Christchurch · Dunedin · Nationwide
Co-Managed IT Services for NZ Businesses
Co-managed IT gives your internal IT team additional support without handing over the whole function. Exodesk works alongside your people on an agreed set of responsibilities, with clear ownership of the work and a defined route for escalation.
Supporting New Zealand businesses since 1989
The short answer
What is co-managed IT?
Co-managed IT is an arrangement where an IT provider shares defined operational responsibilities with your internal IT person or team. Your team keeps the work it wants to own, and the provider takes on the agreed areas where it needs capacity or specialist help.
Start with what your team wants to keep and where it needs help. We agree the systems in scope, who handles each task, the coverage required and how work moves between teams. If you have no internal IT staff, our managed IT services are the better starting point.
Who it suits
Who is co-managed IT for?
Co-managed IT suits a business with a capable IT lead or team that wants more capacity, specialist depth or cover, without giving up control of its environment.
- Capacity. Routine operational work is taking time your team needs for projects and planning.
- Specialist depth. Some work needs skills your team only uses occasionally.
- Cover. Leave, sickness and busy periods leave gaps in who can respond.
- Projects. A migration, Microsoft 365 change or security uplift needs extra hands for a defined period.
- Growth. The environment has grown faster than the team looking after it.
Your internal IT lead should be part of the first conversation and the scoping, because the arrangement is built around their work.
Services
Where can Exodesk help?
Each co-managed IT arrangement is scoped around the areas your team hands over. These are the areas we can take on; each one is agreed separately rather than bundled as a single package.
Operations
Monitoring and patching
Monitoring of the devices and servers in scope, and deployment of agreed updates within change windows your team approves, including handling failed updates.
Protection
Backup and security operations
Monitoring of backup jobs and agreed recovery checks, plus triage of security alerts. Where detection and response is in scope, see our managed detection and response service.
Support
Specialist escalation and leave cover
Escalation for issues in scope that need specialist skills, and overflow or leave cover for user support through our IT helpdesk.
Projects
Projects and advice
Scoped project work such as migrations, Microsoft 365 changes and security uplifts, and planning input through our IT consulting service.
Responsibilities
How are responsibilities divided?
The agreement names who does each task, who authorises changes that affect the business and when work moves from one team to the other.
Example only: your agreement sets the actual split.
Your team
- User support. First contact and local context.
- Patching. Approves business change windows.
- Security alerts. Business contact and impact decisions.
- Backup operations. Agrees recovery needs and data owners.
Exodesk
- User support. Escalated issues in scope.
- Patching. Deploys agreed updates and handles exceptions.
- Security alerts. Triage and agreed response actions.
- Backup operations. Monitors jobs and performs agreed recovery checks.
What the agreement settles
- User support. When to escalate and who owns the ticket until it is accepted.
- Patching. System coverage, restart approval and who owns failed updates.
- Security alerts. Hours, authority to isolate systems and the fallback contact.
- Backup operations. Restore-test scope, frequency and responsibility for failures.
Principles that apply to every split
- One lead owner for each task. No task is assigned to both teams without a named lead.
- Doing is separate from authorising. The team that carries out a change is not automatically the one that approves it.
- Governance stays with the business. Risk decisions and accountability remain yours, however much of the delivery is shared.
Coverage
What coverage and escalation are included?
Coverage is agreed for the services in scope.
Monitoring hours, staffed response hours, end-user support and on-site attendance are separate commitments. The agreement sets out how an urgent issue is raised, who responds, what they may do and when your team is contacted.
Before coverage is confirmed, we agree the alert sources, incident priorities, contact route, acknowledgement and response targets, authorised actions, fallback contacts and any additional charges. The agreement also sets out when the response clock starts and which hours it covers. Continuous monitoring of one service does not mean every other service is covered around the clock.
Getting started
How does onboarding work?
We agree the split with your IT lead, put the handover arrangements in place, then review how the co-managed IT arrangement is working.
Initial discussion with your IT lead
We talk through what your team wants to keep, where it needs support and which gaps matter most.
Scope and responsibility split
We agree the systems in scope, the services, who owns each task, the coverage and the escalation route.
Onboarding
We gather documentation, set up the agreed access and confirm handover rules. Where documentation is thin, bringing it up to date can be a scoped onboarding task.
Service starts
Both teams work to the agreed split, with work recorded in the agreed system and handovers accepted before ownership moves.
Regular review
We review the split, the workload and the coverage with your team, and adjust the agreement when the business or the team changes.
How do both teams stay informed?
We agree what each team needs to see and manage. That may include shared tickets, documentation, reports or role-based access to agreed tools. Access is limited to the systems and permissions needed for each team’s responsibilities.
