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.
| 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.
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:
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.
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.
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."
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.
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.