If you need someone to run your IT every day, answer staff questions and keep systems secure, you need managed IT. If you need an expert review of your Microsoft 365 setup and a written plan, but you have people to carry it out, you need Microsoft 365 consulting. Many firms use both: consulting to decide what to do, and managed IT or a project to do it.
Why the distinction matters
The two get confused because both involve Microsoft 365 expertise. But they answer different questions. Managed IT answers "who looks after this?" Consulting answers "what should we change, and in what order?"
Buying the wrong one wastes money. A firm that signs a 12-month managed plan just to get a SharePoint recommendation pays for ongoing service it may not need. A firm that buys a consulting report but has nobody to act on it ends up with a document on a shelf.
What each one is
Managed IT is an ongoing service, usually priced per user per month under a term agreement. The provider takes day-to-day responsibility: help desk, device security, backup, patching, account changes and Microsoft 365 management.
Microsoft 365 consulting is a defined engagement with a start and an end. A consultant reviews a specific area, such as SharePoint, Teams, email, identity or security, and delivers written findings and a roadmap. Implementation may or may not be included, depending on the provider.
Side-by-side comparison
Three scenarios
A firm with an internal IT person who wants a roadmap
Take a hypothetical 35-person accounting firm with a capable office IT coordinator. Day-to-day support is covered. What the firm lacks is an outside view of whether its Microsoft 365 security and identity settings are where they should be. Consulting fits: a review produces risk-rated findings the coordinator can work through, with outside help only where needed.
A firm with nobody owning IT
Take a hypothetical 10-person law office where a partner resets passwords between client meetings and nobody is sure whether backups exist. A consulting report would identify problems, but there is no one to fix them or handle tomorrow's printer issue. Managed IT fits better, since the firm needs ongoing ownership, not just advice.
A firm planning a SharePoint cleanup
Take a hypothetical 22-person commercial real estate firm whose SharePoint has grown into a maze of sites with unclear permissions. It wants to restructure before adding staff. Consulting fits the planning step: a SharePoint review recommends structure and permissions changes. The firm can then decide whether its own staff, a fixed-fee project or a managed plan handles the work.
How they work together
Consulting and managed IT are not competing choices. A common path is to start with an assessment to understand your environment, then decide how to implement. Some firms stay with consulting for occasional reviews while their internal staff run things day to day. Others move into managed IT after an assessment shows how much ongoing work there is.
Questions to decide
If you answered no, ongoing, yes and no, managed IT is likely the fit. If you answered yes, specific, no and yes, start with consulting.
Common mistakes
How NexJen can help
We offer both. NexJen Essentials is our managed IT plan for firms that want day-to-day responsibility handled. Our Microsoft 365 consulting covers seven fixed-scope engagements: Microsoft 365 Assessment and Optimization, SharePoint Online, Microsoft Teams, Exchange Online, Microsoft Entra ID, Microsoft Intune, and a Security Posture and Compliance Assessment.
Consulting is advisory only. Each engagement includes a read-only discovery, analysis, written risk-rated findings and a roadmap, and a readout call. We make no changes to your tenant during consulting; implementation is quoted separately as a fixed-fee project or folded into Essentials. Consulting is open to any business, whether or not you are a managed client, with no long-term contract. Fees are fixed and quoted from your tenant size and scope.
Common questions
Can I hire NexJen for consulting without a managed IT plan?
Yes. Consulting is open to any business, with no long-term contract.
Does consulting include making the changes?
No. Our consulting is advisory only. Implementation is quoted separately as a fixed-fee project or folded into Essentials.
Is the Security Posture and Compliance Assessment a certification?
No. It benchmarks your tenant against the CIS Benchmark and Microsoft Secure Score and reports gaps. It is not a certification or audit.
Have a specific Microsoft 365 question?
Tell us what you want reviewed and roughly how many users you have, and we will quote a fixed fee.