What Co-Managed IT Actually Means for Franklin, Ohio Businesses
Co-managed IT is a specific arrangement: your Franklin business keeps its internal IT staff or IT-capable employee, and COMNEXIA fills the security, tooling, and after-hours gaps that a one- or two-person internal team realistically cannot cover alone. You retain control of day-to-day decisions. COMNEXIA supplies the platform, the documented processes, and the security layer that regulators and cyber insurers increasingly require.
This model is common in the Miami Valley among mid-sized manufacturers, professional services firms, and auto dealerships running 25 to 200 endpoints, where an internal generalist handles end-user requests but has no time to manage patch cycles, review SIEM alerts, or maintain endpoint detection tools.
The Security Foundation COMNEXIA Brings to the Partnership
COMNEXIA is a security-first MSP, which means security controls are built into the platform before helpdesk or reporting layers are added. In a co-managed engagement for a Franklin-area business, that foundation includes:
- Endpoint Detection and Response via SentinelOne. SentinelOne EDR runs on every managed endpoint, providing behavioral AI detection and automated rollback of ransomware-encrypted files. Your internal IT staff gets read access to the SentinelOne console so they can see active threats without needing a separate tool budget.
- Remote Monitoring and Management via NinjaOne. COMNEXIA uses NinjaOne for asset inventory, patch deployment, and alerting. Your internal team can open tickets, run scripts, or view device health inside the same NinjaOne instance, rather than working from a separate disconnected dashboard.
- Microsoft Entra ID Conditional Access policies. For businesses on Microsoft 365, COMNEXIA configures Conditional Access to block legacy authentication protocols, require MFA on all cloud apps, and enforce compliant-device checks before granting access to SharePoint or Exchange Online.
- Monthly reporting delivered to your IT lead. Every month your internal contact receives a patch compliance report, an open/closed ticket summary, and an endpoint health scorecard from NinjaOne, formatted so it can be handed directly to ownership or a compliance auditor.
Why Franklin Auto Dealerships Use Co-Managed IT
Auto dealerships in Warren County and the broader Miami Valley face a specific compliance burden under the FTC Safeguards Rule (16 CFR Part 314), which requires a written information security program, annual risk assessments, access controls, and continuous monitoring of systems that touch customer financial data. That includes your DMS.
If your dealership runs CDK Global Drive, Reynolds and Reynolds ERA, or Dealertrack DMS, those platforms hold nonpublic personal information (NPI) as defined by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. The FTC Safeguards Rule requires that access to NPI be limited by role, that encryption is applied to NPI in transit and at rest, and that you can demonstrate ongoing monitoring.
COMNEXIA’s co-managed model addresses those requirements concretely:
- DMS network segmentation. COMNEXIA documents and enforces VLAN separation between your DMS traffic (CDK or Reynolds) and general dealership Wi-Fi, reducing the blast radius if a sales workstation is compromised.
- Privileged access review. Every 90 days, COMNEXIA generates a Microsoft Entra ID access report showing which accounts have admin rights to dealership systems, flagging stale accounts or over-privileged service accounts for your IT lead to approve or revoke.
- Safeguards Rule documentation support. COMNEXIA’s onboarding process includes a documented asset inventory and risk assessment template mapped to FTC Safeguards Rule requirements, giving your compliance officer a starting point rather than a blank page.
What the Onboarding Process Looks Like
COMNEXIA’s co-managed onboarding is documented, not improvised. For a Franklin-area business, the remote onboarding sequence runs:
- Asset discovery via NinjaOne agent deployment across all endpoints.
- Baseline security audit: open ports, local admin account inventory, MFA enrollment status, and existing patch posture.
- SentinelOne EDR deployment and policy configuration matched to your operating environment (servers, workstations, and any point-of-sale or DMS terminals).
- Conditional Access policy staging in Microsoft Entra ID, reviewed with your internal IT lead before enforcement is enabled.
- Ticketing workflow documentation so your internal staff and COMNEXIA’s helpdesk follow the same escalation path rather than duplicating effort or leaving issues in two queues.
The full sequence is typically completed remotely. COMNEXIA does not operate a physical office in Franklin or the Miami Valley. All monitoring, configuration, and helpdesk support runs through our remote-first platform.
Talk to COMNEXIA About Co-Managed IT in Franklin
If your Franklin business has internal IT staff who are stretched across too many priorities, or if you run a dealership that needs documented Safeguards Rule controls without hiring a dedicated security analyst, co-managed IT with COMNEXIA is worth a direct conversation.
Call COMNEXIA at (877) 600-6550 to describe your current environment and find out whether the co-managed model fits your team’s structure.