Deciding whether to outsource IT or keep everything in-house isn’t easy. Many leaders assume internal IT is automatically cheaper and more efficient—but for most growing businesses, outsourcing wins by delivering predictable costs, broader expertise, and fewer surprises.
This is especially relevant if you’re growing without 24/7 coverage, dedicated security staff, or a clear owner for vendors, renewals, and risk.
Outsourcing IT also isn’t niche anymore. Deloitte’s Global Outsourcing Survey 2024 found 80% of executives plan to maintain or increase investment in third-party outsourcing, driven by agility and access to specialized skills.
At MSG, we see the same pattern: when IT runs as a proactive system—not a reactive ticket queue—companies move faster, feel more secure, and spend more intentionally.
The True Cost of “Just Hire One IT Person”
One hire rarely covers what modern IT demands: cloud apps, identity, endpoint security, backups, vendor management, and after-hours coverage. And even if you find a great person, the real cost goes well beyond salary.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics lists the median pay for a Network and Computer Systems Administrator at $96,800.
BLS also reports that for private industry, wages/salaries are 70.3% of total compensation (benefits are 29.7%).
Using that split as a rule of thumb:
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$96,800 ÷ 0.703 ≈ $137,700 in total compensation
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…before tools, training, certifications, and on-call expectations
If you need dedicated security depth, BLS lists the median pay for Information Security Analysts at $124,910.
That’s why “one IT person” often becomes either:
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a single point of failure, or
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an expensive game of catch-up where coverage and security never fully keep pace.
Outsourcing Gives You a Team, Not a Single Point of Failure
When you outsource IT the right way, you’re not replacing one job—you’re building coverage across the functions the business depends on. That matters because IT doesn’t pause for vacations, illness, turnover, or competing priorities.
It also matters because security is a resourcing problem, not just a tools problem. In the 2025 ISC2 Cybersecurity Workforce Study, only 55% of respondents agreed their organizations have the resources needed to address incidents over the next 2–3 years—meaning nearly half don’t feel ready.
Downtime Isn’t Just Annoying—It’s Expensive
The hidden cost in IT isn’t just hardware or licensing—it’s interruption: outages, slow systems, failed updates, flaky connectivity, and vendor finger-pointing.
Uptime Institute’s Annual Outage Analysis 2025 found 54% of respondents said their most recent significant outage cost more than $100,000, and one in five said it exceeded $1 million.
That’s why proactive monitoring and faster response create ROI quickly—especially when uptime directly impacts revenue and operations.
Security Risk Is Now an IT Budget Issue
Outsourcing isn’t only about keeping systems running—it’s also about reducing business risk.
IBM’s Cost of a Data Breach Report 2025 puts the global average cost of a breach at $4.4M, and notes $1.9M in cost savings for organizations that extensively use AI in security.
Email and identity are still common entry points. The FBI’s IC3 2024 Annual Report shows:
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Business Email Compromise losses of $2,770,151,146 in 2024
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Phishing/Spoofing as the #1 complaint type, with 193,407 complaints
When leaders say, “We just want to stop the constant fire drills,” security is usually part of what they mean—even if they don’t call it that.
Where Outsourcing Often Saves the Most Money: Vendor and Contract Cleanup
The quickest wins often come from vendor sprawl—duplicate services, misaligned invoices, and renewals that happen without clear ownership.
Two examples from MSG case studies:
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Internet / bandwidth: We more than tripled bandwidth for a growing healthcare provider, aligned provisioning to billing, and delivered $4,200/month in savings ($151,200 over 3 years):
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Copier leasing: For a private K–12 school, we saved $120,240 total, cutting monthly cost by over 50% (from $3,952 to $1,948):
Our cost-savings playbook
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Inventory spend (contracts, renewals, invoices, licenses, circuits) so nothing stays hidden.
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Match billing to reality (provisioning vs. invoice, usage vs. seats).
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Eliminate duplicates and shelfware (unused licenses, overlapping tools, redundant connectivity).
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Consolidate where it makes sense to reduce gaps and coordination overhead.
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Renegotiate with leverage (aligned terms, right-sized service levels).
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Own renewals with a calendar and accountable decision-maker.
More examples: https://msgrouponline.com/case-studies/
What Outsourcing Looks Like With MSG
We don’t treat outsourcing as “hand us your passwords and hope for the best.” We follow a structured approach that makes IT simpler, safer, and easier to manage:
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Assess: Network Assessment
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Stabilize: IT Stabilization Support
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Optimize: IT Optimization
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Stay Secure: IT Security services
Thinking About Outsourcing IT? Start With Clarity
If you’re weighing in-house vs. outsourced, start with two questions:
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What would it cost to staff for real coverage and security—not just day-to-day tickets?
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What’s the cost of downtime, slowdowns, and preventable incidents if nothing changes?
If you want help pressure-testing those answers, start with a Network Assessment or, contact us directly.