by Scott Jack
Content Contributor, E-N Computers
15 years of experience in IT operations and documentation systems
Updated January 6, 2026
IT problems are getting in the way of real work, but you’re not sure if hiring someone is the right move. Your tech-savvy office manager spends hours each week reacting to technical problems instead of doing their primary work. Printer problems delay important proposals. Software glitches interrupt client calls. You’ve reached a tipping point where IT demands dedicated attention—but hiring a full-time IT person costs $100,000+ per year when you factor in salary, benefits, and tools.
Making the wrong decision is expensive. Hire too early, and you’re paying for expertise you don’t fully utilize. Wait too long, and lost productivity and security vulnerabilities cost you more than the salary you’re trying to save. Choose the wrong role or approach, and you’ll be back to square one within a year.
At E-N Computers, we’ve worked with hundreds of businesses and non-profits in the Shenandoah Valley, Richmond, and Washington, D.C. For over 23 years, we’ve guided organizations through this exact decision by providing co-managed IT support alongside in-house teams, helping companies transition from break-fix to fully managed IT, and showing businesses how to make smarter IT investments. We’ve seen firsthand what works (and what doesn’t) when companies reach this growth stage.
In this guide, we’ll examine when companies should hire IT staff based on size and budget, evaluate three common scenarios that push companies toward hiring, explain which roles work best for different situations, and show you how to make the right decision for your business.
QUICK ANSWER:
When is the right time for my company to hire an IT person?
When to hire an IT person depends on your company size, the specific problems you need to solve, and whether you want in-house IT only or co-managed IT. Most businesses need dedicated IT support once they reach 10 employees, but outsourcing to an MSP is usually more cost-effective until you have 50 or more employees. Even then, co-managed IT often provides the best balance of comprehensive support and flexibility.
Table of Contents
- When to hire an IT person, by company size
- What are the strengths of in-house IT?
- What are the top three reasons to hire in-house IT?
- What role should you hire?
- How to hire an IT person
- How much does IT support cost?
- The bottom line on IT hiring decisions
- Next step: Discover your IT maturity level
- Frequently asked questions
When to hire an IT person, by company size
Most businesses need dedicated IT support once they reach 10 employees, but outsourcing is more cost-effective until you have 50 or more employees. Here’s what typically works at different growth stages.
Less than ten employees
Companies with fewer than 10 employees rarely need to hire dedicated IT staff.Most have someone split their time between their primary role and IT support. When that’s not enough, they call a managed service provider (MSP) and pay an hourly rate for help with specific issues. In addition, many MSPs only offer retainer agreements to organizations with at least 10 employees, though some (including E-N Computers) will work with smaller companies on an hourly basis.
Ten to fifty employees
Once you hit 10 employees, you should start thinking seriously about dedicated IT support. Managing user accounts, handling support requests, maintaining systems, and keeping up with updates starts consuming so much time that splitting duties with another role becomes impractical.
This is the inflection point for growing businesses. The longer you delay addressing IT support, the more you pay in lost productivity, security vulnerabilities, and employee frustration. But rushing to hire without considering alternatives can lock you into an expensive solution that doesn’t scale with your growth.
A systems administrator is the typical internal IT hire at this stage. They’re expected to have the knowledge and skills to research, design, implement, and support the entire IT environment for a small business—everything from email to servers to security.
But for organizations at this size, it’s usually more cost-effective to outsource IT than hire in-house. Consider the numbers: the median salary for a generalist systems administrator in Virginia is approximately $75,000 according to Salary.com. Add benefits (typically 30-40% of salary), tools and software licenses ($5,000-$10,000 annually), and occasional consulting for specialized projects, and you’re looking at $110,000+ per year.
In contrast, our Pricing Calculator shows that fully managed IT services for a company of 10 users costs approximately $17,000 per year. We remain less expensive than a single in-house systems administrator until you have more than 50 users—and that includes an entire IT team, strategic planning, backup and disaster recovery, and foundational cybersecurity tools.
Even past that 50-user threshold, an MSP provides exceptional value for many small businesses because you get access to diverse expertise, 24/7 monitoring, and proven processes that a single IT person simply can’t match.
Fifty or more employees
With 50 or more employees, many companies find it practical to have an in-house IT person in addition to outsourced IT support. This hybrid approach, called co-managed IT, combines the benefits of both models.
If you take this approach, clearly define what each party handles. Some in-house roles that work well with an MSP include business analyst, technology coordinator, or desktop support technician. In-house IT and MSPs collaborate most effectively when they establish clearly defined roles, maintain regular communication, and share tools and platforms.
The co-managed model works because your in-house person handles day-to-day user support and business-specific needs, while the MSP provides infrastructure management, advanced troubleshooting, strategic planning, and specialized expertise. This gives you the “walk down the hall” support many companies want without the burden of building an entire IT department.
