How Much Do Managed IT Services Cost?
It’s the elephant in the room. Everybody knows the elephant’s there. At some point, someone has to say something, right? And why does it seem like no one can give a straight answer?
Managed IT Services pricing is complex. A good analogy might be asking how much a car costs. It depends: Which type of car do you want? Which class (economy, standard, luxury)? Which brand? How many seats? 4-wheel drive? How about the engine?
Price Range
There are a variety of factors that go into understanding Managed IT Services pricing, but before we get into those, let me go ahead and be the first to address that darn elephant. First, it’s important to know that an MSP’s costs are directly related to how large you are, which makes sense. Thus, it’s impossible to give a price range that’s meaningful considering the differences between a 5-person company and a 500-person company. So, we need a way to quantify that size difference. There are a few ways to do it, as discussed below, but we prefer to gauge size based on a company’s user count. Using that metric, generally speaking, you can expect to see pricing on a per-user basis of $150 – $200 per user per month. Now, this is what you’ll find in the Central Valley – Stockton, Manteca, Modesto, Tracy, Elk Grove and down to Merced. Pricing in other more urban areas outside of this footprint may be a bit higher.
Generally speaking, you can see pricing on a per-user basis of $150 – $200 per user, per month.
Factors
Why such a large range? Well, let’s talk about all the factors that go into this:
Per-User or Per-Device
Some Managed Services Providers (MSPs) price their services on a per-user basis, irrespective of the number of devices you might have in your environment (e.g. desktops, laptops, servers, etc.). Others might price their services based on the number of devices, irrespective of the number of users you might have. Still others might develop a hybrid approach that takes into account users, devices and even other elements as described below. This could have a dramatic impact on pricing if you, for example, have a large number of servers relative to how many users you have, and you are talking to an MSP who prices their services on a per-device basis.
Types of Users
A manufacturing facility might have a relatively small office staff and a relatively large number of workers on the factory floor. An HVAC provider might have field technicians who are rarely at their computer, but still need support, maybe for their mobile devices such as tablets or iPads that connect to corporate applications. On the other hand, Accounting, Legal, and Engineering firms typically have very highly computer-dependent users. Some MSPs will take the overall mix of users and give you a blended price per user. Others will charge a different price for each user type, sometimes with a different level of service for each. Make sure to let MSPs you’re evaluating know that you have a mix of users and generally how many of each type. A good MSP will take this into consideration.
Complexity
The complexity of your environment can have a significant impact on price. A pure cloud environment may be much simpler to support and maintain than an environment with a large number of mission-critical servers and multiple sites connecting to them, especially if there are bundled services such as data backups that are included. We highly recommend considering moving to the cloud to minimize your upfront hardware costs, and to reduce your overall complexity and support costs.
Included Services
Just about every MSP will include the following list of services in their Managed IT Services offering:
- End-User Support
- Infrastructure Support
- Monitoring
- Patching
- Anti-Virus
- Consulting Services
However, there are many services that may or may not be included and will affect the price:
- Helpdesk – Do they take phone calls for live support, or do they require you to email in issues?
- Onsite Support – Is onsite support included or extra?
- Backups – Are backups of all servers included? Is there a limit on the amount of data that can be backed up?
- Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) software
- Security Awareness Training
Every MSP will offer their own bundle of services, so it’s important to try to create an apples-to-apples comparison between them when comparing prices.
Level of Service
To make matters more complicated, every service offered can vary significantly:
- How quickly does the MSP respond to support requests?
- How quickly are they resolved?
- How often are servers and desktops patched?
- What level of monitoring is included? Are they monitoring Health and Performance metrics, or just when the device goes down?
- How much data is backed up? How long is the data retained?
Quality of Service
We all know that, regardless of what’s advertised, the quality of a vendor goes far above what’s served on the menu. This is much harder to quantify, but is no less impactful to the price:
- How good are the technicians?
- How consistent is the service?
- Is the company relational or transactional?
- How well does the company engage you and your needs?
In summary, Managed IT Services pricing is tricky. Each business is unique, and their pricing could be impacted by some or all of the factors listed above – or more. A good Managed IT Services provider will ask the right questions that help guide you both to an offering and price that meets your needs and budget.
Have additional questions or want to chat with us about your pricing? Contact us today!