Managing a business network takes more expertise and time than most business owners realize. Between firewall rules, switch configurations, firmware updates, Wi-Fi troubleshooting, VPN access, and security monitoring, network management is a full-time discipline. And when something goes wrong at 7 AM on a Monday morning, you need someone who can diagnose and fix the problem fast.
That’s why most small and mid-sized businesses we work with in Central Florida outsource their network management to a managed IT provider rather than trying to handle it internally.
What Outsourced Network Management Includes
When you outsource network management to a provider like iTech Plus, you’re getting a team of specialists who monitor, maintain, and optimize your entire network infrastructure. That typically covers: 24/7 network monitoring with automated alerts for outages and performance issues, firewall management including rule updates, firmware patching, and VPN configuration, switch and access point management with VLAN configuration and port security, bandwidth monitoring and quality-of-service (QoS) optimization, security monitoring for unusual traffic patterns and potential threats, and regular reporting on network health and performance trends.
The Cost Comparison
The math on outsourcing network management is straightforward for most small businesses. Hiring a dedicated network administrator in Central Florida costs $55,000-$80,000 per year in salary, plus benefits, training, and tools. That’s one person who handles everything, gets sick, takes vacation, and may not have deep expertise in every area (security, wireless, cloud networking, VoIP).
Outsourced network management from a managed IT provider typically costs $500-$2,000 per month depending on the size and complexity of your network. For that, you get a full team with diverse specializations, coverage during vacations and sick days, and access to enterprise-grade tools and monitoring platforms that would cost thousands to license independently.
Proactive vs. Reactive: Why It Matters
The biggest difference between professional network management and the “we’ll deal with it when it breaks” approach is proactive monitoring. We catch problems before they cause outages. A failing switch port, a firewall rule that’s blocking legitimate traffic, a Wi-Fi access point that’s overloaded, or a backup that’s been failing silently for weeks. All of these are things we detect and fix before they become emergencies.
Reactive IT support (break-fix) means you only call someone when something is already broken. You pay per incident, typically $150-$300 per hour, and you’re down while waiting for someone to respond, diagnose, and fix the issue. We’ve seen businesses lose entire days of productivity waiting for a break-fix technician to show up. With managed network services, the goal is to prevent those outages entirely.
What to Look for in a Network Management Provider
Not all managed IT providers are created equal. When evaluating providers for network management, ask these questions: What monitoring tools do you use? (Look for names like ConnectWise, Datto RMM, or Auvik.) What are your average response and resolution times? Do you provide a dedicated account manager or technical contact? Can you show me sample reports from your monitoring platform? What certifications do your network engineers hold? And what happens when something breaks at 2 AM?
The right provider should be able to answer all of these clearly and confidently. At iTech Plus, we’re happy to walk you through our monitoring dashboard, show you real response time metrics, and introduce you to the team that will be managing your network.
Making the Transition
Transitioning your network management to an outside provider doesn’t have to be disruptive. We start with a comprehensive network assessment to document your current setup: device inventory, configurations, credentials, ISP details, and any known issues. From there, we deploy our monitoring agents, update firmware, optimize configurations, and establish baseline performance metrics. The entire onboarding process typically takes 1-2 weeks with zero downtime for your team.