Strengths of in-house IT
In-house IT gives you three key advantages over an MSP: business familiarity, fast onsite response, and personalized user support. Understanding these strengths will help you make a good decision.
Business familiarity. Someone in-house becomes deeply familiar with your technology, the way you do business, organizational dynamics, and industry-specific requirements. This added perspective helps them identify unique opportunities and challenges, then propose solutions that fit your specific needs rather than generic best practices.
Fast onsite response. If you want “walk down the hall” support—or IT that will immediately drop everything to help upper management—an in-house hire can be a good fit. In contrast, MSPs use proven processes for submitting support requests, triaging issues based on business impact, and prioritizing work systematically. While this guarantees every task gets handled promptly and nothing falls through the cracks, it might feel slower than walking to someone’s desk in urgent situations.
Personalized user support. An in-house IT person works with your team every day. They learn each person’s technical ability, communication preferences, and recurring pain points. As a result, they can customize onboarding, training, and support to meet your team’s specific needs in ways that are difficult to replicate with outsourced support.
These strengths matter most when your business has unique requirements, needs frequent on-site presence, or benefits from the relationship-building of in-house support.
What are the top three reasons companies hire IT staff?
We’ve seen three common scenarios that push companies toward IT hiring: many IT projects, a need for more operational support, or extensive end-user support demands. For each scenario, we’ll elook at when outsourcing, automation, or other approaches make more sense, and when hiring is the right decision.
Scenario #1: You have many IT projects
Having many IT projects often pushes companies toward hiring, but outsourcing is usually more cost effective for upgrades and migrations that only happen occasionally.For example, major Windows version upgrades happen about every seven years (e.g. Windows 10 to Windows 11). Or you might migrate to Azure cloud services—a complex project requiring specialized expertise, but essentially a one-and-done effort that shouldn’t need to be repeated.
In cases like these, it’s often more effective to bring in outside experts to help with the project rather than hiring specifically for this work. Rather than learning best practices for a project from scratch—often through expensive trial and error—an IT provider brings their experience and proven procedures to the table, making success far more likely.
Think of it like working on a car. There are many projects you can complete on your own by reading a manual or watching a YouTube tutorial. But at a certain point, it becomes more cost-effective to trust the work to experts rather than DIYing it. You’ve probably never rebuilt an engine before, but your mechanic may have done three last week. IT projects work similarly—a once-in-a-lifetime migration or upgrade is likely routine business for an experienced IT provider.
Do hire for planned, repeated projects
Hire IT staff when you have regular, ongoing project work like consistent expansion or frequent mergers and acquisitions. In-house staff members can specialize in your systems and handle expansion projects more quickly and efficiently each time.
For mergers and acquisitions, they’ll bring deep familiarity with your environment to each integration, smoothing out what could otherwise be chaotic transitions.
That said, even with excellent in-house staff, you may still need outside expertise when you encounter situations your team is unfamiliar with. The key difference is that you’re hiring for regular, ongoing project work, not one-time events.
Scenario #2: You need more operational IT support
Needing more operational IT support drives many companies to think about hiring but outsourcing and automation are usually better solutions. IT operations can be labor-intensive: the more servers, workstations, and network devices you need to manage, the more time it requires. But that doesn’t automatically mean you need more staff.
Automation combined with remote monitoring and management (RMM) enables a small IT team to manage a large number of endpoints. It also creates more time for important IT projects.
READ:Are you spending too much of your time on IT?
While setting up RMM and IT automation requires an investment of time and money upfront, the payoff in savings and efficiency makes it worthwhile. This approach helped a 200-employee community health provider to dramatically improve their IT systems with just a single in-house IT person. Read more about their story in the New Horizons Healthcare case study (PDF link).
Do hire to support regular, labor-intensive tasks
Hire in-house IT when you have regular, hands-on tasks that can’t be fully automated, like managing seasonal employees or providing frequent after-hours support. If you regularly rotate through employees it can be helpful to have in-house IT for account management and hardware provisioning. Even with the process fully automated, each new account setup requires some human oversight.
Similarly, if you regularly need after-hours support or same-day on-site response, having in-house IT staff may be a better fit than relying exclusively on outsourced support.
Scenario #3: Your users need a lot of support
Users that require heavy support might make you think about hiring IT staff, but training and documentation may be more cost-effective. Even minor IT issues can frustrate your employees, hurt efficiency, and ultimately impact revenue. But it’s worth considering whether an IT hire is the best solution.
We’ve found that in many businesses, front-line IT staff are used more for hand-holding than for user enablement. They get called on to fix every minor IT issue a user encounters, even problems the user should be able to resolve themselves with basic training. In other cases, IT staff get pulled into “doing the user’s job for them”—running reports from a database, compiling spreadsheets, or handling other data-entry tasks that aren’t truly IT functions.
