In-house vs outsourced IT support: which is right for your business?
By Jera IT
Every growing business hits the same question: do we hire someone to run our IT, or do we hand it to a provider? Get it wrong and you either overpay for cover you rarely use, or leave a single person carrying a job that’s too big for them. Here’s how to make the call with your eyes open.
The short answer: for most businesses under 250 people, outsourcing costs less than a hire and doesn’t stop when one person is off. Keep in-house IT if you need someone on site all day; add a provider if that person is stretched.
What hiring in-house really gets you
An in-house hire is brilliant for one thing: someone who knows your business inside out and is there in the room. For a larger organisation with constant, hands-on needs, that’s worth a lot.
But one person is still one person. They take holidays and they get ill. And nobody is an expert in networking, cyber security, cloud, telecoms and strategy at once. When they’re stuck, there’s no one to escalate to, and when they leave, your knowledge walks out of the door with them.
What outsourcing actually changes
A managed IT provider replaces that single point of failure with a whole team. You get a helpdesk that’s staffed through the working day (ours is 08:00 to 17:00, Monday to Friday), specialists in the things one person can’t cover, security monitoring around the clock (ours is run by an external security operations centre), and cover that doesn’t evaporate when one person is off.
The trade-off is that they’re not sitting in your office every day. Good providers close that gap with fast response and regular visits. Ask how quickly they answer: 95% of our incidents get a first response within 4 working hours (12 months to 20 October 2026).
The honest answer for most SMEs
For most small and medium businesses, outsourcing wins on both cost and resilience. Our IT support is priced per user, and the figures are on our pricing page; set that against the full cost of one hire (salary, pension, training and cover when they’re off), and you stop betting your operations on one person’s availability. If your business is very small, a managed provider may be more than you need, and we’ll say so.
There’s a third option: co-managed IT. If you already have IT staff who are stretched, you don’t have to choose. Keep your in-house knowledge and add a provider for the specialists and the cover when your person is off.
Make the call
Count the real cost of your current setup. Salary is the easy part; add the downtime and the work that never gets done because your one IT person is firefighting. We’ve supported Scottish businesses since 2003, and hold 5.0 from 88 Google reviews. Then book a straight conversation with us and we’ll tell you honestly which model fits, even if that’s keeping what you’ve got.
Frequently asked questions
Is it cheaper to outsource IT support than to hire?
For most businesses of 15 to 250 people, yes. One hire costs a salary plus on-costs, and still gives you one person's skills. Jera's IT support is priced per user, so the cost follows your headcount.
When does in-house IT make sense?
When you need someone on site all day for constant, hands-on work, and you're big enough to keep them busy. Even then, many businesses add a provider behind that person for the specialist work and the cover.
What is co-managed IT?
Your own IT staff keep the day-to-day work and the knowledge of your business, and a managed provider adds the specialists and the cover for when your person is away.
How quickly does an outsourced provider respond?
It varies, so ask for a measured figure. 95% of Jera's incidents get a first response within 4 working hours (12 months to 20 October 2026, measured in our helpdesk system), with support from 08:00 to 17:00, Monday to Friday.
