Outsourced IT department vs an employed system administrator

A practical comparison: when it pays to hire your own IT person and when an outsourced IT department is the better choice for a small company. Real costs, skills and risks.

The real monthly cost

An employed system administrator with skills suited to a small company costs the company between EUR 2,500 and 4,000 per month in total employment cost, plus equipment, tool licences, training and cover during absence.

An outsourced IT department on a monthly package generally costs around EUR 400 to 1,500 per month on the open market, depending on company size and support scope. That is a general market range, not a ČrtaIT offer or price list. Current ČrtaIT packages are Standard EUR 549, Professional EUR 990 and Premium EUR 1,490 per month. There is no cost for holidays, sick leave or finding a replacement.

When hiring makes sense

An in house IT employee makes sense once a company passes roughly 30 to 50 employees, has specific internal systems (ERP, production lines) and IT becomes a constant full time load. In smaller companies a full time hire is expensive and hard to justify.

  • More than 30 to 50 employees
  • Specific internal systems (production, logistics, custom ERP)
  • A constant need for IT work (every day, full working hours)
  • Highly sensitive data (healthcare, finance)

When an outsourced IT department is the better choice

For most companies with 1 to 50 employees an outsourced IT department makes far more sense: lower cost, broader skills (because the same partner works with several companies), no risk of one person leaving and a clear monthly budget.

  • Companies with 1 to 50 employees
  • A predictable monthly IT budget
  • Standard IT environments (Microsoft 365, cloud, office work)
  • No capacity to manage an in house IT employee

Frequently asked questions

  • Can we combine both? Yes. Many companies have an internal IT caretaker for day to day issues and an external partner for strategic decisions, security and larger projects.
  • What if the external provider stops? With a professional external partner the documentation (passwords, systems, procedures) is your property and is handed to you or to the next provider without data loss.
  • How do I check whether an external partner understands my industry? Check references in your industry, ask for examples of specific problems solved and require a clear description of services in the contract.