Every growing Watford business reaches the point where they think "we need someone to handle IT." The question is whether to hire someone full-time or outsource.
Here is an honest comparison.
The cost comparison
A junior IT person in Watford: £28,000-£35,000 salary + employer NI + pension + holiday cover + training. Total annual cost: £38,000-£48,000.
What you get: One person, with one set of skills, covering Monday to Friday, 9-5. No cover for holidays, sickness, or resignation.
Outsourced managed IT support: For a business with 10-15 users in Watford, typically £2,500-£5,000 per month (£30,000-£60,000 per year).
What you get: A team of engineers with diverse skills across IT support, networking, security, and cloud. Coverage 24/7 for managed clients. SLA-backed response times.
When outsourcing makes more sense
Under 50 users — Below 50 users, it is very difficult to justify a full-time IT hire. Outsourcing gives you more capability for less money.
When you need specialist knowledge — A single IT hire cannot be expert in networking, cybersecurity, Microsoft 365, cloud, and development simultaneously. An outsourced team covers all of this.
When you need consistent cover — Holidays, sick days, and resignations create dangerous single points of failure with in-house IT.
When in-house makes sense
Over 100 users — At significant scale, the economics shift toward in-house, potentially supplemented by outsourced specialist support.
When you have bespoke systems — Highly specialised or custom-built systems sometimes benefit from dedicated in-house expertise.
The hybrid model
Many of our Watford clients use a hybrid approach: an internal IT coordinator (often a technical member of existing staff) handles day-to-day liaison, while we provide the technical depth, tools, and coverage. This combines institutional knowledge with specialist expertise.
Book a free IT review to understand what model makes most sense for your business.