The Benefit of Managed IT Contracts

How to Waste Time and Aggravate People?

How much time do you waste on IT problems every week? How about your employees? How about your least tech-savvy employee? Got an answer in mind?

The average employee wastes 22 minutes a day or 110 minutes a week on technology issues. That’s just 10 minutes shy of two hours! Now multiply that by your number of employees. Getting a Managed IT contract starting to make sense?

What’s worse is the study that found these results didn’t identify whether the average employee described works for a company with an IT department. So I would be willing to bet that companies that lack an internal IT department actually average higher. What is there to do?

How about some math?

Managed IT by the Numbers

Let’s say a small business has 8 employees who average $10 an hour.  Each of those employees wastes an average of 22 minutes a day on IT frustration. That’s 176 minutes a day which amounts to 14 hours and 40 min a week. That’s almost $147 a week or $587 a month. That’s more than a week of pay for one of those hypothetical employees that you are losing to inefficiency. And that doesn’t count the time lost from losing concentration. More importantly, it is well under the cost of an IT contract for a small business. And the savings just gets larger the more employees you have or the more your average employee is paid.  If that average employee makes $12.50 instead? That’s $733 a month. Hire two more people? They are collectively wasting $916.66 a month trying to get their computers to work. 

How Does Managed IT Work?

Typically managed IT is assigned one of two ways. Businesses either pay a set monthly fee or pay for a set block of hours. Either way, you are budgeting in any problems that arise so you can avoid surprises. 

There are benefits to both methods.

With the block of time model, you won’t pay for more than you use. But you may end up having to buy more hours. The set monthly fee IT contract is more like the insurance model. You may not need it, but you won’t pay extra if you have a major problem. Different companies have different ways of providing each. The monthly fee may also involve monthly check-ups. When negotiating your IT contract, be sure to say what you’re looking for. Because managed IT is a service rather than a product, there’s typically more flexibility in what can be included than with a typical transaction. 

What does Managed IT Include?

Again, what is included in your IT maintenance agreement can depend a lot on the particular company and contract you are using. 

Typically, managed IT contracts involve providing support for your computers. This support can be in person or over the phone. It may or may not involve other devices such as telephone or surveillance cameras. Typically IT contracts do not involve parts but are more labor and support focused. Most companies that provide managed IT will also make recommendations on purchasing of new equipment and upgrades when that time comes. 

Having an IT maintenance agreement allows you to not only plan for costs and stave off emergencies but also assists you in planning for your growth and gives you an expert in your corner when it comes to make all of your IT decisions. 

I’ve said before that the most important technology decision you will ever make is not what product to buy but what company you are going to have a long term relationship with to work on your products. Having that company have stakes in the game can only improve that relationship and that is exactly what managed IT does for you and your business.