What You Should Expect to Pay for Managed IT Services
If you’re looking for IT help, you’ve come to the right place. You need someone to help manage your ever growing inventory of computers, devices, and subscriptions, and help you navigate the constantly changing IT landscape. A Managed Service Provider (MSP) handling all your day-to-day IT needs for a flat monthly fee, at a fraction of the price of hiring in-house, seems like a logical choice. But just how much of a fraction? Well a lot of times, pricing is not that easy to find out.
So, today I’m going to talk to you specifically about Managed IT Services pricing.
It’s OK, I see you shaking your head. This isn’t your first rodeo. You have “Contact us for a Quote,” haunting you in your sleep!
IT companies are notoriously evasive when it comes to pricing out their services. As an MSP owner myself, early on, I found myself in this trap as well. How can prospective clients see all the value we bring when all they’ll focus on is the price?
Sure, we can all carry on at length about how great the service we provide is. The amazing value we bring to your company. How partnering with us can ensure you don’t have to brave the intimidating world of managing your technology alone – and possibly messing it up. With the right IT partner, you can rest easy knowing your environment is running at peak efficiency, your data is secure, and backed up redundantly. Additionally, in the event your productivity hits a technology bottleneck, one of our friendly staff will quickly get them squared away and back to helping your organization move towards its goals.
Now all of that is wonderful. Really great stuff. Hiring a great IT company to help you with that side of your business is a logical next step in towards growth and exceeding your goals.
But even with all that in mind, you’re still sitting there left to wonder: “What’s this all going to cost?”
Well, considering the way I like to make my purchasing decisions, I thought “How can those same prospective clients make an informed buying decision if they have no frame of reference on pricing?” So, I went ahead and posted our general pricing on our website and haven’t looked back. (Click here to check it out!)
Now, not every MSP’s pricing is the same. In doing our own sort of “secret shopping,” we’ve seen pricing that was lower, and plenty that was higher for sure. In general though, the majority of MSP pricing is right around ours, give or take.
A number of providers have a 3-tiered pricing structure similar to ours, but some only offer a single, fully comprehensive solution coming in above even our highest tier. I definitely am biased with the service we offer and the tools we use, but there are a number of quality providers besides us and alternate tools that do the job almost as well. With that I can only advise you do your own due diligence and decide what’ll work best for you.
Now I can really get into the weeds about individual tools and choices we make with our plan options, and I will in future videos and blog posts.
For now, I’d like to just give you a general overview of what each plan entails.
I’ll be going over specifically what each of the offerings include, provide details of what’s included in each tier, and discuss how they help your business’s overall IT posture. While I can’t speak on the nitty-gritty of other IT company’s plans, from my discussions with my peers, these fall in line pretty well with what they offer:
IT
Our base offering is what we’ve dubbed our IT plan. This plan is meant for companies in general industries who need a capable IT provider that covers all the basics for them, guides their IT strategy, and is there for them when things go awry.
While it doesn’t include extensive security options or 24/7 support available with the more enhanced offerings, it does provide expert management of the general IT needs for the small-to-medium enterprise. This plan includes unlimited support and maintenance for your entire organization, day-to-day maintenance of all your devices, and standard cybersecurity and backup – for a flat fee of $125 per user, monthly.
IT +
The next level up from there, IT+, includes everything in the IT plan, but also adds on a number of additional cybersecurity functions. While I don’t want to get into the weeds of what each additional item represents in this post, this tier does offer a handful of additional items meant to keep your environment a bit more tightly protected.
One key item I’ll briefly touch on is Security Awareness Training. To help keep your environment more secure, the training system sends out sample SPAM or Phishing emails to your team. If the user clicks on a link, rather than have all of your company data compromised, they’ll instead be sent to a training portal and get educated on what to watch out for in the future. Many industries are adopting this as a requirement these days, and really your best defense against cyber threats is an informed staff. The IT+ plan runs at $175 monthly per user.
IT Pro
Finally, we have our most comprehensive offering, the IT Pro. It includes a handful of additional security and compliance features that regulated industries require. Think finance, medical, legal and the like. This tier has a 24/7 monitored and managed support team that can address your needs regardless of the time or day. For those that want the closest thing to having an IT Engineer at your side at all times, this plan is the way to go. Even at $250/user/month, it’s still a fraction of what hiring this sort expertise in house would cost you.
These offerings are how we package our services, but we understand that each client is unique.
We often shift items around from the various tiers, dependent on our customers needs. When clients have unique requirements, we can tailor customized plans for specifically for them. With that in mind, however, this structure gives you a general idea of what working with an MSP includes as well as price range.
So there you have it, a high level overview of what managed IT services pricing looks like.
Obviously, this can vary depending on your environment and your needs. Some may charge more, some a little less, but given what we know about the amount of work we need to put in to really drive maximum value to you and your company, we feel this sort of price range is what’s fair for the industry. I’d definitely be a bit wary of anyone charging substantially more or less.
In future videos and blog posts, I’ll cover the specifics of the plans in greater detail. I’ll also get into comparing what it would cost your business to hire the type of staff to do this same sort of work internally (hint: it’s substantially more).
Is this the sort of pricing you’re seeing in your own research? Too much, too little, or right about what you were thinking? If everything sounds good, let’s connect! We’d love to provide you with a personalized quote.
Click here to schedule a free 15-minute meeting with Stan Kats, Founder and Chief Technologist.
STG IT Consulting Group proudly serves Greater Los Angeles and surrounding areas for all of your IT needs.
We look forward to meeting with you!
