IT support for a mid-sized business (50 to 100 employees) in St. Louis can be expected to cost between $3,500 per month and $12,000 per month. Yes, this price range is broad; that’s because it’s accounting for a broad range of factors.
However, it is possible to narrow things down somewhat. At a more granular level:
- The cost of desktop support: We’ve seen companies offer support at $20 per desktop (although, frankly, it wasn’t very good support at this price) and $100+ per desktop.
- The cost of server support: Server support can start as low as $100 per month and can go up from there.
- The cost of network support: We’ve seen network support at $300 and into the thousands per month, depending on the setup and needs.
These numbers don’t directly reflect our prices at ATB Technologies, but they should give you an idea of how much IT support might cost for your business. At the end of the day, though, asking how much IT support costs is like asking “How much does a vacation cost?” The answer depends on the vacation.
To get an accurate representation of the cost for your needs, we recommend getting a custom quote.
At ATB Technologies, we offer free quotes for St. Louis IT support. Get in touch with us St. Louis IT support or at (314) 878-4166 and we can walk through your IT needs to provide a clearer estimate of where your business will fall.
If you’re not ready to move ahead with a quote – or if you’re simply looking for more information – keep reading to learn more about the factors that impact IT support cost.
What factors impact IT support costs?
There are many factors at play on both sides of IT service – some relate to the client (you), and some relate to the vendor.
These factors include:
What model of IT support will be delivered?
For the numbers we referenced at the beginning of this article, we worked under the assumption that support would be delivered via a managed service delivery model.
This model (where services are delivered at a fixed monthly rate, no matter what) incentivizes planning, allows for proactive system care, and negates the risk of unexpected IT expenses. Consequently, it tends to be the most cost-efficient model of support, and it’s increasingly the most common. But there are other models of support, too.
Let’s take a look at cost considerations for two alternative models of IT support:
Internal IT support (hiring an employee).
Generally, choosing internal IT support tends to be significantly more expensive than outsourcing IT support.
Let’s run the numbers really quickly to show why. First, internal IT support personnel are most often salaried, and Indeed’s data shows that the average IT support employee makes $53,000 per year at the helpdesk level while the average qualified single internal IT guy is in the $75-$90k range. If you factor in the cost of benefits (things like insurance, vacation, sick time, payroll tax) at a conservative mark of $10,000 per year, you end up at a total cost of between $80,000 and $100,000.
On a monthly basis, that will run somewhere in the vicinity of $8,000 a month.
Also note that this scenario hasn’t accounted for any additional training or technology that the IT employee will need to do their job. If training or technology is needed, the cost goes up.
In the end, the moral of the story is that internal IT support can be an expensive solution. We recommend pursuing this solution only in specialized cases – contexts where constant onsite support is needed, for example, or where a single skill is the only requirement.
Break-fix IT support (hourly rate).
Traditionally, the industry worked under the break-fix IT support model. The name of the model is self-explanatory; businesses pay for support when things break. IT providers get paid at an hourly rate.
This can seem appealing to smaller businesses, who may prefer to avoid recurring payments or who believe that they’ll have few IT needs. If you opt for this model, you’ll work under the hope that support will rarely be needed – and that, if it ever is, it’ll be delivered quickly and comprehensively to avoid recurring issues.
The bad news is that this is almost never how things work in real life.
Break-fix models can work well for very small businesses for a time. But they make cost projections next to impossible, because, since support isn’t proactive, you can never predict when and what will break under this model. And when things do break, the costs can be incredibly damaging.
Let’s say your IT company has a (generously low) rate of $60 per hour. You may go three months without a major issue only to have your two servers crash unexpectedly in month four. After three days with two techs onsite, you’re looking at a bill for $2,880 – before any new technology costs are factored in.
This is not cost-efficient, it’s not at all predictable, and it actually incentivizes providers to do shoddy work, since they’re only paid when things break.
What is your business like?
Aside from the model of IT support, there are a variety of other factors that will impact cost. Most of these are related to the context of the business itself. This includes considerations like:
- What industry are you in? (Specialized industries may incur unique costs.)
- How many servers are being supported?
- How many workstations?
- How many users?
- Are there remote users?
- What technology is the business using?
- What degree of onsite help is needed?
- Is a helpdesk needed?
- What level of network monitoring is needed?
- Are there compliance standards?
- Will the support include hardware or software setup?
- Will support include strategic planning or simply maintenance?
These questions are a good starting place – but they’re still only a start. So, again, the cost of your business’s IT support can vary greatly.
If you want a more meaningful idea of what IT support might cost in your context, your best bet is to consult a professional.
Ready to Get a Custom Quote for Your St. Louis Business’s IT Support?
Hopefully, this information has been helpful as you consider the cost of IT support for your St. Louis business.
If you’re ready to take the first step toward a custom quote – and IT that gives you an advantage – let’s talk.
At ATB Technologies, we provide IT support for St. Louis businesses across a variety of industries
We’ve found that the quality and efficiency of your IT systems is directly related to the ease of communication and comfort your team has with their IT provider. The key to creating systems that serve your business well is rooted in having IT professionals that make that process enjoyable and earn your trust across the organization.
Too many businesses are stagnating with IT issues thanks to a lack of communication or personality issues that come from bad communication that builds mistrust over time. That’s why we hire for communication skills and focus on customer service.
Our end-to-end approach gives businesses the best technology for their needs and prevents issues before they happen so that our clients can turn IT into an advantage.
If you’re looking for better IT at a cost that makes sense – get in touch today.