February 24, 2025
The finance and IT industries have both undergone significant transformations over the past decade. The rise of online and mobile banking, cryptocurrency, cybercrime, and digital payments has paralleled the evolution of how modern IT providers manage, maintain, and protect systems and data.
Those fundamental changes also alter the math on the ROI of managed IT versus maintaining an in-house team. So in this blog, I’ll explore the main benefits of managed IT services for the financial industry, along with a few potential cons to be aware of, depending on the managed IT partner you choose.
Why I Would Recommend Managed IT Support for Finance
Not every managed IT provider offers the same set of services, uses the same tools, or has the same industry expertise. So keep in mind that the following are generalizations.
1. Cybersecurity, Cybersecurity, Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity is rapidly becoming a specialized skill, and very few in-house teams have the time and the resources to stay on top of emerging threats. What’s more, there’s also a shortage of cybersecurity talent. 63% of companies currently have unfilled cybersecurity positions.
That alone shifts the math on whether or not to partner with a managed IT provider that has the deep benches needed to counter escalating cybercrime.
Here are a few stats that I think paint a very clear picture of the issue:
- Of the total data breaches in 2023, financial institutions were the second most popular target
- Data breaches cost the finance sector $5.9 million
2. You Can Optimize Efficiency Organization-Wide
When we partner with our financial clients, we look for opportunities to bring value throughout their organization in several ways:
- Automating routine processes
- Minimizing system downtime
- Optimizing network performance
- Empowering remote work
- Automating security patches and updates
- Streamlining compliance monitoring and audit processes
- Deploying workflow automation tools
- Recommending predictive analytics tools to simplify business decisions
3. You Can Improve the Overall Customer Experience
From facilitating quicker customer onboarding to enabling omnichannel customer service, your managed IT provider can help you leverage technology to provide a more personalized and simplified customer experience at scale.
4. You Actually Save Money
According to recent statistics, 50% of companies who switched to managed IT saved 1-24% in annual IT costs, 33% saved 25-49%, and 13% reported savings of more than 50%.
If you automatically associate outsourcing with paying more, those numbers might not make sense. But here’s why they add up in this case, and I’ll use Marco as an example …
How Some IT Providers Get Better Deals Than You Do
Top equipment providers and software developers will offer us better deals than a small business that purchases from them directly. They do this because they’d prefer to focus on their product, not providing direct customer service and support or building those kinds of long-term relationships. That means we can pass those savings on to our clients.
Additional Ways IT Providers Help You Save
There’s more, of course. A lot of organizations have what’s known as “tool sprawl,” where they are paying for far more tools than they need. We tackle those kinds of issues while we make recommendations to align your tech stack with your goals, so all of your tools are essentially doing double duty.
5. You Get Proactive Maintenance
A lot of in-house teams get stuck in an endless break-fix cycle. If your organization experiences IT-related disruptions and downtime, that can erode customer trust, not to mention eat away at your productivity and your profits.
That’s already not good. But having to respond to frequent emergencies also means that your IT teams don’t have the time to help your organization grow. So essentially, you’re paying probably more than you need to but receiving a lot less overall value.
6. You Get an Outside Perspective
Wouldn’t you love to know what other organizations like yours are doing to work smarter and grow their business? How about what tools have worked well and not so well or which ones make employees happier in the long run?
An outside perspective can be eye-opening, and it can also help you get more value from your IT budget.
Disadvantages of Outsourcing Your IT
Enterprise-scale financial organizations that have the resources to consistently maintain a fully-staffed team without skill gaps — as well as a CISO and CIO — often choose to keep their IT in-house. Some will still partner with an IT provider for special projects — like a cloud migration — or for additional cybersecurity help.
They do this for two main reasons. And just in case you have this misconception — no, one of those reasons isn’t the fact that we’re offsite. Thanks to the rise of cloud tools, we are able to solve almost every IT issue remotely.
However …
1. We Are Outsiders
An outsider’s perspective can be valuable, but working with another organization can be a culture clash. I would advise anyone interested in outsourcing their IT to pay attention to an IT provider’s communication style, values, and their overall approach to partnership.
Also, anyone can say they provide an excellent client experience and are working in your best interests, but there are a few ways to find out, like getting nosy about how they price their services. I would always be wary of the “cheapest” provider that charges a fortune every time you experience an emergency.
2. Good Onboarding Takes Time
Thorough IT onboarding often takes a month or two. At Marco, we want to make sure the transition is as seamless as possible and that we’re actually providing a good value for our clients. And that comes from really understanding what tools are used, by whom, and for what purpose.
It surprises some businesses that we’re not out there to put IT directors out of a job. We see our role as helping them be more effective while bridging the communication gap between their role and executive leadership. That also takes trust, and trust is earned with time.
Finding a Finance Managed IT Service Provider
According to the relatively new FTC Safeguards Rule, organizations that never before had to comply with finance-related regulations are now liable for failing to prevent unauthorized access or the disclosure of consumers’ personal information.
And that means a number of companies that might not have considered partnering with a managed IT provider before — like auto dealerships, colleges, real estate firms, and mortgage lenders — should give it additional thought.
Finance institutions make up some of our core client bases, along with schools and colleges, government organizations, manufacturing and logistics companies, law firms, and many other industries with data protection challenges.
However, if you’re still on the fence about whether managed IT is the right move for your organization, we’ve also put together a free in-depth resource to help. Click the link below!
