ExpertCare (fully outsourced managed IT) fits manufacturers with no internal IT staff who need a complete team monitoring and running their systems. Co-managed IT fits manufacturers that already have one or two internal IT people who understand the plant but need extra hands, after-hours coverage, or specialized security expertise to fill the gaps. The right model depends less on company size and more on how much internal IT capability already exists on-site.
Both models solve the same underlying problem — manufacturing IT departments are chronically understaffed relative to what plant operations demand but they solve it differently, and picking the wrong one either leaves you paying for help you don't need or leaves gaps that show up as downtime.
Why Can't Most Manufacturers Just Hire a Full In-House IT Team?
Most small and midsize manufacturers can't justify or fill a full in-house IT department because of what it actually costs and how hard IT talent is to hire right now. A single fully loaded in-house IT hire — salary, taxes, benefits, software, training, and recruiting — runs roughly $148,000 a year, against a median IT administrator salary of about $97,000 (Uprite, 2026). Small businesses average only one IT staffer for every 18 employees, and tech-sector attrition runs 13-21% annually, meaning even a fully staffed IT function is likely to turn over within a few years (Uprite, 2026).
That staffing gap has real security consequences: 88% of organizations reported at least one security incident directly tied to a skills shortage on their team in the past year, according to the 2025 ISC2 Cybersecurity Workforce Study (Uprite, 2026). For a manufacturer running ERP, MES, and plant-floor systems that can't tolerate downtime, one or two internal generalists simply can't provide 24/7 coverage, deep cybersecurity expertise, and plant-floor support at the same time. That's the gap both ExpertCare and co-managed IT exist to close — the question is how much of it you need filled from outside.
What Is Fully Outsourced Managed IT (ExpertCare)?
Fully outsourced managed IT means an external provider owns your entire IT function — monitoring, help desk, security, infrastructure, and strategy — so you don't need an internal IT hire at all. This model fits manufacturers with no dedicated internal IT staff, where day-to-day technology decisions currently fall to an office manager, plant manager, or owner who has better things to do than chase a ransomware alert at 2 a.m.
Market pricing for fully managed IT runs roughly $100-$250 per user per month depending on scope (Uprite, 2026), and providers targeting this model typically serve organizations under 50 users — squarely where most single-site manufacturing plants and shops land. The provider becomes the entire IT department: 24/7 monitoring, patching, help desk, cybersecurity, vendor management, and the strategic planning that a manufacturer without any internal IT expertise has no way to do on their own.
What Is Co-Managed IT?
Co-managed IT means an external provider works alongside your existing internal IT staff, taking on specific functions — after-hours monitoring, cybersecurity, help desk overflow, or specialized compliance work — rather than replacing the internal team. This model is built for manufacturers that already have one or two internal IT people who know the plant, the ERP customizations, and the vendor relationships, but who can't realistically also provide round-the-clock monitoring or deep security expertise on top of daily support tickets.
Co-managed pricing typically runs $45-$175 per user per month depending on which functions are outsourced (Uprite, 2026), and it's generally the right fit for organizations in the 50-200 user range with one or two internal staff already in place. The internal hire keeps the institutional knowledge — how the MES talks to the ERP, which vendor to call for the CNC controller — while the co-managed partner fills the coverage and expertise gaps that would otherwise mean 3 a.m. phone calls to someone who's also supposed to be at their kid's soccer game.
Can You Start With One Model and Switch Later?
Yes, and it's common. Manufacturers with no internal IT function often start on ExpertCare, and as the plant grows and it makes sense to bring plant-specific knowledge in-house, they hire an internal IT lead and shift to a co-managed structure — keeping the provider for after-hours coverage, security, and overflow while the internal hire owns day-to-day relationships and plant-floor nuance. The reverse happens too: a manufacturer running co-managed IT that loses its internal IT person to attrition (which, given 13-21% annual tech-sector turnover, is a real possibility) can shift the retained functions back to a fully managed model without rebuilding the relationship from scratch.
Not sure which model fits your plant? Infortech offers both ExpertCare and Co-Managed IT Services built around manufacturing operations in the Bay Area. Get a fit assessment to find out which one matches your current team and systems.