When to Hire an MSP vs. DIY IT (Honest Advice)

We’re a managed IT services company. It would be easy to write a blog post that says everyone needs an MSP and you’re reckless if you don’t have one. But that’s not true, and telling you that would waste your money and our time.

The reality is: some organizations genuinely need managed IT support, some don’t, and a surprising number fall into a middle ground where the right answer is “not yet, but here’s what to watch for.”

Here’s how to figure out where you land.

What Is an MSP?

MSP stands for Managed Service Provider. In plain English, it’s a company that handles your IT on an ongoing basis — usually for a monthly per-user or flat-rate fee. Think of it as outsourcing your IT department to specialists who manage multiple organizations.

A good MSP handles:
– Security — Endpoint protection, email filtering, threat monitoring
– Infrastructure — Network management, server maintenance, cloud administration
– Support — Help desk for your staff when things break or confuse
– Strategy — Technology planning, budgeting, vendor management
– Compliance — Meeting industry or grant-related IT requirements

The keyword is “managed.” It’s not break-fix (call us when something breaks). It’s proactive monitoring and maintenance designed to prevent problems before they happen.

Signs You Need an MSP

Here’s the honest checklist. If three or more of these apply to you, it’s probably time.

You have more than 5 staff members

At 1-3 people, IT problems are manageable. Someone in the office is “the tech person” by default, and that mostly works. Past five people, the complexity multiplies. More accounts to manage, more devices to secure, more software licenses to track, more people who can accidentally click a phishing link. The attack surface and the support burden both grow faster than headcount.

You have compliance requirements

If you handle healthcare data (HIPAA), financial records, student information (FERPA), or operate under grant requirements that specify data handling standards — you need someone who knows compliance. Not someone who can Google it when auditors show up. Someone who’s already built compliant environments and can prove it.

Compliance failures don’t just mean fines. For nonprofits, they can mean losing grant funding. For small businesses, they can mean losing contracts with larger clients who require vendor compliance.

You’re using 4+ SaaS tools

Microsoft 365, QuickBooks, a CRM, a project management tool, a donor management platform, a phone system — each one has its own security settings, user management, integrations, and update cycles. When these tools don’t talk to each other properly, data falls through cracks. When nobody’s managing user access across all of them, former employees keep access they shouldn’t have.

If your SaaS stack has grown past four tools, someone needs to own the ecosystem. If that’s not an internal IT person, it should be an MSP.

You don’t have an internal IT person

“My nephew set up the network” is not an IT strategy. Neither is “Sarah in accounting is pretty good with computers.” These are kind, capable people doing their actual job plus IT support on top of it. That works until it doesn’t — and when it stops working, it usually stops working at the worst possible time.

If nobody in your organization has IT as their primary responsibility, you’re carrying risk you can’t see until it materializes.

You’ve had a security incident

A compromised email account. A ransomware scare. A lost laptop with client data. A vendor breach that affected your systems. If any of these have happened, the question isn’t “should we get an MSP?” — it’s “why don’t we already have one?”

A security incident is a signal that your current approach to IT has a gap. Maybe several gaps. An MSP’s job is to find and close those gaps before the next incident.

Signs You Can DIY

Here’s where we tell you not to hire us. Or anyone.

You’re 1-3 people with simple needs

A solo consultant with a laptop, Microsoft 365, and a phone doesn’t need a $200/month MSP contract. You need a good password manager, MFA turned on, and a backup solution for your files. Total cost: $20-30/month, self-managed.

If you’re a tiny operation with straightforward technology needs, the overhead of an MSP relationship doesn’t make financial sense. Your time is better spent on a few hours of one-time setup to get the basics right.

Your founder is tech-savvy

Some founders come from IT backgrounds, or they’re the kind of person who genuinely enjoys configuring routers and managing cloud consoles. If that’s you, and your organization is small enough that you can handle it without it consuming your week, do it yourself.

