Break-Fix vs Managed IT Services: Which is the Best Value?
When you’re running a business, you’re always looking to get the best value for the products and services you buy, but sometimes knowing what that is can be difficult to judge.
Some common business decisions are:
- Do you buy company cell phones for your employees or have them use their own and reimburse them?
- Should you outsource your accounting or do it in house?
- Is it cheaper to wait until something goes wrong with your computer to fix it or use a proactive managed services plan?
Making the wrong choice can cost you more than you realize, especially if it’s tied to the IT infrastructure that you need to keep your business operational.
Some small businesses try to reduce costs by foregoing regular IT maintenance and just waiting until something needs to be fixed before calling in an IT professional. This type of approach is called “Break-Fix.”
While break-fix services do mean you won’t have a monthly service fee, it also results in not knowing when your budget is going to be hit by a large IT bill because those breakdowns will come out of the blue when your technology isn’t being regularly monitored.
Managed IT services have a monthly fee and include regular maintenance, monitoring, and proactive support of your technology to keep it updated, secure, and to address any potential issues before they result in downtime.
So, which is the better value for your business?
The Cost-Saving Benefits of Managed IT Services
While only paying for something when it breaks may initially seem like you’re saving money, statistics show that it ends up costing you more in the long run than if you subscribed to an ongoing managed services plan.
Each unmanaged computer costs businesses approximately $5,000 per year due to multiple costs associated with not properly maintaining your technology. These include:
- Loss of productivity when there is an IT issue
- Unexpected downtime
- Cost of emergency repairs
Another potential issue with a break/fix approach is that your network can be more at risk for a data breach or malware infection.
Having a managed IT services plan that keeps your IT infrastructure well-maintained, secured, and monitored for any signs of trouble offers the better value overall. Here are several advantages.
Reduces Unexpected Downtime
If you’re waiting for something to break before having it fixed, then by definition that’s going to mean unexpected downtime. When your computer or network is offline due to a breakdown, you’re losing money every minute.
The average cost of unexpected downtime is $5,600 per minute.
Just one downtime incident that takes several hours to fix can cost you more in downtime than paying for a year of of managed IT services.
Improves Device & Network Security
One of the most helpful features of managed IT services is that it includes patch and update management that ensures your systems are always kept up to date. Unpatched vulnerabilities are a major cause of data breaches.
Continuous monitoring of your network for any threats also helps improve your cybersecurity by alerting you should anything look suspicious. Other protective features of managed IT services include managed antivirus and firewall.
Increases Staff Productivity
If your employees are taking just 15-20 minutes out of their day to deal with IT problems, that loss of productivity can mean over 6.5 hours per month in lost productivity per employee.
When you have a relationship with a managed services provider, like C Solutions, you and your team have a technical support resource to go to when they need it to help with an issue quickly. And ongoing maintenance will mean there are fewer IT issues to plague your staff.
Increases Equipment Longevity
When you change the oil in your car regularly, your car will last longer. The same is true of properly maintaining your computers, servers, and other devices.
If your IT infrastructure is properly maintained, it reduces your replacement costs and allows you to get more lifespan out of your IT investments.
Predictable IT Costs
When you’re not keeping your computers maintained, you never know what month you’ll get hit with a big IT repair bill, making it impossible to properly budget your technology costs.
When you subscribe to a managed IT services plan, you know exactly what your IT costs will be each month. That makes budgeting easier and by knowing what your monthly costs will be, you can have the confidence to invest in other areas of your business.
You Can Focus on Your Business
One of the problems with not having anyone to watch over your technology is that you and your team end up being a de facto IT department, but one without the experience and expertise to quickly address problems.
Working with a managed IT service provider allows you to leave the technology to a pro and focus 100% on your core business, knowing that your technology will support you rather than hold you back.
Ask about Our Awesome Managed IT Services Plans!
C Solutions offers affordable and flexible managed services plans to match your needs and budget and to keep your technology running efficiently.
Contact us today to learn more! Call 407-536-8381 or reach us online.