How to Navigate the Co-management Conundrum in MSP Engagements

For IT and communications services, how you set up your outsourced management and service delivery arrangements with your chosen managed service (MSP) partner is pivotal to securing and maximizing the benefits of outsourcing.  This includes the smoothness of any transformation from in-house support or, thereafter, the transition from one MSP to another.  A key part of this set-up is where the “co-management” boundaries are drawn between what tasks you as the enterprise undertake and own versus what the MSP does.

Understanding and making the right co-management and ownership choices is easier said than done, and mistakes can lead to frustration and a strain on relationships.  Challenges can range from the MSPs staffing and retention problems to mindset approaches about working with MSPs.  Upfront thinking can help mitigate these challenges.

TC2’s Mark Sheard has recently published a Network World article on the considerations and approaches to getting the co-management balance correct in order to maximize chances of a successful partnership with your MSP. 

Read it here.