Co-Managed IT Support
Extra Depth for Your In-House IT Team
Your IT person or team stays in charge of day-to-day support. Pulsar IT adds monitoring, patching and an experienced team to escalate to, priced per device.
What is Co-Managed IT Support?
Co-managed IT is for businesses that already employ someone to look after IT, whether that's a single IT manager or a small team. Rather than replacing them, we work alongside them.
Your team keeps ownership of day-to-day support: they answer staff questions, know your people and make the local decisions. We provide the things that are hard for a small team to cover alone: device and network monitoring, operating system and application patching, core IT support for your IT staff, and an experienced team to escalate to when a problem needs specialist knowledge or another pair of hands.
The Co-Managed IT plan is priced per workstation or laptop and includes our Microsoft 365 management and security baseline, charged once per organisation. If you'd prefer us to support all of your staff directly, see Managed IT Support.
Key benefits
- Your IT team stays in control of day-to-day support
- Device and network monitoring, with alert handling agreed between us
- Operating system and application patching taken off your team's list
- An experienced team to escalate complex problems to
- Practical guidance for planning, purchasing and security decisions
How does it work?
We start by agreeing who does what, so your IT team, your staff and ours all know where each request and alert goes. That split is confirmed during onboarding and can change as your team does.
Agree responsibilities
We meet your IT lead to agree which tasks stay with your team and which we take on, including how monitoring alerts, patching and escalations are handled.
Onboard devices and network
We install our monitoring and management agent on each workstation and laptop, add supported network equipment to monitoring and agree patching schedules with your team.
Run alongside your team
We monitor and patch in the background. Your IT team handles staff requests and escalates to us when they want help, guidance or a second opinion.
Review together
We review what's working with your IT lead and adjust the split of responsibilities as your business or your team changes.
- Your staffRaise everyday IT requests
- Your in-house IT teamFirst point of contact; resolves day-to-day issues
- Pulsar ITMonitoring, patching, guidance and escalation
Technical scope
- A monitoring and management agent on each supported workstation and laptop
- Monitoring of supported network equipment
- Operating system and application patching on schedules agreed with your team
- An escalation route from your IT staff into our team
- Microsoft 365 management and security baseline, with day-to-day administration shared as agreed
- IT guidance on planning, purchasing and security
Where it helps
A one-person IT department
Your IT manager spends most of the week on staff requests. Handing patching and monitoring to us frees time for the projects that keep getting postponed.
An unfamiliar problem
A fault in a system your team rarely touches. Rather than guessing, they escalate to us and we work on it together.
Before a big decision
Your IT lead wants a second opinion before buying new equipment or changing a key system. We give practical, independent guidance.
A team under pressure
As headcount grows, your IT team is stretched. The split of work can be adjusted, and you can move to a full support plan if that makes more sense.
Who does what
Co-managed IT works best when responsibilities are clear. This is the typical starting point; the final split is agreed with your IT lead and confirmed in your proposal.
Your in-house team
First point of contact for your staff. Day-to-day requests, user support, local knowledge and decisions about your business systems.
Pulsar IT
Device and network monitoring, operating system and application patching, core IT support for your IT staff, and guidance and escalation for problems your team wants help with.
Agreed together
How monitoring alerts are passed on, maintenance windows for updates, how changes are approved and who handles routine Microsoft 365 administration.
Helpdesk support for all of your staff isn't part of this plan. If your staff need to contact us directly, the Essential or Advanced plan is the better fit.
Problems solved
Patching falls behind
When one person is busy with staff requests, updates wait. Managed patching keeps devices current without competing for their time.
Little or no monitoring
Small teams rarely have time to set up and watch proper monitoring. We provide it, so problems are spotted rather than reported by frustrated users.
Nowhere to escalate
An in-house IT person can't be an expert in everything. Having a team to escalate to means difficult problems don't stall.
Too much depends on one person
When routine maintenance runs through shared tools and agreed processes, less of it relies on one person's memory or availability.
Decisions made without a second opinion
Big purchases and system changes are easier with experienced guidance from a team that sees many different setups.
What's included
Included as standard
- Core IT support for your in-house IT team
- Device and network monitoring
- Operating system and application patching
- IT guidance and escalation
- Microsoft 365 management and security baseline, charged once per organisation
- An agreed split of responsibilities between your team and ours
Optional or scoped
Available on request and confirmed in your proposal; not part of the standard service.
- Endpoint protection on each device
- Basic Endpoint Vulnerability Scanning
- Managed Endpoint Security, CVE Remediation & SIEM
- Managed servers and managed firewalls
- Project support for migrations, upgrades and office moves
What's not included
- Helpdesk support for all staff; your staff contact your in-house team
- Endpoint protection and endpoint vulnerability scanning, unless added
- The device security baseline, which is part of the Essential and Advanced plans
- Microsoft 365 licences, other software licences and hardware
- Servers and firewalls, which are priced as separate services
This plan supports your IT team; it doesn't replace them. If your IT person leaves or your needs change, talk to us about moving to Managed IT Support.
How alerts and escalations are handled, support hours and any service levels are agreed in your formal proposal.
Who it's suitable for
- Businesses with one IT person or a small internal IT team
- IT managers who want monitoring and patching without buying and running the tools themselves
- Organisations whose IT team is stretched by day-to-day requests
- Larger businesses with specialist in-house staff who want a partner for escalation
- Teams who want an outside view on IT plans and purchases
Pricing
Clear monthly pricing from our published price list, the same figures used by the quote builder.
Use the quote builder to add Co-Managed IT Support to an indicative quote, or book a free security review and we'll recommend what fits.
Price
From £15 per device / month
Plus the Microsoft 365 management and security baseline of £125 per organisation per month, added once with any plan.
What affects the price
- Number of workstations and laptops
- Network equipment to be monitored
- Optional security services, such as endpoint protection
- Servers and firewalls, which are priced separately
- The split of responsibilities agreed with your team
All prices exclude VAT.
Add to Your QuoteFrequently asked questions
Will our staff contact you directly?
Not on this plan. Your staff contact your in-house team, who escalate to us when needed. If you want us to support all staff directly, the Essential and Advanced plans include helpdesk support for everyone.
Does our IT person lose control?
No. Your team keeps responsibility for day-to-day support and decisions. We agree in advance which changes we make, such as patching on agreed schedules, and how anything else is approved.
Is endpoint protection included?
No. Endpoint protection and endpoint vulnerability scanning aren't part of Co-Managed IT. You can add them per device through our cybersecurity services, and we'll discuss any protection your team already runs during onboarding.
Why is there a Microsoft 365 charge on a co-managed quote?
Every support plan includes the Microsoft 365 management and security baseline, charged once per organisation at £125 per month. On a co-managed plan we agree with your IT team how tenant administration is shared.
Can we change plans later?
You can talk to us about moving to Essential or Advanced at any point, for example if your IT team changes. Any change, and the price difference, is confirmed in an updated proposal.
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