Managed IT is usually worth it for a small business where staff use email, shared files or line-of-business software every day. You pay a fixed monthly fee, so the cost is known in advance. The provider also earns its fee by stopping problems before they happen, which is not true of pay-per-repair support.
What managed IT costs a small business
Providers usually price in one of three ways:
| Pricing model | Who it suits | Key drawback |
|---|---|---|
| Per user | Firms that hire and scale steadily | Cost rises with each new person |
| Per device | Firms where several people share machines | Each new laptop or server adds to the bill |
| One bundled figure | Firms that want a single budget line | Hardest to compare between providers |
A quote based on an hourly rate is break-fix with a managed label on it.
Our managed IT support starts at £30 per user per month, excluding VAT. From three people, you pay for the people and devices you have:
| Unit | Workday | Workweek | Always-On |
|---|---|---|---|
| Per user | £30 | £45 | £65 |
| Per shared device | £15 | £25 | £35 |
| Per site | £100 | £150 | £225 |
The tiers change only when we are available and how fast we respond. Workday is Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm. Workweek is Monday to Friday, 8am to 8pm. Always-On is seven days, 8am to 8pm. What we do is the same on all three. Licences such as Microsoft 365 are passed through at our supplier's price with no margin added.
For one or two people, Solo and Duo are fixed monthly packages that include the licences. On Workday, Solo starts at £95 a month and Duo at £139 a month, excluding VAT. You can see your own figure in the IT support calculator or on the pricing page.
Whichever provider you look at, ask what the monthly fee includes and what it leaves out. Unless a task is listed in the contract with a frequency, assume it is not being done. Some providers keep the monthly fee low and make it back in out-of-scope and emergency charges. A quote that leaves out licences, backup or security is a support retainer with extras, not a managed price. Ask for the total monthly figure for everything you need.
Then put that figure next to the real cost of the alternatives:
- An internal hire: salary, employer National Insurance, pension contributions, holiday cover, recruitment fees, training and tools. One person also brings one skill set, so gaps are filled by contractors at short notice.
- Break-fix support: the hourly rate looks low until you add emergency call-outs, the hours staff lose waiting for a fix and the cost of replacing hardware that failed because nobody was watching it.
- Doing nothing: the cheapest on paper. It is still a decision, and it gets expensive once downtime, lost data or a cyber incident is counted.
The cheapest provider is rarely the cheapest over time. Cheap IT costs more through downtime, breaches and compliance failures.
Managed IT support compared with break-fix
Break-fix means you call someone when something stops working. Managed support means the provider monitors your systems, applies updates and deals with problems before they stop your work.
Break-fix has backwards incentives. The provider earns when things break, so nobody is paid for prevention. It looks cheap and then costs you in emergency charges, downtime and lost hours. A provider who only appears when something breaks is a clean-up crew, not IT support. That is why we only work on a managed basis. There is more in our comparison of managed IT and break-fix.
In-house IT compared with outsourced IT support
An in-house IT person gives you someone on site. One person is also one point of failure. Holidays and illness leave you with no cover, and nobody can be expert in everything. Outsourced managed IT gives you a whole team, with cover when people are away, usually for less than the cost of one salary.
In-house can make sense for highly technical firms or businesses with dozens of users, and even then it works best alongside outsourced specialists. Outsourcing does mean relying on an outside firm, so check how quickly they respond and who you will speak to. With us you deal with the same people every time. We support businesses across Swansea and South Wales, and most problems are fixed remotely, often in minutes.
Many small firms choose a hybrid: a capable person on your side for day-to-day questions, with a provider behind them for security, backup and monitoring. This is co-managed IT. It works only if the contract says who owns each task. If nobody has written it down, both sides assume the other is doing it.
To decide, score your business on four things:
- How many staff depend on IT every day.
- How sensitive your data is.
- How much downtime you can absorb.
- How much IT knowledge you already hold.
High scores on the first three and a low score on the fourth point to a fully managed plan. A high score on the fourth, such as an operations manager who knows their way around, points to co-managed.
What to check in a managed IT contract
The contract decides whether managed IT is worth it, and it is where small firms get caught out. If it is not written down, it does not exist. Read these points before you sign:
- Response time and resolution time. They are different things. A four-hour response means someone has acknowledged the ticket, not that the problem is fixed. Ask for both, per priority, in minutes or hours. Be wary of phrases like "best effort" and "reasonable response times". For example, our P1 critical issues on Workday get a response within 30 minutes and a target restore time of 4 hours. Where a fix depends on a third party, such as a broadband provider, we stay responsible for chasing it.
- Consequences. A service level agreement with no service credits or termination rights is worth little. Ask what happens when a target is missed.
- Term and notice. A 12-month term should end at 12 months unless both sides agree to continue, or roll monthly. Be wary of auto-renewal and multi-year lock-ins with no review points. 30 days' notice is reasonable.
- Exclusions. Hardware, larger projects such as an office move or a server replacement, and licences are often outside the monthly fee. Get the list in writing. Our projects are quoted as a fixed price before any work starts.
- Data ownership and exit. Your data, mailboxes, configuration, credentials and licences should belong to you, with a documented handover and no charge to hand them back. If a provider hesitates on who owns your data, end the conversation.
- Price changes. Price rises, setup fees and minimum terms should be disclosed up front.
A provider that will not put response times, exclusions and exit terms in writing is telling you how the relationship will go. Be just as wary of limited-time offers and deadlines. A good provider never rushes your decision.
If you want to see where you stand before deciding, you can start with our free exposure check.