IT Support as a Pay per Block Hours Services (Ah Hoc Services/Pay Per Use) :
- To purchase a number of hours upfront to pay a reduced hourly rate.
- It is flexible as it use the hours as they please without doing the paperwork and the hassle of paying multiple bills.
- The drawback of such type of arrangement is that you pay for hours upfront not knowing how much you are going to use each month.
- Some companies end up paying for hours they will never use and hence loose those hours and end up paying more per hour.
- Some IT Companies do allow you to carry forward your hours but that again is at their discretion.
- Difficult to keep track the time used and estimating a cost to a job.
- Focus on paying on time spent rather than paying for desired objectives.
- Paying incompetence work rather than rewarding for quicker results.
IT Support as a Managed Proactive Services:
Company will receive a list of well defined services on going basis for a fixed rate of a Flat Fee. This can include things like 24/7 Monitoring of Servers, 24/7 Helpdesk for your day to day computer issues and Onsite visits by technician when issues cannot be resolved remotely. Some companies also offer additional services like Project Management and Vendor management in the monthly price.
Managed Services is on the rise and millions of companies around the world are transitioning to this type of IT Service Delivery Model. The benefits are obvious:
- Fixed Cost
- Fast Response Time
- Aligning of Business Goals
- Availability of a True Trusted Advisor
A good Managed Services provider looks out for their customers by having enough support staff to meet or exceed customer expectation. When a service provider offers a fixed cost monthly services he is aligning his business goals with that of his customer. What that means is that if his customer’s network is constantly having issues, both the customer and the IT Company are losing money at the same time. So it is in the best interest of the IT company to ensure that the permanent fixes are provided to problems rather than temporary patches. This results in a win-win relationship where the client can budget for IT Support and get quality service when they need it the most.
Managed IT Services Package includes
- Unlimited remote support
- Unlimited telephone support
- Quarterly/Yearly IT Infrastructure Review
- Yearly IT Audit
- Yearly Security Audit
- Managed IT Infrastructure Documentation
- Assigned 2 Regular Engineers (Primary/Secondary)
- Proactive Maintenance – Regular updates/upgrades/security fix & patches
- Developing Business Continuity Planning (BCP) and Disaster Recovery Planning (DRP)
Factors affecting the charges
- Size/Complexity of IT Infrastructure
- Level of Responsiveness
- Coverage Time/Day of the week
- Average age of workforce
- Use of application softwares
- Type of networks