How Much Should Managed IT Services Cost?

Discover the true prices of managed IT services for your business. ICS reveals how typical IT service companies price managed IT services.

Managed IT Service Pricing

A 6 Pricing-Model Guide

When a business owner or decision-maker calls around trying to find out what they should pay for IT Managed Services they usually discover that pricing isn’t uniform. The answers they receive vary and can go from confusing to outright frustrating. Quite honestly, there’s no online catalog to pick and choose from or one-price-fits-all formula. However, there are six popular IT Managed Service Pricing Models that you can use as a guide.

Managed Services Pricing

What Are The Six IT Managed Service Pricing Models?

Like with any service industry, IT Managed Service Providers (MSPs) offer a wide variety of services. And like other service-oriented companies, each has pricing based on what they provide and the value it brings to their clientele. But, what “ABC” MSP charges will differ from what “XYZ” MSP charges.

Even though their pricing may vary, one thing’s for sure; each offers six different pricing models. Note: Pricing models don’t constitute specific pricing. Instead, each model represents a set of services provided in the desired plan.

The 6 IT Managed Service Pricing Models Are:

Monitoring Only
Per Device
Per User
Tiered
All You Can Eat
A La Carte

What Is The Monitoring-Only Model?

The monitoring-only model provides network monitoring and alerting services. Your Managed Service Provider offers this model to companies of all sizes. The midsize or enterprise companies with in-house IT technicians can also use this service and be alerted when something goes amiss. With this model, there are several service levels offered.

What Is The Per-Device Model?

The per-device model is a flat fee for each device that’s supported in your IT environment. For instance, a basic per-device pricing model might designate a flat price: per desktop / per server / per network printer / per managed network.

The pricing is straightforward to quote, and the monthly service fee gets adjusted when you add or delete devices.

What Is The Per-User Model?

The per-user model closely resembles the per-device model. But instead of being billed per device, you’re invoiced per user, per month, which covers support for the hardware used by each user. The support typically covers commonly used equipment:

Office Equipment: PC, laptop, tablet, and connectivity
Home Equipment: home PC, laptop, tablet, and smartphone
Communication Equipment: hotels and kiosks when traveling

What Is The Tiered Model?

The tiered model is designed to provide bundled packages. With each package, “X” amount of services are included. And as a tiered model, there are three or more bundled package levels, with three or more pricing levels. They usually get labeled as “Gold, Silver, and Bronze” or “Basic, Standard, and Premium.” The premise with this model is simple–when you pay more, additional services are available that aren’t offered with a lower-level bundled package.

What Is The All You Can Eat Model?

The all-you-can-eat model gives you flexibility. Budgeting your IT expenses in this manner enables you to gauge what’s taken place over the past year, and then make calculated IT cost forecasts for the coming year. Typically you’ll have access to:

Remote support / On-site support
Lab or Bench time / 24/7 year-round support
Services during specific hours of the day / particular days of the month

The all-you-can-eat model gives you the ability to genuinely budget your IT support costs over a year’s time with no hidden or surprise fees.

What Is The A La Carte Model?

The a la carte model is unique. With this model, you’re getting individual services. Maybe there’s a specific problem that came up and needs addressing. That’s when you pay for the services you need. You can also create a customized IT managed services bundled package that’s tailored to your company’s specific needs or requirements. That’s what makes this model different from an all-inclusive, IT Managed Services model or pre-bundled package.

What About Actual Pricing Ranges?

Actual pricing ranges vary from one jurisdiction to another. But to give you a brief overview of what pricing ranges look like, here’s the breakdown. Just remember that these aren’t actual prices, only pricing ranges.

1. Flat-Based Range: Monthly, quarterly, or annual fee depending on needs

2. Per-User Range: $125–$300 per month

3. Per Device Range: $5–$100 per month

With the Monitoring Only, Per Device, Per User, Tiered, All You Can Eat, and A La Carte Pricing Models and the pricing ranges, this will give you a guide for how much IT Managed Services should cost when you call different providers.

For more information, call ICS at (866)-427-4722 or contact us on the Web. We serve Houston, San Antonio and Austin with best-in-class Managed IT Services.

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