Outsourcing the management of your business IT to a third-party provider offers a host of benefits, starting with significant cost savings and improved productivity.
Are you thinking about leveraging the knowledge and experience of a managed service provider (MSP) to look after your business’ technical needs? In that case, it is important to understand the different pricing and rates offered by MSPs across Australia so you can make the best decision. You can choose from a range of flexible MSP pricing models to find IT services tailored to your company’s priorities and budgets. Here is a snapshot of managed IT services costs.
What are managed IT services?
When exploring the cost of managed IT services in Australia, you need to know exactly what these services involve. Managed services providers are third-party businesses that are hired to manage and secure your IT environment. This allows your business to choose which services you want to outsource and reduces the expenses needed for IT management.
A managed IT services package might include every element necessary to maintain and manage your IT systems, from IT service desk to cyber security, disaster recovery, cloud solutions, and network administration.
Depending on the needs of your business, managed IT services can range from very basic support to full-time management of all your IT resources. Some businesses opt for fully-managed services, and others prefer partially managed IT services, which allows specific tech demands to remain in-house. These options mean you get to decide what you want your provider to monitor, and when you need them to assist you. You also have the option to choose from a range of service levels, from on-demand to contract-based.
Types of managed IT services
IT service desk: 24/7 remote and onsite IT support, remote monitoring and management, user and device support.
IT infrastructure: design, upgrade and manage business network and server environment, keeping future upgrade or renewal projects in mind.
IT security: managed detection and response, including endpoint detection and response, incident response, data backup, threat hunting, security monitoring, network traffic analysis, vulnerability identification and mitigation, as well as penetration testing.
IT consulting: customised governance and risk and compliance consulting to help minimise risks and increase compliance in IT environments. Consulting to help resolve specific issues, or make strategic decisions about digital transformation.
Managed IT services benefits
- Reduce the need and cost of hiring in-house IT staff, or free up internal IT teams to have more resources to focus on higher-value projects.
- Proactively lower the risk of potential security problems and productivity downtime that disrupts business and your bottom line
- Ensure employees have the tools and resources needed to optimise business success and growth
- Reduce overall IT costs with scalable and agile solutions
What influences MSP pricing?
Typically an MSP will assess your business technology and needs before agreeing on a service level agreement (SLA), as the more complex your IT needs are, the more services your business may require and this will affect the MSP pricing. There is also a difference in management levels, which change based on the price and services. You may decide to start with essential services and advance to more comprehensive ones, which will increase the pricing structure.
Consider these questions:
- Do you have an in-house IT team to share responsibilities?
- How complex is your business technology?
- Will you need remote or on-site support?
- Does your business have security and compliance regulations to meet?
Managed IT service options
MSPs often structure their services in tiers, allowing businesses to pick the options that best suit their individual needs. These tiers vary in price according to the services your business gets, to ensure complete customer satisfaction.
Basic IT Services
Basic IT services provide an IT team for remote network monitoring to alert for any issues, with costs ranging between $70 and $150 per user monthly.
Mid-range IT services
IT services in the mid-range tier can bring your business significant savings. With this option, MSP services go further than the basic monitoring and proactively begin to look for security issues that could cause disruption and downtime later. Mid-range IT services include 24/7/365 IT support, disaster recovery, data backup and IT design and planning. The prices for this level of service range between monthly rates of $50 to $200 per user.
Fully managed IT services
MSPs can monitor, maintain, and manage the entire IT environment for businesses that require advanced security solutions, cloud services, or fully-hosted systems. You will typically have to pay upwards of $300 per user or device for this service each month.
Managed IT services pricing models
The pricing models of an Australian MSP can range from between $75 to $300 per user, per month. As the differences in pricing can be significant, it’s important to assess what your specific needs are before agreeing on a service model.
Flat-Rate Model
MSPs offer this agreed-on service model each month, which will cover all the IT needs of your business, instead of focusing on individual technical support projects. With a flat-rate pricing model, IT costs stay predictable and stable whether you choose to scale your services up or down, and are provided according to the SLA on a monthly, quarterly, or annual basis.
Per User/Month Model
With this model, your MSP will provide support based on the number of users you have on your network. Paying per user can bring significant cost savings, as your monthly rate will depend on the number of users in your organisation.
Per Device/Month Model
Similar to the previous pricing model, this model is based on the number of devices in your IT environment, regardless of users or frequency of use. Maintaining your desktops, firewalls and servers will attract different rates but this model is particularly cost-effective for businesses with employees using the same devices.
Contact your managed IT service for a quote
You can save money and improve efficiency in your enterprise by outsourcing your IT to a managed service provider. INTELLIWORX’s expert team of IT technicians provides high-quality tech solutions and services to ensure your IT environment is always optimised and secure. Leverage the expertise of a leading managed service provider and maximise your IT investment. Get in touch today for a free quote!
