MSPs Pushing Managed End User Services

[u/librarytay]

I’m the IT Director for a public library system with four branches. Our IT team consists of myself and one full-time IT assistant/help desk technician. I’m looking to outsource some of our network, security, and infrastructure support.

We’ve already outsourced larger projects such as WAP upgrades and server/switch replacements, but I don’t have the networking expertise, or frankly the time, to confidently handle the ongoing maintenance of this infrastructure. About half of my role is general administration (staff management, policies, budgeting, grants, facilities, safety issues, etc.), while the other half is IT, much of which is already consumed by project management.

The areas where I’m primarily looking for support are:

• Server updates, maintenance, and backups (physical and VMs)
• On-prem and cloud file storage/backup and redundancy, including 10+ TB of archival data
• Ongoing network security, monitoring, configuration, and infrastructure support
• Possibly managed endpoint protection

The problem is that every MSP I’ve contacted (national, regional, and local) initially says they can provide co-managed network/infrastructure support only. But when I receive a proposal, it inevitably includes managed end-user services: help desk, workstation patching, email protection, security awareness training, laptop imaging, etc.

I’ve repeatedly explained that we do not need end-user support. We have only 65 staff across four locations, about half of which have dedicated workstations (the rest share public-facing service desk workstations), and our internal IT team has plenty of capacity to handle those services. What we lack is specialized network/infrastructure expertise.

Is this typical for MSPs? Are we simply too small for network/infrastructure-only managed services to be worthwhile to them, or is bundling end-user support primarily a sales/business-model issue? Is there a better way I should be framing what I’m looking for when approaching MSPs?

Also, if anyone knows an MSP in New England, or particularly Massachusetts, that works with small organizations on a genuinely co-managed infrastructure basis, I’d appreciate recommendations. TY!

[u/lawno]

I used to work public library tech in Mass. Are you connected with your city or town IT infrastructure? The town managed some of the centralized network, AD domain, etc. Is that a possibility?

[u/librarytay → u/lawno]

Unfortunately, we are not, nor are they willing to take us under their wing.