LinkBack URL
About LinkBacksI'm looking to outsource my IT support and would like to know what the typical costs are for Level 1, 2, 3, and 4 support. Are the costs usually on an hourly basis or subscription based? Thanks.
I'm looking to outsource my IT support and would like to know what the typical costs are for Level 1, 2, 3, and 4 support. Are the costs usually on an hourly basis or subscription based? Thanks.
How about doing your own work?Originally Posted by axma55
"In a perfect world... spammers would get caught, go to jail, and share a cell with many men who have enlarged their penises, taken Viagra and are looking for a new relationship."
He's outsourcing, remember?
He's crowdsourcing the outsourcing
Even for a rough answer it would be good to know enough details to make a semi-educated guess
So how much do we charge? Or is that another thread's worth of question?He's crowdsourcing the outsourcing
I'll have to check the SLA.So how much do we charge? Or is that another thread's worth of question?
If it's non-standard, and they want it this year, it's going to be quite expensive.
Society's to blame,
Or possibly Atari.
How about either being a bit more welcoming to a new member, or keeping quiet?
We all could, after all, adopt that attitude to everyone that asks a question. What's the best processor for my circumstances? Do you own work. How do two graphics cards compare? Do you own work. And so on.
In which case, there's no point in having a forum, and we can all pack up and go home.
The questions asked were polite, seem like perfectly reasonable questions to ask if you're looking at doing something outside your range of experience, and you'd think a tech forum would be the place to ask.
The reaction in here so far is a disgrace to HEXUS, and I'm ashamed of it. If I were the new member that raised it, I'd be tempted to clear off and never come back. And for what? A bit of cheap point-scoring and a smart-arse answer.
Any further replies in here that aren't constructive and on topic will be removed.
chuckskull (12-03-2012),peterb (13-03-2012),Steve (12-03-2012),tiggerai (12-03-2012)
Basically 1 & 2 are cheap, because they forward stuff they shouldn't to 3, so you complain that 3 is expensive and label it as inefficent.
As such 3 dislikes anything below it, or <3.
throw new ArgumentException (String, String, Exception)
What type of business? How many employees? How old are your machines?
Huge number of variables I'm afraid:
How many employees?
Where are they? all in one building or spread over UK?
What OS? old or up to date?
What apps are you running? Anything bespoke or unusual?
Are you including servers, comms and infrastructure?
What risk will there be to the supplier? i.e. everyone stores everything on their own laptop and nothing gets backed up?
I could go on but I think you get the point; it's just not easy to give an answer that will accurately reflect what you need and the vendor could safely offer without a lot of info. Any vendor serious about helping would spend time getting to know your setup; if he doesn't then expect everything to be classed as "out of scope" and costs will skyrocket.
Or are you even based in the UK? Because this is a UK-based forum and so are most (but not all) of the members.
You will have to be a little more specific. Are you buying or selling the service ? and to whom are you trying to buy /sell it from or two ? Different markets will require a different approach.
my Virtualisation Blog http://jfvi.co.uk Virtualisation Podcast http://vsoup.net
Thank you so much for the responses so far. Sorry for not providing details in the original post. We currently have a full-time IT person, but he's leaving for another job. I thought I might be able to save some money by outsourcing the work instead of employing someone full-time to replace him. I've spent days searching the web for information, and there is quite a bit of information out there. I wanted to get some insight from the members here to validate the prices I've seen so far in my research. I think I've gathered all the questions posted.
Q: What type of business?
A: Engineering firm.
Q: How many employees?
A: 50. 50 desktops, 5 handhelds, and 35 smartphones.
Q: Where are they? all in one building or spread over UK?
A: In one building.
Q: What OS? old or up to date?
A: Windows XP and Windows 7.
Q: What apps are you running? Anything bespoke or unusual?
A: CAD app and typical business apps. Nothing unusual.
Q: Are you including servers, comms and infrastructure?
A: Yes to all. I think we have 3 servers. We have fiber from the phone company. VOIP service (52 lines/phones).
Q: What risk will there be to the supplier? i.e. everyone stores everything on their own laptop and nothing gets backed up?
A: Data is stored on the servers, but I suspect that there is some data is stored on the users' local machines. The servers are backed up nightly.
Most small business Support companies tend to have a couple of models. Some offer a bit more of a pay as you go service with a few calls thrown in. Some will offer a more fixed price service with perhaps an onsite visit per week.
I'd try and get some recommendations from other companies in the area - There can be quite a difference between what its promised and what delivered. Try and get your Service level expectations realistic but achievable - after all most Support companies know that you will vote with you wallet if they are not providing the service , but many will try to undercut the competition , which can lead to a few cut corners so always be slightly aware of the lowest bid !
I'm stuck for pricing as its been a couple of years since I've been in that industry , but I think its worth considering that a good outsourcer might cost as much as the full time member of staff , but will potentially offer you a wider and more stable level of service.
my Virtualisation Blog http://jfvi.co.uk Virtualisation Podcast http://vsoup.net
A firm I had dealings with a little while back was paying around £1k per month for a similar size setup to yours.
Not saying they were paying the right amount, they could've been getting fleeced for all I know, but that's what they paid. Thing is, there are still so many variables.
This place, they wanted guaranteed on-site support at least 1 day per month included in the price, plus guaranteed same-day on-site support if necessary. The support was supposed to be the where the buck stopped, so if anything went wrong they were entirely responsible for getting it up and working again.
They were in a similar situation to you though - they could've employed somebody with full experience of servers, networking and security at a high cost, or get somebody cheap with virtually no experience and rely on the support firm to help them out with anything that the employee couldn't do. For them, the latter was far cheaper.
Problem is, it's not just cost. They ended up having to end their relationship with one firm because they just weren't getting the service they needed - problems would crop up, and the IT support company would deny all responsibility. They'd then blame someone else, and ask for loads of money to get it sorted out. They'd promise things, and not supply them. For a member of staff on premises, there was a duty of care, and a desire to make things work as well as they could do - for a company offsite, there was simply a desire for profit. Every minute that wasn't going towards more cash was wasted, and every time they felt their grip loosening they used to kick up a massive fuss.
Another company went the other way, and were constantly interfering. They considered it appropriate to use the emergency remote access system to install updates and reboot the server in the middle of the day.
TL:DR, yes, it can work very well, and you may well save a lot of money. But in my experience, you can very easily suffer a lot of problems with IT support firms that you likely wouldn't have with an onsite employee, and even with a personal recommendation you can't be sure that it'll work out for you.
Thank you for sharing your experience and the advice. Much appreciated.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