The key question is: Is IT work pulling you away from mission-critical work? If you’re spending two hours a week on IT and you’re fine with that, great. If you’re spending ten hours a week and your actual job is suffering, that’s a different calculation.

Your technology stack is genuinely simple

One email provider, one file storage solution, a website, and a phone. If that’s the whole stack, there’s not enough complexity to justify managed services. Keep your software updated, use strong passwords with MFA, back up your data, and you’re covered.

The Middle Ground: As-Needed Consulting

This is the option most people don’t know exists, and it’s often the right one.

You don’t need full managed services, but you also don’t want to fly completely solo. The middle ground looks like:

One-time setup: Pay for a few hours to get your environment configured properly — security settings, backup, user management, documentation. Then maintain it yourself.
Quarterly check-ins: An IT professional reviews your environment every 90 days. Checks for security issues, expired licenses, access that should have been revoked, backups that stopped running. A few hundred dollars per quarter for peace of mind.
Project-based work: You’re migrating to a new platform, setting up a new office, or onboarding a batch of new hires. You don’t need ongoing managed services — you need a specialist for two weeks.

This is legitimate. Any MSP that tells you it’s “all or nothing” is prioritizing their revenue model over your actual needs.

What MSPs Typically Cost

Transparency matters here, because pricing in the MSP world is notoriously opaque. Many providers won’t give you a number until you sit through a sales presentation. Here’s what the market actually looks like.

Industry average: $100-300 per user per month

That range is wide because it depends on what’s included. On the low end, you’re getting basic monitoring and help desk support. On the high end, you’re getting full security stack management, compliance support, strategic planning, and 24/7 response.

What drives the price up:
– Compliance requirements (HIPAA, PCI, etc.)
– 24/7 support vs. business hours only
– Advanced security tools (SIEM, EDR, SOC)
– On-site support included
– Fully managed hardware

What keeps the price down:
– Cloud-only environments (no on-premise servers)
– Business hours support
– Smaller user count
– Standard security stack

What FIT Charges

We start at $200 per month for small organizations. That’s not per-user for our base tier — it’s a starting point designed for nonprofits and small businesses that need real IT support but don’t have enterprise budgets.

Our onboarding is a one-time $2,000 fee that covers environment assessment, security hardening, documentation, and setup. After that, the monthly fee covers ongoing management, support, and monitoring.

We’re transparent about this because we think you should be able to evaluate cost before a sales call. If those numbers don’t fit your budget, no hard feelings — and we can probably point you toward the right DIY resources to handle things yourself.

The Decision Framework

Here’s a simple way to think about it:

Your Situation	Recommendation
1-3 staff, simple tech, tech-savvy leader	DIY — Set up basics right, maintain it yourself
4-10 staff, growing complexity, no IT person	MSP — The cost is less than the risk
Any size + compliance requirements	MSP — Compliance isn’t a hobby
Any size + recent security incident	MSP — Close the gaps now
Small team but want validation	Consulting — One-time or quarterly check-ins
Growing but not ready for monthly commitment	Consulting — Project-based help as needed

The Real Test

Ask yourself one question: If your email went down right now, who would you call?

If the answer is a specific person with a plan, you’re probably fine. If the answer is “I’d Google it” or “I’d panic” or “I’d call my nephew” — that’s your answer.

Managed IT isn’t about having someone to call when things break. It’s about having someone who makes sure things don’t break in the first place. But it’s also not something every organization needs. And any IT company that won’t tell you that honestly isn’t worth hiring.

Not Sure Where You Land?

We’ll tell you. Honestly.

The first conversation with FIT is free. No pitch, no pressure. We’ll ask about your setup, your team size, your tools, and your concerns. Then we’ll tell you what we actually think — including “you don’t need us right now.”

If that sounds unusual for a company trying to win your business, good. We’d rather build trust with an honest answer than close a deal you don’t need.

Schedule a free conversation or email matt@flowerinsidertechnologies.com.