Every growing business faces this decision sooner or later: do we hire someone for IT, or do we bring in an external provider? The answer is less clear-cut than most people think.
The calculation most businesses do not do
A part-time IT administrator (20 hours per week) in Hamburg costs between €2,500 and €3,500 gross per month depending on experience. Add employer's social security contributions of around 20 per cent and total costs come to €3,000 to €4,200. Plus workspace, training, and holiday cover.
Managed IT for a comparable business with 15 employees costs around €1,600 per month with us, all-in. That is less than half the price.
But the comparison is not entirely fair. An in-house admin also handles things an external provider does not cover: they sit in the office, help set up the projector, order toner cartridges, and explain for the third time to the new colleague how the scanner works.
What an external provider does better
- Broader expertise. A single admin cannot possibly be an expert in firewalls, Exchange, backup, networking, and telephony simultaneously. A managed IT provider has multiple specialists.
- No gaps due to illness or holidays. If your admin is on holiday for three weeks and the server goes down, you have a problem. With an external provider, you call and someone is there.
- Proactive monitoring. Very few in-house admins at small businesses run professional 24/7 monitoring.
- Predictable costs. No salary, no employer contributions, no training costs.
What an in-house admin does better
- Immediate availability. They are in the office. When the printer plays up, they stand up and walk over.
- Context. They know every employee, every workstation, every quirk in the infrastructure.
- Day-to-day flexibility. Quickly wiring up a meeting room, unpacking a new printer.
Our honest recommendation
- 5 to 15 employees: External provider. You cannot keep an in-house admin fully occupied at this size.
- 15 to 30 employees: This is where it gets interesting. The best solution is often a hybrid: one technically capable person in-house, plus an external partner for infrastructure, security, and projects.
- 30 to 50 employees: From here you almost always need someone in-house. But even then, an external partner for specialist topics pays off.
Below 15 employees, an in-house admin is almost always too expensive for what they do. Above 30, you almost always need someone in-house. In between, it depends on your situation.