What is IT Support?

IT Support

Whether you use a home desktop or part of a business, you want your technology to "Just work"

So you reach out to your friendly IT support guy, whether they have a store front, are based in an office somewhere, or you call them out to your location.

A massive way to keep costs down is by using remote control technology, there are many products on the market (Ever heard of Teamviewer?) that IT pros can use to quickly work on issues.

At the enterprise level there is a term called "Out of band" management of servers and desktops.

The next time you have an IT problem, look for a company that does remote IT support, you'll save money and it allows the company to give you access to more of their trained engineers for cheaper.

What options are available?

There are 3 types of support you can get when asking for a price from a provider.

- Project based
A provider quotes you a fixed amount of money to deliver a specific task.

It could be as straight forward as installing a new server to even more complicated tasks. Generally the price is agreed and fixed before hand between you both.

If you would like to change the project midway, then you might incur additional costs as it will mean more work done by the provider.

- Managed Contract
You pay a fixed monthly or annual sum and receive x number of hours of support in return, some providers offer unlimited support agreements.

Out of hours support might be an additional cost or might be included.

The most common provider of this type of service are known as "Managed Service Providers" (MSPs)


- Hourly Rate
Alternatively you might find certain things are based on an hourly rate. Which might appear more expensive at first but can be an efficient way of controlling costs, as you are only paying for what you are using.


Ultimately you need to work out what gives the best value for money over time. Just be careful not to let costs spiral.

The difference between a support company and a reseller

You might be very familiar when visiting an IT companies website and seeing various badges from different vendors, Microsoft, Cisco, HP, Dell, ect.

You might also see that they supply hardware for you, normally through "professional trade channels"

Beware the reseller! Don't get your support through the same person as you buy your hardware.

Imagine taking your car to a mechanic who also sold cars, his main motivation is to sell you the new shiny car as he'll make the most money.

So when you are trusting your network to a support guy, you don't want him spending time trying to sell you a brand new server.

Get the initial setup right

With the right technology and hardware setup, you can keep support costs down, certain providers might encourage you in a particular direction so that they can charge you additional costs down the road for increased labour. Make sure you have a frank conversation with them about if you can make an investment to save money in the long run.

How do I pick an IT Support company?

Talk to other businesses in your area, see what their experiences have been, do they outsource their IT? If so to who? Fancy marketing and shiny websites are one thing but if you can get a recommendation then take it seriously.

When speaking to a provider see if you can get in touch with their existing clients for an insight into how good they really are.

Any questions or comments? Leave them below.

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