Commonly attributed to Benjamin Franklin, the quote “…nothing in this world can be said to be certain but death and taxes…” seems more true every day, and—just having gone through federal tax filing—it’s more painful than ever!
Interestingly though, we love to speak in such certainties and make bold statements, despite the “right” answer being (more often than not), “it depends.”
I’ve been waist-deep in the IT services for life sciences and biotech sectors since 2002, and have heard countless claims of a “universal need” for managed IT services. Guess what? It’s just not true, so don’t listen to people that say it is.
The value equation of managed IT support includes the following factors: cost, service levels, and risk. If a vendor can affect at least two of these three factors, there is a foundation for discussion. If not, move along.
Where Managed Services Work for Life Sciences and Biotech Companies
GROWTH COMPANIES – When a biotech startup or research lab is scaling fast, the IT team is focused on planning, strategy, and deploying new sites, users, or systems. Daily operations remain critical, but focus must stay aligned with the growth of the business. For companies in growth mode, especially in life sciences, outsourced IT services help maintain quality while internal teams stay agile.
UNIQUE/ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES – Whether it’s cloud-native platforms or high-performance computing for genomics, newer technologies bring a shortage of available talent. Biotech IT support fills those gaps when internal teams can’t scale as quickly as needed. The business SLAs still need to be met.
HIGH COST TO ENTRY – Shared infrastructure like colocation or cloud platforms makes sense financially. The same applies to managed cloud services for life sciences—you get enterprise-grade architecture without the overhead of building it yourself.
DIFFICULTY TO HIRE/TRAIN/RETAIN – Research labs in rural areas or biotech firms with limited headcount often struggle to recruit. IT providers for life sciences companies can supplement staff with specialists who understand scientific workflows, compliance requirements, and system uptime expectations.
Where Managed Services Fall Short
YOUR MESS FOR LESS – Simply outsourcing a mess to save money rarely works. A managed IT provider needs to deliver value through process, automation, and scale. Without that, both service quality and cost efficiency suffer.
LARGE AND/OR STATIC COMPANIES – Mature life sciences organizations with strong internal IT may find limited value in outsourcing. Onboarding can be slow, and internal teams may outperform external SLAs. For these companies, investing in life sciences IT support training may be a better return.
BETTER, FASTER, CHEAPER – If the expectation is to achieve all three, something will give. The best biotech IT services set realistic expectations and align outcomes with business impact. If your current MSP isn’t delivering, it might be worth examining whether the problem is fit—or expectations.
As much as I’d like our managed IT services for life sciences to apply universally, it’s not that clear cut. The right fit depends on business stage, complexity, and strategic goals. Make sure your vendor understands not just tools and tech—but the real-world needs of research, clinical trials, and biotech growth.
Is Your Life Sciences IT Team Ready for Managed Services?
Get 50% off a Security Risk Assessment to evaluate service-level gaps, risk exposure, and life sciences compliance readiness.