The short answer

Managed IT support for a Canberra business can range from a few hundred dollars per month for a very small organisation to several thousand dollars per month for a business with dozens of users, multiple locations, security requirements and more complex technology.

The important number is not simply the monthly fee. It is the total cost of keeping your business productive, secure and supported.

A cheaper IT provider can become expensive very quickly if staff regularly lose hours waiting for support, projects are constantly billed separately, security tools are missing or IT problems keep returning.

What determines the cost of managed IT?

The biggest factors are usually:

Number of users and devices

A 10-person accounting practice has very different support requirements from a construction company with 80 staff, several offices, mobile workers and shared devices.

Level of support

Some agreements cover basic remote support only. Others include proactive monitoring, patching, Microsoft 365 administration, cyber security, onsite support, vendor management and strategic advice.

Security requirements

Businesses handling sensitive, financial, health, government or customer information usually need stronger controls such as multi-factor authentication, endpoint protection, device management, backup, conditional access and security monitoring.

Number of locations

Supporting one office is generally simpler than supporting offices, warehouses, remote employees and home workers across multiple locations.

Projects

Microsoft 365 migrations, office moves, Wi-Fi upgrades, new servers, cyber security projects and hardware replacements may be included, discounted or charged separately depending on the agreement.

Per-user pricing versus fixed monthly pricing

Many managed service providers charge per user.

For example, a business might pay one monthly amount for every supported employee.

Other providers use a fixed-price arrangement based on the overall environment.

Neither method is automatically better.

The key question is:

What is actually included?

A $100-per-user service that excludes projects, onsite visits, security and backups may ultimately cost more than a $150-per-user service that includes them.

What should a Canberra business ask before signing?

Ask your provider:

• Is remote support unlimited?
• Is onsite support included?
• Are Microsoft 365 changes included?
• Are new starters and leavers included?
• Is endpoint security included?
• Is backup included?
• Are projects charged separately?
• Are after-hours incidents covered?
• Is there a minimum contract?
• Who manages third-party vendors such as internet, printers and phones?
• How quickly are support requests normally answered?

What is a reasonable way to judge value?

Imagine a 30-person company where five employees each lose two hours per month because of recurring IT problems.

That is already 10 lost working hours every month before considering management time, missed deadlines or frustrated clients.

Good IT support should reduce that disruption.

The best managed IT arrangement is therefore not necessarily the cheapest invoice. It is the arrangement that keeps people working while controlling risk and making technology predictable.

Canberra-specific considerations

Canberra businesses often operate in industries where security, Australian data residency, government customers and compliance requirements matter.

That can change the technology and security controls your business should use.

It is worth discussing these requirements before choosing a provider rather than discovering them after signing a contract.

Want to know what your IT should cost?

ITS Canberra can review your current environment, support agreement and recurring IT costs and show you where money may be wasted.

We make IT work.