The question comes up in almost every conversation with a new client: "Why should I pay an MSP when I can just hire someone?" It is a legitimate question. The honest answer is that it depends on your situation — but the calculation is rarely done correctly.

The Real Cost of an Internal IT Employee

A junior IT technician in Quebec costs approximately $55,000 to $65,000 in gross annual salary. But the total employer cost is significantly higher:

  • Salary: $60,000 (median)
  • Payroll taxes (QPP, QPIP, CNESST, group insurance): +18% → $10,800
  • Benefits (health insurance, group RRSP): +8% → $4,800
  • Equipment, training, licenses, travel: $5,000
  • Recruitment (once every 2–3 years): $3,000/year amortized
  • Total annual cost: ~$83,600

And this cost covers only one profile, available Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm, with a single specialty. Evening and weekend coverage, plus expertise in cybersecurity, cloud, and advanced networking, is not included.

What Managed Services Include (That an Internal Employee Cannot Offer Alone)

  • 24/7/365 coverage with contractual SLAs on response times.
  • A team of 5 to 15 specialized technicians (network, cloud, cybersecurity, Microsoft 365, physical infrastructure) accessible through a single contract.
  • Automated monitoring tools (RMM, SIEM, patch management) representing tens of thousands of dollars in shared technology investment.
  • Service continuity independent of vacations, sick leave, and departures.
  • Documentation and knowledge base that you own and that does not leave with the employee.

Cases Where an Internal Employee Is Preferable

It would be dishonest to claim managed services are always the best solution. An internal IT employee is more appropriate when:

  • Your organization employs more than 150 people with highly sector-specific IT needs (e.g., proprietary business software).
  • You have extreme confidentiality constraints limiting access to external providers (rare in SMBs).
  • Your projected growth justifies building an internal IT team in the medium term.

The Hybrid Model: The Best of Both Worlds

For organizations of 50 to 200 employees, the hybrid model is often optimal: an internal IT coordinator who knows the users, applications, and business vendors, backed by an MSP for 24/7 support, cybersecurity, patch management, and infrastructure projects. The internal coordinator costs $60,000 to $70,000; the MSP package costs $1,500 to $3,000 per month — together, they offer IT capacity equivalent to a team of 3 to 4 specialized technicians.