For small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) like yours, not having IT support often leads to low productivity levels and a high risk of business-ending cyberattacks. So this leaves you with two options: to get in-house or outsourced IT services for your organization.
How much do in-house and outsourced IT services cost?
How much IT support costs comes down to who delivers it. Let's compare the cost of in-house vs. outsourced IT services.
In-house IT services
In-house IT services are the more traditional model of IT support. Your company hires one or more employees to handle the business IT and keep it running smoothly. While this is most common with larger businesses, some SMBs hire an in-house IT department because they believe it gives them more control over their IT or it guarantees better service.
The biggest drawback of in-house IT services is the cost. The average salary of IT technicians in the United States is typically over $68,000 per year, and salaries in higher-cost areas go well into six figures. But that’s not the end of the expenses. Benefits for the employee(s), their equipment, and their training are just some of the additional expenses that SMBs must consider when hiring an in-house IT department.
Outsourced IT services
More popular among SMBs today is outsourced IT support, the most common model being managed IT services. This involves paying a flat monthly fee to a managed services provider (MSP) who sees to your IT support needs as per the conditions of a service level agreement (SLA). They take responsibility for your IT and do what it takes to ensure it enables your business to function and thrive.
The cost of such services is largely dependent upon the number of employees in your company. MSPs often charge on a per user basis, and you can expect to pay anywhere from $100 to $500 per month, per user (or in some cases, per workstation). The exact number will depend on the MSP, the terms of your SLA, and your business’s unique IT needs.
As far as additional expenses go, there aren’t many for managed IT services, as they are designed to be like a subscription, with most costs baked into your monthly fee. All the worker benefits, vacation time, professional training, and other employee considerations are the responsibility of the MSP.
Which is more cost-effective for your SMB?
For small businesses, outsourced IT support is almost always the more economical option. MSPs service many companies at once, so this scale allows them to provide support for a lower cost than hiring just one IT technician in most cases. This, of course, is not true for all businesses, so every business owner should at least consider outsourced IT services and research MSPs in their area.
Some organizations also use a “co-managed” or hybrid approach with an internal IT person or team that then partners with an MSP to provide tools, best practices, and additional support resources to cover absences, help with projects, etc.
You might assume that you won’t get as good a service from an outsourced provider that works with other companies as well, but this cannot be further from the truth. In fact, because the MSP works at scale, you’ll get a full team of IT specialists handling each aspect of your business technology instead of one generalist trying to keep everything afloat. And in most cases, you’ll also get 24/7/365 IT support, so you aren’t left in the lurch when your IT person is sick or on vacation. The MSP can enable you to improve your revenue and cut costs elsewhere by using their knowledge of how to best utilize technology to its fullest potential..
This is all assuming that the MSP you partner with provides effective IT services at a reasonable cost, which isn’t always a given. But if your small business is in the Greater Seattle Area, contact Fidelis. We’ve been empowering SMBs with cost-effective, productivity-enhancing IT services for over 15 years, and we would be happy to show you what we can do for your company.
