How Much would you pay for IT support for your business?

[Brendan]

Hey guys, just doing a bit of market research, how much would you pay for professional IT support, either at home or your business?

If there was an option to have a monthly payment so you can always have access to an IT person, what would you pay and what would you expect them to cover?

Thanks all! Just got a few ideas floating around..

[rosshill]

Not sure, I've never needed one and I probably won't ever pay for much. I know some guys who charge $90/hr and have a small call-center always available to businesses.

[Brendan]

Ross.. do they have a website?

[rosshill]

I'll DM you :)

[dutchezz]

Depending on what kind of business I'm running I would pay them accordingly...

I can say that personally because I have recently finished my Bachelor in I.T. and realised how underpaid a lot of people are..

Now I'm eating my way through 2 Masters Degrees and have done some voluntary research on payment of I.T. professionals around my region (QLD) and a lot of people think that IT support overcharges... however when they find cheaper IT help.. they are usually not satisfied.

[Brendan]

Interesting post dutchezz, I also think they over charge for what they do, but then I guess we need to realise how important IT is to a business, without efficient, reliable IT in a business, then thousands of dollars could be lost.. I guess it's just a case of being able to capture how much having good IT systems in place can actually save you in the long run.

I guess the next question I'm interested in is how much would you budget to invest in IT if you were just starting out your business?

[Carl Taylor]

Brendan,

My business currently is IT and we have a support plan membership that does what you refer to.

The trick is showing the business the value they are receiving.
What can you offer?
Guarantee even?
What would happen if they dont pay you a retainer?
What is their pain that you will alleviate?

Have a think about these things.

Remember you dont have to position yourself as the cheapest in fact i reccomend against being the cheapest, charge whateva you want then show the customer the value that justifies the charge.

[Carl Taylor]

one of our plans is currently $700 per month and that gives clients 2 hours of phone/remote support, 3 hours onsite, as well as some other great benefits.

and this plan is actually the one we have most clients on.