What is the average cost of managed IT support for small businesses and larger companies, monthly contracts to service rates per hour?

It’s no secret that IT is a crucial aspect of running a small business. So much so that many small businesses look to hiring ongoing technical IT support in order to keep their business functioning properly and safe from outside interference.

Of course, when exploring the world of IT support, one thing is clear: securing high-quality support and premium security doesn’t come cheap – particularly if you don’t know what your available options are.

In this post, we’re going to delve a little deeper into IT support so that you can figure out how much it is likely going to cost you in order to keep your business running smoothly and securely.

So, what is the average IT support cost in Australia?

The important thing to remember is that the full cost of your IT support will differ depending on a number of different factors – primarily the provider.

So for instance, if you decide to hire a full-time IT technician for in-house support, you can expect to pay anywhere from $52,000 to $100,000 per year. In the same breath, when hiring in-house support you will also need to budget for training, insurance, vacation and sick days, etc. Supporting an in-house IT operation could end up costing your business tens of thousands of dollars every year.

Certainly, there are many benefits to having an in-house IT as a growing business. However, for small businesses, there are cheaper and more effective alternatives available. For example, outsourcing your IT support requirements to a reputable third party.

In fact, outsourcing your IT support services tends to be much less expensive (we’ll cover the average remote IT support cost shortly), highly flexible, and can be turned on and off as you require. So, how much will this cost, on average?

In most cases, the average cost of managed IT support services in Australia can range anywhere between $75 and $300 per user, per month. As such, you will need to assess your specific business requirements in order to find an accurate estimation.

When it comes to paying for ongoing IT support, the best approach is to enter into a contract with a reputable third-party IT support company. This often comes with a wide variety of advantages, including discounted rates (as opposed to an IT support rate per hour). For monthly IT support contract pricing, consider the following:

In this event, most IT support companies will require that you enter into a one-year contract.

• You will likely be required to pay an onboarding fee of one month of service
• You can expect to pay anywhere from $500 to $1,000 per month minimum contract

Typical monthly IT support contract package prices in Australia are as follows:

• $99 to $250 per user / $25 to $100 per workstation
• $75 to $400 per server.

If you would prefer not to enter into a contract or secure ongoing IT support, then there is always the option to hire IT support as and when it is necessary. IT support rates will typically be charged on an hourly basis.

IT support rates per hour can cost anywhere between $135 and $225. These figures don’t necessarily include certain influential factors like:

• Weekend rates
• Public holidays
• Emergency upgrades
• Travels fees & expenses
• IT support call-out fee
• Out of hours IT support rates

As such, depending on the complexity of the issue, the urgency of the problem, and a wide variety of other factors, the hourly rate may be higher in order to reflect those factors.

So, what is the average cost of IT support for small businesses in Australia? It’s important to recognise that the term SME applies to a wide variety of business sizes (could be anywhere from 1 to 20 users and beyond) so the average cost likely isn’t going to be of much use to you.

In any case, Australian SMEs spend an average of $52,000 AUD each year for IT support, products and services.

That said, it all really depends on the size of your business and your individual circumstances and requirements:

• For 1 to 5 users you can expect to pay $1,000 to $3,000 if you engage an IT service as and when things go wrong
• For 5 to 15 users you can expect to pay £3,000 to $9,000 on average if you engage an IT service as and when things go wrong
• For 15+ users you should definitely be considering either hiring in-house support or entering into an IT support contract with a reputable third party.

Understandably we’re throwing around a fair few numbers and likely only adding to your confusion. The fact is, you don’t want to be messing around with averages – you need actual facts. So, where do we go from here?

Your best approach is to speak with a reputable third-party support company and start figuring out exactly what kind of support is available to you.

• How many users do you have?
• What systems are you working on?
• What type of existing cyber-security do you have in place?

These are just a handful of the types of questions that we would need to ask before putting together an accurate and comprehensive proposal for you.

The important thing is you recognise how much value regular and consistent IT support can bring to your business. How much money would you stand to lose if your systems went down for an hour? A day? A week?

Once you have a better idea of what your current capabilities are, and the level of support you need, you can then start shopping around for quotes. Engage with a number of local, reputable IT support services and see what they can do for you.

Following that, with a significant amount more information and some accurate contract quotations, you should be able to make an informed decision from there.