These routine requests suck time away from your IT team—time that could be better spent on strategic projects. If this describes your situation, invest in user training, improved documentation, or other approaches to shield IT from mundane requests before hiring more staff.
Do hire for user empowerment
Hire in-house IT when you need someone to actively empower users through training, process improvements, and custom reporting. Your IT staff should enable users to do their best work, not hold their hands through routine problems.
For example, your IT support person might create training videos that help employees learn new features of a line-of-business application or workflow software. Or they might build customizations or reports in your ERP system that help your management team make better business decisions. That role that might be better described as a business analyst or data specialist than traditional IT support.
Which role should you hire?
The role you should hire depends on whether you want in-house IT only (systems administrator) or co-managed IT (business analyst, tech coordinator, desktop support). This choice shapes everything from salary expectations to daily responsibilities.
For an in-depth discussion on whether to build an in-house IT department or outsource, check out our article, Should I outsource my IT department?
In-house IT only: systems administrator
If you’re committed to building an in-house IT team without outsourced support, you’ll probably want to start by hiring a systems administrator. This generalist role can handle everything from user support to infrastructure management to security. As you grow to fifty employees or more, you’ll want to consider adding an IT specialist to provide additional expertise or coverage.
The median salaries for these roles are approximately $85,000 for a systems administrator and $65,000 for an IT specialist, though actual salaries vary based on location, experience, and specific skills. You’ll also need to budget for benefits (30-40% of salary), tools and software, and occasional consulting for specialized projects.
Small companies can find it challenging to find and retain IT talent—skilled professionals often prefer larger organizations with defined career paths, bigger budgets, and specialized teams. Having only one or two IT people creates a single point of failure if someone leaves or is unavailable. While the in-house-only approach is possible, it’s not always the best option for small businesses.
Co-managed IT: business analyst, tech coordinator, desktop support
For co-managed IT, the best in-house IT roles focus on immediate, hands-on needs: business analyst, technology coordinator, or desktop support technician. The MSP provides Tier 2 support, infrastructure management, strategic planning, and other behind-the-scenes functions, while your onsite person handles routine support and business-specific work.
Here are a few roles that work well with an MSP:
Business analyst. Business analysts use data to identify problems, opportunities, and trends within the organization. They also look for ways to improve processes and reporting. While not a traditional IT support role, business analysts are tech-savvy critical thinkers who can bridge the gap between business needs and technical solutions. They work well in co-managed environments because they focus on the “what” and “why” while the MSP handles the “how.”
Technology coordinator. Schools and educational organizations often use technology coordinators to manage the installation, troubleshooting, maintenance, and support of IT systems. The role involves ongoing support, tech roadmap and budget creation, project coordination, and acting as a technology consultant for staff. This role translates well to other industries and provides a clear point of contact between your organization and your MSP.
Desktop support technician. If your main concern is user support and training, a desktop support technician is a strong fit. This entry-level position can be filled by someone with technical aptitude and strong soft skills like problem-solving, communication, and relationship-building. The MSP handles the complex infrastructure work, while your desktop support tech provides the personalized, on-site assistance your users need.
The co-managed approach typically costs less than building a full in-house IT department while providing more comprehensive coverage. You get the business familiarity and on-site presence of in-house IT combined with the deep expertise, 24/7 monitoring, and strategic capabilities of an MSP.
How to hire an IT person
Once you know which role you need, hiring an IT professional comes down to six key steps:
- Know why you want an IT person. Be clear about the specific problems you’re solving or work you need done. “We need IT” is too vague.
- Know what systems they need to support. Document your current technology stack so candidates understand the environment.
- Know whether you primarily need a person for information or technology. Are you hiring someone to manage data and processes (business analyst) or to manage infrastructure and fix computers (systems administrator)?
- Know what you should expect to spend. Research salary ranges for your area and factor in benefits, tools, and training costs.
- Ask questions that reveal both soft and hard skills. Technical skills matter, but so do communication, problem-solving, and learning ability.
- Consider using a recruiter or MSP. IT hiring is challenging—recruiters have networks and expertise, while some MSPs (including E-N Computers) can help evaluate candidates or provide co-managed support.
When we conduct IT interviews, we have a list of 29 questions we use to discern both people skills and technical capabilities. We prioritize candidates who are humble, hungry, and smart, because these qualities are more difficult to instill than technical skills. You can teach someone a new technology, but you can’t easily teach them to care about doing good work.
How much does IT support cost?
In-house IT costs $65,000–$130,000+ annually when including salary, benefits, and tools, while outsourced IT typically runs $125–$250 per user per month. Here’s a detailed breakdown.
