For most insurance agencies with 10 to 25 people, outsourcing IT costs less than one full-time hire and covers more ground. Fully managed IT from Tomorrow's Technology Today runs $175 to $350 per user per month, so a 10-person agency would pay $21,000 to $42,000 a year. By comparison, the median salary for a computer user support specialist in Ohio is $59,720, before benefits, payroll taxes, training, or tools.
At 50 people the math gets closer, and one in-house salary can cost less than a fully managed plan. But one person still isn't a team. Many larger agencies end up with a third option, co-managed IT. Here's how to decide.
The Numbers Side by Side
| Option | Annual cost | What's included |
|---|---|---|
| Fully managed IT, 10-person agency | $21,000 to $42,000 | Help desk, 24/7 security monitoring, backup, patching, training, planning |
| Fully managed IT, 25-person agency | $52,500 to $105,000 | Same |
| Fully managed IT, 50-person agency | $105,000 to $210,000 | Same |
| In-house support specialist (Ohio median) | $59,720 salary | One person's time and skills; tools, benefits, and training extra |
| In-house support specialist (Lima-area median) | $49,980 salary | Same |
| In-house systems administrator (Ohio median) | $97,570 salary | Same |
Salary figures: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, medians, salary only, via WageDex for computer user support specialists and network and computer systems administrators.
The salary is only the starting point. An in-house hire also needs security and monitoring tools, a backup system, training to stay current, and a plan for who covers when that person is out. A support specialist and a systems administrator are also different skill sets. A 25-person agency usually needs some of both.
The Coverage Gap With One Person
One IT person is one set of skills and one calendar. When they're on vacation, out sick, or asleep, nobody is watching. Compare that with what our agency clients get:
- A live technician answering the phone from 7am to 5pm on business days, and an answering service that tracks down a technician after hours
- 24/7 managed detection and response through a human-staffed Security Operations Center
- Guaranteed critical-issue response: 120 minutes on Gold, 60 minutes on Platinum and Titanium
- Every backup restore-tested every other week, with screenshot proof
- Security awareness training and weekly phishing tests for your whole team
- A team with current vendor certifications and experience with agency management systems, rather than one generalist
For an agency, the gap matters most at the worst moment: the agency management system down in the middle of renewal season, or a suspicious "updated payment instructions" email on a Friday afternoon.
The Third Option: Co-Managed IT
If your agency already employs someone who handles IT, you don't have to choose. We support a mix of clients, some with full-time IT staff and some without. With co-managed IT, your person keeps handling the day-to-day needs they know best, while our team adds security monitoring, backup, patching, after-hours coverage, and a second set of hands for projects. Your IT person gets backup instead of being a single point of failure.
A 4-Question Decision Guide
- Do you already have a capable IT person on staff? If yes, look at co-managed IT before replacing or adding to them.
- Would one salary cover your security, backup, and after-hours needs? If you'd still need to buy monitoring, backup, and training separately, managed IT is usually the simpler path.
- Who answers when your IT person is out? If the honest answer is "nobody," that's a risk to your clients' data and to your renewals.
- Who is the IT person today? In many agencies, it's the owner or an office manager restarting equipment and chasing vendors. Their time has a cost too.
A Real Client Example: When the Remote IT Person Retired
The problem: Block Insurance Agency, with offices in Waynesfield and Wapakoneta, Ohio, relied on one remote IT person. In 2017, he retired, and the agency had to find a replacement.
The solution: Instead of hiring another individual, the agency chose a local IT company: Tomorrow's Technology Today.
The result: In the words of Don Ritchey, the agency's president: "The single biggest benefit our company experienced is the ability to concentrate on selling and serving insurance rather than dealing with our technology and computer issues."
What to Check Before You Outsource
If outsourcing makes sense, the agreement is what protects you. Read what should be included in a managed IT agreement for an insurance agency, see the full breakdown of what managed IT costs for a 10 to 50 person agency, and score providers with our free insurance agency IT provider scorecard.
Why Insurance Agencies Work With Tomorrow's Technology Today
- Supporting independent insurance agencies since 2011, and local businesses for more than 20 years
- Headquartered in St. Henry, Ohio, with an office in Fort Wayne, serving agencies across Northwest Ohio and Northeast Indiana
- Woman-owned and woman-led
- Every technician is security-trained to CJIS standards and background-checked
- We require every client to carry at least $2 million in cyber liability coverage, and we carry $2 million in professional and cyber liability coverage ourselves
- Microsoft Partner
See how we support independent insurance agencies across Ohio and Indiana.
Not sure which option fits your agency? Book a 10-minute discovery call. Call us at (419) 678-2083 or visit www.TomTechToday.com/discoverycall to schedule yours.