Every company that depends on technology has to settle the same question: who looks after IT, and how? In practice there are three models. You call someone when something breaks (break-fix). You hand day-to-day IT to an external provider (fully managed). Or your own IT people and an external team share the work under one written arrangement (co-managed).
None of them is right in general. The right one depends on what your company already has in-house, what it cannot cover and how much risk it is willing to carry. BlueNova IT is based in Tallinn and works mainly with small and midsize companies in Europe, often with distributed or multi-site teams; on-site work is confirmed per project. We run managed IT services and co-managed IT, and we have practised co-managed IT regularly for several years.
The three models in plain terms
Break-fix: you call when something breaks
Break-fix is reactive support. Nothing is monitored or maintained on a schedule; when a laptop fails or an account is locked, you ask for help and the work is done for that request. The cost of that simplicity is that nobody owns what never breaks visibly: missed updates, untested backups, accounts that should have been removed months ago.
Fully managed IT: an external team owns day-to-day IT
A managed service provider (MSP) takes responsibility for defined IT work under one agreed arrangement: user support, routine maintenance and updates, monitoring and backup checks where they are in scope, and regular reporting. The company usually has no dedicated IT staff, or one person who handles IT next to their main job. Our managed IT services follow this model.
Co-managed IT: your team and ours share the work
Co-managed IT is for companies that already have internal IT people but need more than they can cover alone. Your team keeps the work and decisions it does best, and the external team takes the parts that are stretched, missing or repetitive. It is built around the fact that your internal team exists, knows your business and stays in charge of the environment.
The three models side by side
- Break-fix. Responsibility: your company, with outside help on request. Preventive work: nobody unless you arrange it. Knowledge: with whoever fixed the last problem.
- Fully managed. Responsibility: the provider, for the agreed scope. Preventive work: the provider. Your team: mainly business decisions and approvals. Knowledge: the provider’s documentation.
- Co-managed. Responsibility: both sides, each task assigned to one of them in writing. Preventive work: whichever side the agreement names. Knowledge: shared documentation both teams can read and update.
In every model, accounts, licences and data belong to your company. For how each model is usually charged, see our guide to managed IT pricing models and cost factors.
When each model fits
Situation matters more than headcount.
- Break-fix tends to fit a company with very few devices, little dependence on IT and a low cost of downtime, where someone internal is willing to keep updates and backups under control, or where you only need help with a one-off problem.
- Fully managed tends to fit when nobody is responsible for IT, or one person handles it next to another job; when you operate in several countries and want one support route in the language each office prefers; or when you want maintenance done regularly and not only after a failure.
- Co-managed tends to fit when you have an internal IT person or team that knows the business but the help desk is overloaded; when your team is strong on applications or infrastructure but lacks time or specialist knowledge for security reviews, monitoring or larger projects; or when you need cover for holidays, sickness or a departure so IT does not depend on one person.
If what you have in mind is a defined project or a specific gap rather than continuous care, IT outsourcing may be the closer match, and our IT consulting can help weigh the options. To weigh outsourcing against hiring, read our guide to IT outsourcing versus in-house IT.
Who does what in a co-managed arrangement
There is no universal split. The list below is a pattern we see often; the real division is agreed for each company before work begins. For each area, it shows what an internal team commonly keeps and what BlueNova IT commonly takes on.
- Help desk. You keep first contact and the cases that need knowledge of your business. We take overflow when requests pile up, cover for absences and requests in English or Spanish, Monday to Friday, 09:00-18:00 CET.
- Patching. You keep business applications that need careful testing. We take routine updates of operating systems, devices and common software, scheduled around your working hours.
- Monitoring. You decide what matters to the business. We watch the agreed systems and escalate problems along the route written in the agreement.
- Backups. You decide what must be recoverable. We check that backups run and can be restored, and report what we find.
- Projects. You set priorities and own the outcome. We provide extra hands or a specialist skill for migrations, rollouts and improvements your team has no time for.
- Security reviews. You own policies and approvals. We review configuration, access and recurring weaknesses and bring an outside view; for deeper work, see our cybersecurity service.
- Vendor coordination. You stay the contact for suppliers you already manage. We deal with the internet, software and hardware suppliers we are asked to take over, so requests do not stall between parties.
Whatever the split, one rule holds: each task has one named owner.
How a co-managed arrangement is set up
- Discovery. We learn your people, locations, devices, applications and suppliers, and what your internal team wants to keep.
- Scope and responsibilities in writing. We list the tasks, systems and decisions involved and assign each to your team or to ours. Any service commitments are agreed in writing for your organisation, not assumed.
- Access and accounts stay with you. Accounts, licences and data remain yours. We agree which access we need, who authorises it, how it is granted and how it is removed.
- Shared tooling and documentation. Both teams use the same request log and documentation, so a colleague or a future supplier can pick things up without guessing.
- Escalation. We write down who handles what first, when a case moves between teams and who decides when the answer is unclear.
- Regular review. We look at what was requested, what keeps recurring and what deserves a project. Scope is widened or narrowed at the review, not renegotiated from nothing.
These are the same principles as in our managed IT services and IT outsourcing: clear boundaries first, work second.
When to move from one model to another
The model is not a permanent choice. Companies change, and the arrangement should follow.
- From break-fix to managed or co-managed when the same problems repeat, when a postponed update or untested backup becomes a real worry, or when the person who held IT knowledge leaves.
- From fully managed to co-managed when you hire your first IT person and want them to own part of the work.
- From co-managed to fully managed when the internal team shrinks and nobody remains to hold the environment together, or back towards in-house as your team grows and takes tasks over.
A decision checklist
Answer these honestly, ideally with the people who raise IT requests.
- Do we have an internal person or team responsible for IT, with time for preventive work as well as requests?
- If our main IT person were out for two weeks, who would act, and how would they know what to do?
- Who owns patching, backups and security reviews today? Is it written down?
- Do we want our internal team to keep control of the environment, or would we rather not run IT ourselves?
- Do our offices need support in English, Spanish or both, and at which hours?
- Do we know who has access to our accounts, licences and data?
Answers that say "nobody" point to fully managed. Answers that name a capable internal person with too much to do point to co-managed. A few devices, little dependence on IT and someone who keeps up with the basics can still justify break-fix. To talk it through, contact us with a short description of your team and systems and we will suggest a sensible starting scope.
Related: managed IT services, IT outsourcing, IT consulting, help desk support guide.
