Formalising your IT Support - What does it really cost?

Introduction

So you are looking at the idea of using an external IT provider to handle the managment and support of your computers systems. This is quite a significant change in your corporate strategy and as always one of the main factors is going to be cost. In this case study we will look at a few common scenarios and the ballpark costs involved.

Scenario 1: Office based organisation with 10 PC users and one server

Obviously the cost of support will be affected by the complexity of the infrastructure but let us assume that it is straightforward with the following features:

• The Server is running Microsoft Small Business Server
• The Microsoft Exchange system is in use for email
• All users have desktop PCs running Windows XP
• All users run Microsoft Office 2003 and Outlook
• The office is connected to the internet via an ADSL broadband link

Support Options
The main decision that needs to be made is whether the customer prefers to have a support engineer to come to the office in a guaranteed period of time or if they are prepared to try to resolve the problem remotely. It really depends on how critical the IT systems are to the functioning of the business. If having a server down for a day will cause the company to lose money then an onsite agreement is best. But they think they could still do business and waiting a day for an engineer to come to site is OK then the remote support option is the one to choose.

This table shows approximate costs for remote and onsite support agreement for this size of organisation. The prices are for basic remote Windows and application support and onsite hardware support with a guaranteed 4 hours onsite response. Spare parts are not included in the price.

*NB: These prices will vary where extra applications and devices are added to the agreement.

Scenario 2: Company with 20 PC users, 5 laptop users and one server

In this scenario there are 20 desktop PC users and 5 users who are out on the road and use laptops to connect back to the office for email and documents. The mobile users connect wirelessly to the internet or via broadband links. The server used for file storage, Email, remote access and webmail.

In this case we would recommend a standard support agreement combined with a regular onsite visit. Companies with more than 20 users tend to use databases and other applications that are not covered in the normal agreement. The regular visit can be used to do resolve problems with this type of system, setting up new computers or any IT related activity the customers needs.