You may have been Doing It Yourself when it comes to managing information technologies at your company; or the partnership with your current IT services company is not working as you’d want, so you are on a mission to seek a Managed Services Provider (MSP). A key question is, How are Managed IT Services Priced?
This article does not list all possible IT Services, rather, it gives you a big picture of Managed IT Services. For this purpose let’s simplify the topic further by assuming:
- Your organization is based in Metro Vancouver Canada.
- Your team size is small, e.g., less than 50 IT users.
- You don’t have in house IT technician, meaning your IT is managed by MSP solely.
Pricing Factors for Managed IT Services
User counts
How many IT users are in your firm? It’s common that every employee is IT user, this may not be your case.
User Device counts
Does each IT user use his/her computer solely? Any shared computer? Do any users have company smartphone? Smartphones should be treated as IT devices.
Networks
How many offices / locations that have IT networks in place? Some MSPs take this factor into pricing calculation.
Servers
Are any servers running in your office or local data center? This factor is usually considered. It takes more efforts to manage conventional on-site servers, versus Cloud systems.
Standard Managed IT Services
Monitoring
Your networks, servers and user devices can all be monitored. Most MSPs provide this as a basic service.
Remote Support
Tickets can be created automatically by the monitoring platform; or be created by IT users. MSP likely will try to resolve issues remotely. Factor: How many tickets are included monthly, or Remote Support is unlimited?
On-site Support
Some issues require IT technicians to be on-site. Factor: Is on-site support included in the service package, or charged additionally?
After Hour Support
Included or charged additionally? If you think that after hour support is rarely needed, it makes sense that your service package doesn’t include it.
Licensing
It’s efficient for the MSPs to manage software licenses for clients. Most MSPs offer this.
Backup
Factors: Is back up for your emails and Cloud storage included? Are users’ computers backed up? How? How often? Are backups checked and tested routinely?
Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity is a big topic; offerings can vary hugely. Some IT companies might just deploy an antivirus software on your computers, and that’s all for security. Some include more in the baseline, such as Next-generation endpoint security, deployment of Password Manager, enforcement of Multiple Factor Authentication (MFA), email security, users’ Cybersecurity Training. Routine penetration tests could also be provided.
Most MSPs are not MSSP (Managed Security Service Provider), meaning that there’s a certain depth that MSP can go on Cybersecurity. It’d be ideal that your MSP partners with an MSSP. Note: Turbo IT Solutions partner with an MSSP.
Documentation
What does your IT infrastructure contain, how are they set up? Devices that are not documented should be considered unknown, and it’s a cybersecurity concern that unknown devices run in your network. Does your MSP manage documents routinely and in a structured way? Example: Turbo IT Solutions leverage professional documentation platform – Hudu.
Premium Managed IT Services
IT Budget
Does the MSP present IT budget report routinely? If so, is it included or charged additionally?
Business Process
Does the MSP work with your management to produce and improve business processes? An example is Business Continuity Plan.
Optional Services
VoIP Phone Service
Yes, VoIP is information technology. Most VoIP issues are caused by network and VoIP service provider won’t resolve network issues for clients. If your VoIP phones are also managed by your MSP, the benefit is self-explained.
VoIP is often targeted by hackers, your VoIP phones may simply stop working. In the autumn of 2021, some major VoIP service providers in UK, Canada and the US were attacked and ransomed, their services were severely interrupted for days even weeks. Turbo IT Solutions’ VoIP platform was also attacked; however, our VoIP services were recovered in a few hours.
Projects
Generally speaking, MSPs treat new install and upgrade of computers as projects, these works are out of scope of the managed services package. However, some MSPs might include projects in their packages, of course, the monthly fee would be higher than other wise.
Service Level Agreement
You can find articles regarding this item, in plain English, how quickly do you want the MSP to respond to your tickets, to recover servers that the MSP manage?
Pricing of Managed IT Services
Now, what do you want? This is the question that you have to answer yourself. Some MSPs, like Turbo IT Solutions, prepare for a few packages for clients to choose. Some services are optional, can be added or removed; however, some Cybersecurity measures should always stay, we believe.
How much anyway? We think a price from $100 to $250 per user per month is all possible for small businesses in metro Vancouver, at the time of writing (November 2022), depending on the complexity of your IT infrastructure and your choice of managed IT services.
One more factor to keep in mind, good MSPs make their technicians rather available for clients; On the other hand, a sweatshop has to spread their attention to more clients.
Want to get a quote? Send us a message or set up an appointment here: https://www.turboitsolutions.com/contact.