worrying about unexpected training costs or downtime losses.
Enhanced security posture
IT providers live and breathe cybersecurity. They typically invest in best-in-class tools, training, and monitoring systems that would be prohibitively expensive for a single business to replicate in-house.
Proactive and strategic support
Modern MSPs (Managed Service Providers) aren’t just reactive, they provide vCIO or vIT Director support, helping shape your technology roadmap, budget planning, and digital transformation initiatives. An internal hire may focus more on keeping the lights on than driving the business forward.
When might an in-house IT manager make sense?
Of course, there are exceptions. Businesses with highly bespoke systems or deeply regulated environments might need internal IT leadership. But even then, we often see a hybrid model, an in-house IT Manager working alongside an outsourced team, using external specialists to fill skill gaps and offer 24/7 coverage.
Shaping the future of your IT strategy
For most mid-sized businesses, outsourcing IT provides a cost-effective, low-risk, and scalable solution. When you factor in the true cost of employment, the operational risk of single-person dependency, and the benefits of broader expertise, the outsourced model is not only viable, it’s often superior.
If you’re reviewing your IT setup and wondering whether outsourcing might be right for your organisation, take a step back and look at the full picture, not just the payslip.
How can we help you?
We’d love to talk to you about your specific IT needs, and we’d be happy to offer a no obligation assessment of your current IT set up. Whether you are at a point of organisational change, unsure about security, or just want to sanity check your current IT arrangements, we’re here to help.