The agreement also records which system holds the work, who updates documentation, how access is removed and what records you receive if the arrangement ends. Shared visibility does not replace approval or change control.
Compare
How does co-managed IT compare with other models?
Co-managed IT
Ongoing delivery responsibilities are divided between your team and a provider by agreement. Your team keeps the areas it owns.
Fully managed IT
A provider delivers the day-to-day IT work. Arrangements vary and may still include internal leadership. See managed IT services.
Staff augmentation
You buy capacity that works under your team’s direction. In any model, documentation and handover obligations matter.
None of these models transfers the business’s accountability for governance and risk decisions.
Cost
What affects the cost?
The fee reflects the work Exodesk actually takes on. The main factors are:
- The services in scope. Which operational areas are handed over.
- Users and devices. The size of the environment the services cover.
- Hours of cover. The monitoring, response and support hours agreed.
- Onboarding work. Documentation, access set-up and any clean-up needed first.
- Specialist requirements. Skills or systems that need particular expertise.
Recurring services, project work and out-of-scope requests are priced separately, so you can see what is ongoing and what is one-off. We review the scope and workload with your team so the arrangement continues to match the support you need.
Why Exodesk
Why work with Exodesk?
Local teams
Exodesk has supported businesses in Christchurch, Dunedin and across New Zealand since 1989, with local teams in both cities.
Built around your team
Your IT lead helps shape the scope, and the split of responsibilities is written down before the service starts.
Clear boundaries
Services, coverage and charges are agreed for the scope, with project work and out-of-scope requests kept separate.
Questions
Co-managed IT questions
What are co-managed IT services?
Co-managed IT services are an arrangement where an IT provider shares defined operational responsibilities with your internal IT person or team. Your team keeps the work it wants to own, and the provider takes on the agreed areas where it needs capacity or specialist help.
How is co-managed IT different from managed IT services?
With managed IT services, a provider delivers the day-to-day IT work. With co-managed IT, ongoing delivery is divided between your team and the provider by agreement. In both, the business keeps accountability for governance and risk decisions.
Will co-managed IT replace our internal IT person?
No. The arrangement is built around your internal IT team and the work it wants to keep. Your IT lead helps set the scope and the split of responsibilities.
What can Exodesk take responsibility for?
Depending on the scope, Exodesk can take on monitoring and patching, backup and security operations, specialist escalation and leave cover, and scoped projects and advice. Each area is agreed separately, so the arrangement covers only what your team hands over.
Is after-hours support included?
Coverage is agreed for the services in scope. Monitoring hours, staffed response hours, end-user support and on-site attendance are separate commitments. The agreement sets out how an urgent issue is raised, who responds, the agreed acknowledgement and response targets, and when your team is contacted.
What tools and access are involved?
Tools and access are agreed during scoping. Each team gets the visibility and permissions needed for its responsibilities, such as shared tickets, documentation, reports or role-based access to agreed tools.
Who approves changes that affect the business?
The agreement separates doing the work from authorising it. For example, your team may approve patch windows and restarts while Exodesk deploys the agreed updates. Changes that affect the business follow the approval and change control agreed at the start.
What happens if our internal IT lead is unavailable or leaves?
The agreement names a fallback contact and an escalation route for when your IT lead is away. If the lead leaves, we reassess with you who owns decisions and whether the split of responsibilities still fits, rather than assuming the same arrangement continues unchanged.
How much do co-managed IT services cost?
The fee depends on the services in scope, the number of users and devices, the hours of cover, onboarding work and any specialist requirements. Recurring services, projects and out-of-scope requests are priced separately.
How long does onboarding take?
Timing depends on the scope, the size of the environment and the state of the existing documentation. We agree the onboarding tasks and timing with your team during scoping.
Does co-managed IT improve security?
It can help where security operations are in scope, such as alert triage, patching and backup checks. The effect depends on the services agreed and how well both teams follow the split, so it is not an automatic improvement.
How do we get started?
Tell us what your IT team wants to keep, where it needs support and which gaps matter most. We will discuss an agreed split of responsibilities with your IT lead and the services needed to support it.
Next step
Need more support for your IT team?
Tell us what your IT team wants to keep, where it needs support and which gaps matter most. We can discuss an agreed split of responsibilities and the services needed to support it.
Get in touch
Talk to us about co-managed IT
Tell us a little about your IT team and where it needs support, and we will be in touch to arrange a time that suits.
Prefer to talk?
Christchurch
Level 1, 85 Riccarton Road
Christchurch 8011
03 343 3124
Dunedin
Level 3, Bartons Building
2 Stafford Street, Dunedin 9016
03 479 2941