How Much Do Managed IT Services Cost?

When you consider the costs of hiring talent, implementing systems yourself, building expertise, and ongoing in-house support costs, the case for managed IT services is already made. But once potential market intelligence and cost-savings in sourcing the latest technologies are also factored in, CIOs don’t waste time in asking how much do managed IT services cost?  

By bridging the organization with fully managed IT services, there’s vast potential to reduce overheads across the entire IT stack. What’s more, experienced IT companies add know-how to business processes – such as for data security and compliance – making outsourced IT a lucrative proposition. 

Managed IT Services Pricing Models

If you’ve tried searching for “how much should managed IT services cost?”, most likely you’ve come up empty-handed. That’s because every IT environment is unique and every business’s needs are different. 

Different technologies, different use cases, and varying numbers of users all make fixed pricing moot for IT companies. 

In fact, a static pricing model is a bad value for both parties: your organization will end up paying for services it doesn’t need, and the MSP will be perceived as providing low quality of service.

It’s why managed IT pricing models are commonly broken down into six categories:

1. Per-User
2. Per-Device
3. Tiered
4. Monitoring Only
5. Comprehensive
6. A La Carte

How Much Do Managed IT Services Cost: That Depends on Your Pricing Model

1. List

Your company is billed as per the number of users supported every month. Instead of being billed per device, your invoice will be broken down into ‘per user per month’. 

Note that the pricing model and the level of support may vary as well. For instance, you can opt for services such as:

• Hardware – Provision of a computer, mobile device, connectivity solution, etc.
• Helpdesk – Prioritized helpdesk support for users
• Network and Security – Inclusion on the company’s network, 24/7 support monitoring, VPN, etc.

2. Per-Device

Businesses operating with the per-device model can expect to pay a flat fee for each device supported in your IT ecosystem. For instance: per server, per desktop, per managed network, and per network printer.

Since the fee is based on the type and number of devices, pricing can be very straightforward – ideal if you’re looking for ironclad certainty around your budget. 

3. Tiered

As the name suggests, tiered pricing models are pre-prepared packages, with varying service levels. Often, tiers range from ‘basic’ to ‘premium’, increasing in the scope of services and service guarantees.

Tiered IT managed services pricing can provide businesses with all the services it needs while maintaining a relatively simple pricing structure.

4. Monitoring Only

Monitoring and alerting services are ideal for businesses that already have an in-house team and are looking to:

• Improving oversight over IT systems
• Onboard advanced full-time monitoring
• Supplement internal teams

Again, multiple service levels are available, and you can have everything from your network to cloud services to endpoints monitored. 

5. Comprehensive

The flexibility of this model allows businesses to gauge and budget IT expenses and make more precise IT cost forecasts. 

Generally, this model features on-site and remote support, 24/7 threat alerts, virtual chief information officer (VCIO) management services, and more.

Depending on the nature of the contract, it can be as ‘comprehensive’ as outsourcing every aspect of your IT.

6. A La Carte

This model provides a customizable pricing model built for specific IT services your company demands. Note that not every managed IT service provider offers such flexibility.

What Affects Managed IT Services Prices (and How You Can Reduce Costs)

While small to large-sized businesses alike can significantly benefit from managed IT services, the IT demands of every business vary greatly (and as a result, so do service costs). 

When you’re trying to understand what managed IT services cost for a business like yours, remember this: the more complex a businesses’ technology matrix, the more it costs to maintain. 

Four factors that influence managed IT service pricing are: 

• Headcount – Your organization’s headcount (number of active employees) significantly influences the pricing as most IT firms use a per user per month pricing model. 
• The size & sophistication of your IT systems – The more complex your technological systems are, and the higher level of management you choose, the more costly managed IT services become. 
• Backup – The amount of backup data storage, the frequency of onsite backups, and whether you perform cloud or non-cloud backups will influence pricing.
• Cloud Costs – Remote support will influence the cost of managed IT services for businesses operating in the cloud.

Should You Opt for Break/Fix Services to “Save” Managed IT Services Costs?

Unless yours is a very small business with a static IT environment, it’s best to avoid break/fix services. 

Though these “pay as you go” IT services offered may seem like you’re saving on recurring costs, the reality is when problems do occur, break/fix costs will exceed managed IT costs. 

Here are a few reasons why you should look beyond break/fix:

1. Guaranteed downtime – Techs will fix the issue only after it has impacted your business
2. No monitoring – You’ll never know of potential gaps and vulnerabilities in your systems until they become points of failure.
3. Expensive hourly rate– Since break/fix companies have no incentive to resolve problems as fast as possible, costs rack up quickly (and without a cost cap).
4. Recurring issues – It’s not that break/fix companies don’t fix issues, it’s just that they are limited by the remit of the contract – which is to solve the problem, not to implement root-cause fixes.
5. Cybersecurity issues – Lack of monitoring, multiple vendors, and the lack of a cybersecurity policy will create vulnerabilities in your IT environment.

We Can Enable Savings With Our IT Managed Services Pricing  

We have a simple guiding philosophy at Netsurit – supporting the dreams of the doers. 

As a business owner, you won’t have to worry about “how much do managed IT services cost?” because with us you’ll never pay for services you don’t need. Instead, you’ll benefit from transparent pricing and ironclad SLAs that ensure you receive the service you expect.

We’ll explain the most efficient ways of solving your challenges, and customize solutions so that they fit your exact needs. 

If it’s not a win-win scenario, it’s not Netsurit. Discuss your requirements with us today and find out how we’ll help you save on your IT.