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Q&A: Choosing the right IT support

By on December 04 2006

Q: I’ve had a few problems with my computers over the past year – bigger problems than I’ve been able to fix and it’s cost me a packet. I now realise we should get some IT support. How do I go about choosing someone reliable and not too expensive? Are there professional certificates that they should have for example?

Answered by Richard Hall, partner at Ernst & Young

Over the last couple of years there has been an increase in the number of small businesses that are dependent on their IT. As a result, there has been a rise in the number of people looking for IT support.

In the last year, however, things have changed with regard to IT support. Gone are the days of being able to rely on friends or colleagues to solve problems; gone too are the days of huge charges for IT support.

There are now a number of subscription support services available. BT Business IT Support Manager offers smaller companies like yours access to a professional IT help desk when you need it from as little as £10 per month. Trained professionals can talk you through symptoms and, with your permission, access your computer to solve problems. They can also offer advice on any aspect of your IT, whether that be setting up a wireless network or developing your systems.

Richard Hall is an Ernst & Young partner focusing on fast-growth, dynamic, middle market businesses. Richard leads a 3,000-strong team located in offices throughout the UK who are committed to helping middle market businesses grow. Richard's role includes leading the middle market transaction advisory services team.

Comments [3]

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Comment by matt Salandy at 3:38pm, 27 Mar 2007

Getting the right IT support for your business is very important to your growth prospects, especially if you are a web based company. Any downtime can have a huge impact on your brands image and revenue.

Comment by Mark Duffy at 4:27pm, 18 Feb 2008

We have used an IT company lately for our SME outsourced bookkeeping & accounting business and I must warn you all to check the small print. Their initial fees seems quite good (£36/hr) fixed number of hours for the year etc. BUT they did a systems audit for us which they said was sensible for us to see where our systems were and made recommendations which they are saying will take 96 hours! And all at their "consultancy rates" of £75/hr! An extra £7,200! It seems their fixed fee for the year is only for remedial repair works and we need to pay the consultancy rates for general work. Check the deal really carefully so you don't get stung! mark@duffyuk.com

Comment by Matthew Zagni at 12:57am, 12 Oct 2008

Choosing the right IT support is essential for a business. A good provider for IT in the rural community could start on average £35 per hour for PC's Server support could be more (2007-8 rates). In some cases expect a call out charge (Normally the hour rate), City charges differ I think in some cases £75 pr hour. For Telecoms as this is a specialist area expect to pay for the product the bigger the system expect to pay more normally £75 - 120 hr, sometimes not including call-out/travel charges. If someone is offering less watch out for the quality and after sales service, some will charge for telephone support. Routing and networking and firewall systems consultancy a charge of anything up to £900 + per day for a Cisco system is at the higher range, and for a skilled specialist (if you have the only box within 100 miles and there are only 3 people in the country). Hourly rates or day rates ? IT support companies prefer to use hourly rates due the sometimes additional work, the 'oh just one other thing' to many ‘things’ normally make another work package so another hour. Day rates These are good if you know how long a project is going to last. Contracts. Some support companies like these as a guaranteed revenue stream, if they know the client is not going to tamper with the system too much. But if a client has a so called 'whiz kid' who likes to tamper with a system then expect a higher support cost as the support company may need a higher skills level to work out why and what the clients 'whiz kid' has done and then fix it. Also the system may need to be up to date, support on very old systems may cost more (look at leasing, and upgrades) and parts could be end of life. But if you have a good system then why pay for a contract when you will only see (with luck a support man every 6 months) and then only see them for 2 hrs. The client may have a bill for 6 months support contract at £200+ per month but when you see the engineer the work in hourly rate is for the 2 hrs equals £75 (£35 x 2hrs). Most IT support companies talk to other companies and if the client is known to tamper then expect a higher support cost. Integrating a system into another company after an MBO or MBI etc could be more expensive. i.e. consultancy fees apply therefore expect to pay for the expertise, topping £75 - 120 per hour. You might in some circumstances depending on the skill level look at £45+ PC work. Project management charges expect a higher rate. Our company specialises in the aspects of support and Consultancy and financing including leasing for MBO's MBI's integrating and designing IT systems including telecoms between companies for : Billing, Payroll systems, Networking, Comms, Design and Back office, database systems. From 1996 we have worked with many blue chip companies also many SME's.

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