For the fourth consecutive year, manufacturing has been the most targeted industry for cyberattacks. On the plant floor, even a single hour of downtime can stall production, trigger compliance issues, and incur costs of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Internal IT teams can’t afford to stay stuck in firefighting mode. And outsourcing alone isn’t enough; traditional providers treat issues as tickets, not as risks to throughput or customer delivery.
That’s why manufacturers need a co-managed IT partner model. This approach pairs your in-house expertise with dedicated outside coverage. It aligns IT projects with production schedules, adds real-time monitoring to detect threats more quickly, and closes security gaps before they can spread. With clear escalation paths and maintenance scheduled only during approved windows, incidents remain contained, and operations stay on track.
With this article, you’ll learn how a co-managed IT partner model keeps production running while your IT team focuses on growth projects.
Key takeaways
- Align IT with production goals. Develop roadmaps that tie IT management to business objectives, ensuring every project supports uptime and compliance.
- Cut downtime with faster response. Strengthen IT operations and reduce escalation windows from hours to minutes with co-managed IT support.
- Fortify cybersecurity and recovery. Utilize monitoring, automation, and thoroughly tested recovery plans to mitigate threats and comply with regulatory standards.
- Scale your IT team with expert support. Add specialized coverage where it matters most, without full outsourcing, to create a flexible and cost-effective model.
- Choose a partner that knows manufacturing. Collaborate with a co-managed provider experienced in ERP, MES, and OT to streamline initiatives and maintain production efficiency.
The limitations of traditional IT providers
59% of organizations report their cybersecurity teams are understaffed. Combine lean IT teams with 24/7 production schedules, and risk grows quickly, especially when a generic provider is involved.
Traditional IT vendors focus on closing tickets rather than aligning technology with production goals. This leaves gaps in coverage, delays in response, and no clear plan to prevent repeat incidents.
Transactional relationships stall progress
Most providers measure success by the number of tickets closed, rather than uptime or the frequency of incidents. This keeps your plant in a constant state of reaction, fighting fires instead of planning. Over time, this reactive model erodes reliability and leaves critical vulnerabilities unaddressed.
Audit your provider’s SLA. Ensure it includes uptime, MTTR (mean time to resolution), and root-cause analysis, not just ticket counts. If those aren’t included, you’re likely missing opportunities to improve performance and prevent recurring issues.
Generic IT support misses the manufacturing context
ERP, MES, and OT systems require specialized handling and management. A provider unfamiliar with your processes might patch a server during a shift change, resulting in hours of production downtime. Without knowledge of maintenance schedules, even routine updates can disrupt production. Select a partner that understands plant-floor systems and their associated regulatory obligations.
Slow response creates costly downtime
When incidents occur, every minute counts. Unplanned downtime costs industrial manufacturers approximately $50 billion annually, a significant expense that accumulates quickly when production lines remain idle. Slow escalations can turn a minor fault into missed orders and lost revenue.
A true partner provides 24/7 monitoring and rapid escalation paths to protect throughput.
What makes a true co-managed IT partner?
Attacks are moving faster than ever, and waiting for a ticket to be processed is no longer an effective strategy.
A co-managed IT partner extends your IT team instead of replacing it. Your staff can focus on long-term projects. The partner manages day-to-day support, monitoring, and escalations, creating a reliable IT coverage.
Shared responsibility model with your IT team
Your internal team is responsible for developing long-term strategies and making informed business decisions. The partner covers help desk tickets, 24/7 monitoring, and urgent escalations. Define which tickets should stay in-house and which should be routed to your partner automatically. This eliminates confusion and speeds response during incidents.
Tailored strategies for production goals
A strong partner co-builds a 12-month IT roadmap. This plan aligns with production schedules. It also accounts for maintenance windows and compliance deadlines. The result is true scalability: the ability to flex resources during upgrades, rollouts, and audits without slowing throughput.
