IT support is a necessary part of any business, and becomes more important as digital methods of conducting business become more popular. How you choose to cover your devices is an important decision that should be considered carefully. Charges, costs and payments structure are likely to influence your choice of support, but it’s also important to discover what the needs and requirements of your business are.

IT support

There are two choices of support plan: a pay as you go contract, or a monthly/annual contract. Each of these has its own pros and cons and Syntax IT Support London is here to help make sure you choose the right IT support for your business.

Pay as you go IT Support

The idea behind pay as you go IT support is that you are charged each time you request support. This is more commonly referred to as a ‘per incident charge’. It’s a no obligation, rolling agreement which means you only pay when you need the help. Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it?

It has its drawbacks though, and it’s important to be aware of them. It can be difficult to define an ‘incident’ – does it include a phone call? A simple task like restarting your PC? Charges for each ‘incident’ can be as much as £75.

In fact, you are usually charged by the hour when it comes to resolving incidents, so you could end up paying a high hourly rate whenever you need support. Buying blocks of time in advance usually works out cheaper, as you can then simply draw on it as and when you need it.

Charges for telephone and on-site support usually vary dramatically, and this is one thing you should definitely research before choosing your support. With some companies, an hour of on-site support can be as much as double the cost of an hour of telephone support. You also have no guaranteed response time for any incidents you report.

Pay as you go IT support is a good option to consider if you need to supplement in-house support or for cover when an IT staff member is off sick or on holiday. If you’re considering it as a permanent option however, be sure to research it thoroughly to make sure you aren’t paying more than you need to.

Monthly IT support

With monthly support, you pay a fixed amount each month to cover your business’s IT systems. You can also specify exactly what you want covered, meaning you can pay a larger amount to cover several or all of your devices, or a smaller amount to cover just one device. Just make sure the cover you’re paying is cheaper than simply replacing the device should it break.

Monthly support should include unlimited telephone support and a service level agreement, which gives you a guaranteed response time for IT issues which require on-site assistance.

Your monthly fee should cover everything except on-site visits, which usually result in an extra charge. Exactly what this charge is likely to be is something you should investigate before agreeing to any support contract.

A good IT support company will offer a mix and match service which suits most businesses, so you can cover certain key devices monthly and cover everything else on a pay as you go basis. This means that necessities like your server are always covered but you’re not paying extra to cover simple printer issues you could likely fix yourself.

Of course, every business is different so when interviewing a potential support company, you should expect them to recommend the right form of fixed contract and add-on support for your requirements.