Your IT Manager's First Question
Every IT manager's first question about co-managed IT is the same: does this mean I'm being replaced? No. Here is what the arrangement actually looks like from your side of it.
You Stay in Control
You keep ownership of the environment, the decisions and the relationships. We work to your direction, not around you. Nothing changes without you signing off.
You Offload What You Choose
Hand over the ticket queue, the patching, the security monitoring, or the one project eating your month. Keep everything you would rather hold onto. The split is yours to draw.
You Get Backup, Not a Replacement
When you are on leave, in a meeting, or simply asleep, someone competent is covering. The business stops depending on one person being available every hour of every day.
You Gain Specialists on Call
Nobody is an expert in everything. When a problem lands outside your depth, in security, cloud or infrastructure, you get a second opinion instead of a long night and a search engine.
Common Ways Businesses Split the Work
There's no fixed division. These are the arrangements we see most often, as starting points rather than packages.
Where We Plug In
Whatever the split, these are the areas we most often take on alongside an internal team.
Helpdesk and Overflow Support
Extra capacity when your team is busy, short-staffed or buried in a project, so routine tickets stop piling up behind the important work.
Our IT support service →Escalation and Specialist Expertise
Experienced hands for Microsoft 365, Windows Server, networking, firewalls, virtualisation and cloud, for the problems that need depth rather than time.
Cyber Security
Monitoring, endpoint protection, email security, multi-factor authentication and alignment with the Essential Eight, managed so your internal team is not watching alerts around the clock.
Essential Eight alignment →Cloud and Microsoft 365
Help administering, securing and troubleshooting cloud environments, Microsoft 365, Entra ID, Exchange, SharePoint and Teams.
Our cloud services →Projects and Infrastructure
Migrations, upgrades, relocations and rollouts, resourced properly so a big project does not stall your team's normal work.
Backup, Recovery and Continuity
Backup checks, recovery planning and business continuity, running quietly in the background as a second layer behind your internal team.
Business continuity and recovery →How Co-Managed Differs From Fully Managed IT
Both are real options. Which one fits comes down to a single question: do you already have internal IT you want to keep?
Co-Managed IT
Keeps your internal capability and adds to it. You keep the knowledge, the relationships and the control in-house, and gain the people, tools and specialisations you would otherwise have to hire for.
Businesses with an IT manager, sysadmin, helpdesk technician or small internal team who want more capacity without hiring for every specialisation.
Fully Managed IT
Techware acts as your IT department and runs the environment end to end: monitoring, patching, security, support, strategy and vendor management, on a fixed monthly arrangement with published pricing tiers.
Businesses with no internal IT, or one stretched generalist who would rather hand the whole function over than manage a split.
If you already have an IT person you value, co-managed is almost always the better fit. Still weighing it up? Read the fuller comparison of co-managed vs fully managed IT.
Why Choose Techware for Co-Managed IT
Co-managed only works if the external team respects the internal one. That is the part most providers get wrong, and the part we build the arrangement around.
Australian Organisations That Trust Techware
Named clients from our published case studies and client testimonials, across community health, child protection, transport access, accounting and manufacturing.
What It's Like Working With Us
Including from the IT managers who share the work with us.
”They assisted us with Office 365 migration, moving on-premises infrastructure to the cloud, and strengthening security with multi-factor authentication and an email filtering gateway. I have confidence in recommending Techware.
”They give you information. They are not like IT companies who keep things in the background and think only they know how to do it.
”They explain issues to us like people, not techies. I see them as a business partner, not a managed service provider.
”Techware has helped us transition our IT from a basic and uneven network to a safe, reliable and strong performing communications, information and document management system.
”They have the right people. They're big enough to do the job and small enough to care. I've recommended them to many clients.
”They are genuinely interested in what you do, and that you are able to do it well.
Working Alongside Internal Teams
View All Case Studies →Each of these organisations had internal IT capability. In every case the work was about adding to it, not taking it over.
Explore Our IT Solutions
Co-managed is one way to work with us. These are the others.
Managed IT Services
The whole IT function on a fixed monthly arrangement, with published pricing tiers and a documented four-phase onboarding.
Learn More →IT Support
Fast, friendly IT support for Australian businesses to keep your operations up and running and downtime to a minimum.
Learn More →Cyber Security
Protect your business with proactive cyber security strategies against evolving threats, from data breaches to ransomware.
Learn More →Cloud Services
Get the most out of the cloud with custom solutions that give you flexibility and scalability while keeping your data safe.
Learn More →IT Consulting
Make better technology decisions and align your IT strategy with your business goals for long-term success.
Learn More →Co-Managed IT: Frequently Asked Questions
What is co-managed IT?+
An arrangement where your in-house IT person or team shares responsibilities with an external provider. You keep the areas you want to own, and we take agreed areas like helpdesk, security, infrastructure or projects.
Co-managed vs fully managed, compared →Will this replace our internal IT staff?+
No. Co-managed exists specifically to support an existing IT person or team. Your internal staff keep control of technology decisions, and we add capacity and specialist expertise where you want it.
Who stays in control of IT decisions?+
Your internal team does. We work to your direction and provide recommendations, resources and specialist input. The strategy and the final calls stay in-house.
What size business is co-managed IT for?+
Generally any organisation that already employs an IT manager, sysadmin, helpdesk technician or small internal team and wants more capacity or expertise without hiring for every specialisation.
Can we keep using our existing IT tools?+
In many cases, yes. We will integrate with your ticketing, documentation and monitoring where practical, and agree the most sensible approach with your team where a change is needed.
Can you just cover us when our IT person is on leave?+
Yes. Leave and after-hours cover can be the whole arrangement, or part of a broader one. With documentation done beforehand, we can step in effectively when your internal person is away.
How is co-managed IT priced?+
Scope drives the price, so it is set per arrangement rather than off a rate card: which areas you hand over, how many users and devices sit behind them, the coverage hours you need, and whether project work is included. We scope before quoting and set out exactly what is included and what is not.
How managed IT pricing works →What happens when we start?+
We document the environment together with your internal person, agree the division of work in writing, then stand up monitoring and tooling for the areas we are taking on. Your team keeps working throughout; nothing is switched over in one weekend.
Talk to Techware about co-managed IT
If your IT person is stretched, if projects keep stalling behind daily support, or if the business can't run when one person takes a week off, co-managed IT closes those gaps without changing who's in charge.
Techware works alongside your internal team, on the terms you set, across Australia.
Melbourne Office
2/10 Duerdin Street
Clayton, VIC 3168
(03) 8542 7333
Certified
ISO 9001 — Quality Management
ISO 27001 — Information Security
25+ years serving Australian business