What We Typically Carry

Typically, because the real answer depends on your team. These are the pieces most internal IT people are glad to hand off.

Senior Escalation

When a problem is bigger than one person should face alone, it goes to a senior engineer who owns it until it is resolved. No call center in between.

The Security Stack

Managed endpoint detection and response, email security, and backup with tested restores, run on platforms priced across many clients instead of one license bill.

Patching & Monitoring

Operating systems and applications kept current on a schedule, with servers, network, and endpoints watched around the clock.

Project Depth

Migrations, security hardening, infrastructure upgrades. That work goes sideways when the people running it have not done it before. Ours have, many times.

Coverage When They Are Out

Vacations, sick days, and departures stop being single points of failure. Your IT person gets real time off, and your team still gets help.

Documentation Discipline

We document every environment we manage. Institutional knowledge stops living in one person's head, which protects them and you.

Built Around Your Team, Not a Template

No two co-managed engagements at Iron Gate look the same, because no two internal teams bring the same skills. A strong network person may keep the infrastructure and hand us the help desk. A great generalist may keep day-to-day user support and hand us security and projects. The split depends on what your team is strong at, what they want to own, and where the business needs depth. We draw those lines together, put them in writing, and revisit them as your team changes.

Your IT employee should read this page too. Done right, co-managed makes their job better: senior backup on the hard problems, tooling they could not justify alone, documentation that protects them, and real vacations. The good ones feel the difference immediately.

How It Is Priced

Co-managed clients pay a lower per-user rate, because your internal team carries part of the load. The responsibility split, the scope, and the price are spelled out in writing before you sign, and project work is scoped and priced separately. For how we price fully managed relationships, see our pricing approach.

When Co-Managed Is Not the Right Model

If you have no internal IT staff, you want fully managed services, where we carry the whole environment. If your internal team genuinely covers everything, including modern security, and covers it well, keep doing what works; we will tell you so. And if what you actually want is to replace your IT person, that is a fully managed conversation, and we will not dress it up as this one. Co-managed works when a capable internal resource owns defined parts of the environment and wants a serious bench behind them.

Talk With a Co-Managed IT Partner in Pittsburgh

Iron Gate is on McKnight Road in the North Hills of Pittsburgh. We support organizations across the Greater Pittsburgh Area, including Wexford, Cranberry Township, Sewickley, Moon Township, Robinson Township, Mt. Lebanon, Monroeville, and Penn Hills, and across Western Pennsylvania.

Fair Questions

Is this a step toward replacing our IT person?

No. Co-managed works when your internal person stays and owns defined parts of the environment, with clear lines and disciplined documentation between us. If a company wants to eliminate the internal role, that is a fully managed conversation, and we say so plainly rather than blurring the two.

Who does our staff call when something breaks?

Whatever we agree on. Some clients route everything through their internal person, who escalates to us. Others split it by area, so staff call us directly for anything we own. The routing is defined in writing at the start, so nobody guesses.

How is co-managed priced?

A lower per-user rate than fully managed, because your internal team carries part of the load. The exact rate depends on the responsibility split. You get a real number after one conversation, with the scope spelled out.

What happens if our IT person leaves?

We carry the environment while you decide what comes next, whether that is a new hire, a larger slice with us, or a move to fully managed. Because everything is documented from day one, the transition is orderly instead of an emergency.

Start With the Owner

Thirty minutes with Carl Kunzmann, the founder, about what your team owns today and where they need a bench. You will leave with a clear recommendation, whether or not we work together.

Book 30 Minutes with Carl

Prefer the phone? Call (412) 265-6311 · More about how Iron Gate works