In-house IT costs include:
- Salary ($55,000-$90,000 depending on role and location)
- Benefits (30-40% of salary)
- Tools and software licenses ($5,000-$15,000 annually)
- Training and professional development
- Occasional consulting for specialized projects
- Recruitment and onboarding costs
Outsourced IT costs include:
- Monthly retainer based on number of users ($100-$250 per user per month)
- All tools, software, and monitoring included
- Strategic planning and consulting included
- No benefits, recruitment, or training costs
Use our In-house IT versus outsourced IT cost comparison calculator to get a detailed breakdown. The calculator considers your staff count plus IT salaries, tools, and consulting fees, giving you annual cost estimates for both options so you can see the true difference.
For most companies with 10-45 employees, outsourced IT costs significantly less than hiring in-house while providing more comprehensive coverage. For companies with 50+ employees, co-managed IT often provides the best value—you get the benefits of both approaches without the full cost of building an entire IT department.
The bottom line on IT hiring decisions
Whether you decide to hire IT staff, outsource to an MSP, or pursue a co-managed approach, the most important factor is ensuring that your IT strategy aligns with your business goals.
Consider these questions:
- Will this decision help us serve customers better or faster?
- Will it reduce business risk or prevent costly downtime?
- Will it free up our team to focus on higher-value work?
- Is this the most cost-effective way to solve the problem?
- Does this align with our growth plans for the next 3-5 years?
These questions aren’t always easy to answer on your own—especially if you don’t have IT expertise in-house or a clear picture of where your IT systems stand. You might know that something needs to change, but determining the right path forward requires understanding your IT maturity level, identifying gaps, and evaluating options objectively.
That’s where an assessment becomes invaluable.
Next step: Discover your IT maturity level
Before you invest $100,000+ in hiring IT staff or commit to a long-term service agreement, you need to understand where your IT currently stands. Our free IT Maturity Self-Assessment helps you identify exactly what’s working well in your IT environment and where you have critical gaps.
In just 10 minutes, you’ll discover:
- Whether your current IT setup can support your growth plans
- Which IT functions need immediate attention vs. future planning
- Whether hiring, outsourcing, or a hybrid approach is right for you
The assessment provides an objective view of your IT partnerships, strategy, systems, and processes—and gives you a personalized report with concrete recommendations.
Don’t make a $100,000+ decision based on guesswork. Take 10 minutes to understand your IT maturity level, then make an informed decision about whether to hire, outsource, or pursue co-managed IT.
Take the IT Maturity Assessment
Is your business ready to weather changes, including employee turnover? Find out by taking our IT maturity assessment.
You’ll get personalized action items that you can use to make improvements right away. Plus, you’ll have the opportunity to book a FREE IT strategy session to get even more insights into your IT needs.
Frequently asked questions
How many employees do you need to justify hiring IT staff?
Consider dedicated IT support when you have 10 employees, but outsourcing is usually more cost-effective until you reach 50 employees. Even then, co-managed IT (combining an in-house person with an MSP) often provides better value than building a full in-house department.
What’s the difference between a systems administrator and a desktop support technician?
A systems administrator is a generalist who manages your entire IT environment—servers, network, security, and user support. A desktop support technician focuses on helping end users with computers, software, and day-to-day technical issues. Desktop support is an entry-level role, while systems administrator requires broader expertise and experience.
Should I hire IT staff or use an MSP?
For most companies under 50 employees, an MSP provides more comprehensive support at lower cost than hiring in-house. For larger companies , co-managed IT—where you have one in-house person working alongside an MSP—often provides the best balance of on-site support and technical expertise.
What does co-managed IT mean?
Co-managed IT is a hybrid approach where you have someone in-house for immediate support and business-specific needs, while an MSP handles infrastructure management, strategic planning, after-hours monitoring, and specialized expertise. This gives you the benefits of both models without the cost of building a full IT department.
How much does it cost to hire an IT person?
An entry-level IT person (desktop support) costs $65,000-$80,000 annually when you include salary, benefits, tools, and training. A systems administrator costs $110,000-$130,000 annually. Use our cost calculator to compare in-house and outsourced options for your specific situation.
Can an MSP replace all in-house IT staff?
For most small businesses (under 50 employees), yes—an MSP can handle all IT functions effectively. For larger companies or those with unique needs, a hybrid approach often works best, with an in-house person for day-to-day needs and the MSP providing infrastructure support, strategic planning, and specialized expertise.
Related articles
- Should I outsource IT services or hire IT staff? (with calculator) — Detailed cost breakdown comparing in-house and outsourced options
- How to Hire an IT Professional — Step-by-step hiring guide with interview questions
- What roles work well with an MSP in co-managed IT — Explore business analyst, tech coordinator, and desktop support roles
- Do I Need an MSP or an IT Director? (webinar) — Watch our CEO explain common IT staffing challenges
