“Should we build our own SOC?” is one of the most common questions we hear from growing security teams, and it’s almost always framed as a capability question. It’s really a math question.
Round-the-clock coverage means at least three shifts, seven days a week. Realistically that’s six to eight analysts once you account for holidays, sick leave, and turnover — plus a SIEM, threat intel feeds, and tooling licenses that don’t get cheaper at smaller scale. Add recruitment and the ramp-up time to get analysts fluent in your specific environment, and the true first-year cost of an in-house SOC surprises most finance teams.
A managed SOC spreads that same tooling and expertise across many clients, which is exactly why it can offer 24/7 coverage at a fraction of the cost, with a shorter time to go live. You give up some of the deep, company-specific tribal knowledge an in-house team builds over years — but for most mid-size companies, that trade is worth it.
In-house still wins for organizations large enough, or regulated tightly enough, to need dedicated, dedicated eyes on their environment full time. For everyone else, the honest math usually points to managed, or a hybrid where a small internal team owns strategy and a managed partner covers the clock.