Long-term collaboration, not one-off fixes
Co-managed IT isn’t break-fix. Expect quarterly reviews, ongoing improvements, and clear KPIs. This ongoing collaboration ensures that your infrastructure, security posture, and roadmaps remain aligned with business changes.
Benefits for manufacturers
Manufacturers reported $16.6 billion in losses in 2024, a 30% increase over 2023. These rising losses underscore the significant impact of IT issues that linger.
A co-managed IT partner delivers measurable results, reduces outages, improves compliance, and provides predictable IT costs, enabling you to prove ROI and meet production goals.
Faster resolutions, fewer outages
Dedicated help desk coverage and rapid escalation resolve Tier 2 and Tier 3 incidents in minutes. This improves response times and reduces production impact. Fewer outages mean more uptime and more predictable throughput.
Stronger cybersecurity posture
A partner combines proactive monitoring, endpoint protection, and disaster recovery planning to prevent small threats from becoming plant-wide incidents. Regular end-user training helps reduce phishing and ransomware risks. Fast containment limits damage and protects compliance standing.
IT aligned with production schedules
IT projects are deliberately timed to avoid peak production periods, protecting throughput and delivery commitments. Maintenance, patching, and migrations are scheduled during off-shifts or planned downtime windows. This approach ensures that operations run smoothly and minimizes the risk of unplanned slowdowns or compliance issues.
How Keystone serves as a partner to manufacturers
Keystone is more than an MSP. As a co-managed IT partner, it ensures manufacturing operations run smoothly without surprises. With decades of industry experience, dedicated support teams, and a proactive approach, Keystone aligns technology with your production and compliance goals.
25+ years serving manufacturers
For over two decades, Keystone has helped manufacturers minimize outages and maintain compliance.
In one recent engagement, a mid-sized manufacturer reduced unplanned outages by 40% after implementing proactive monitoring and clear escalation paths. The result: fewer missed orders and improved on-time delivery performance.
ERP, MES, and OT expertise
Keystone’s team includes specialists in ERP, MES, and OT systems. This expertise reduces configuration errors, prevents production interruptions, and speeds up project delivery. Whether you are stabilizing a legacy ERP or rolling out a new MES integration, Keystone provides proven playbooks to ensure success the first time.
Strategic IT roadmaps for growth
Keystone builds 12- to 18-month IT roadmaps that align with your business plans. Each roadmap schedules upgrades, cloud migrations, and security projects around production cycles to ensure seamless integration and continuity.
This keeps IT investments predictable and ensures projects support rather than disrupt capacity expansion.
Partnership over basic IT services
True resilience stems from partnership, not just the provision of IT services. A co-managed IT partner manufacturing model ensures predictable IT, stronger security, and reduced downtime. It allows you to focus on production goals while your partner handles the monitoring, escalation, and planning needed to keep systems reliable.
At Keystone, we understand your production goals and IT challenges. Discover Keystone’s co-managed IT partnership model and start aligning IT with your business needs today.
FAQs
What are the key IT needs for manufacturers today?
Manufacturers need resilient IT infrastructure, secure IT operations, and reliable help desk support. A co-managed IT support model lets your internal IT department stay focused on strategy while your partner handles monitoring, escalations, and routine tasks. This approach strengthens your IT solutions without requiring additional full-time staff, providing coverage during critical onsite production windows.
What are the main benefits of co-managed IT services?
Co-managed IT reduces outages, speeds up response times, and strengthens cybersecurity. Unlike a traditional MSP that replaces your team, co-managed services work alongside your IT staff. This collaborative approach provides you with additional support and access to specialized expertise while maintaining control over your IT priorities.
How does a co-managed IT partner support digital transformation?
A partner guides IT consulting decisions and helps implement new technologies such as automation and cloud services. This keeps upgrades aligned with your business goals and avoids disruptions to the IT environment. The right provider also plans on-site work and maintenance around production schedules to minimize downtime.
