How Much Does IT Support in Idaho Cost?

If you are a business owner, medical practice manager, or company executive in Idaho wondering about the cost of IT support, cloud migration, cybersecurity, etc., you are not alone. You may have noticed this information is not on most IT service providers’ websites. Why? Well, mostly because there are different types of services and wide ranges for pricing of those services. I have done my best to fully explain the most common options here, as well as actual pricing you can expect to see in Idaho.

IT support for businesses comes in a few different flavors. You generally have four options:

1. “Chuck in the Truck” – the one-man band who services small companies or residential customers for an hourly rate
2. Pay by the Hour – IT service companies who sell blocks of time to fix things that are broken or complete small projects
3. Managed IT Providers (MSPs) – IT support at a monthly rate
4. In-house IT Department – one or more people within your company who handle IT

For more information on the typical evolution of technology support within a business and a detailed explanation of the four IT flavors above, see this post I have previously written. Since options 1 and 2 are pay by the hour scenarios, prices will vary depending on the project the IT service provider is contracted to complete. In Idaho, I have seen rates anywhere from $60 – $139 an hour depending on the project.

Let me start by saying that both the Chuck in the Truck and Pay by the Hour models are absolutely necessary services to our Idaho communities. Typically, in the business world, a company with less than 10 employees will only need (and will only be able to budget for) one of these two options. This is the starting point for almost every small business.

As a company grows, it will require full-time IT support by either an MSP, In-house IT, or both (usually called co-managed IT). This brings us to the meat of this post: how much does IT support cost in Idaho? To answer that question, the first thing you need to understand is it depends on what is included. Most MSPs claim to be all-inclusive at a fixed monthly rate, but every company has defined edges – don’t you in your company? It is important you ask about the edges of that company before you partner with them. For example, most MSPs will include server backups in your monthly fee, but some do not. And hardly any MSPs include O365 backups in the monthly fee – this is typically an extra charge. 

One very important service to ask about is cybersecurity. Most IT companies are really great at IT but not so good with cybersecurity. This is because cybersecurity is evolving at a rapid rate. Unless a company is dedicating time and resources to continually learn about and research new cybersecurity threats and solutions, they will not be able to adequately mitigate your cyber risk. That does not mean they are not a great IT company. It just means that they focus on IT and not on cybersecurity.

You will need to decide what level of risk you are willing to accept for your company. Look at your company values and mission. Look at any compliance regulations you may fall under (HIPAA, GDPR, etc.). Have a discussion with your leadership team. Think about your emergency response plan, technology policies, and what you will do when you get a data breach or ransomware attack (I say when not if because that is the reality). After considering all these things you should be able to make a confident decision on whether you will choose an MSP who just focuses on IT and light security like anti-virus, or whether you will partner with an MSP who has cybersecurity experts on staff and uses Zero-Trust computing. There is no right answer here because each business owner should choose their own risk-tolerance level.

For managed IT support in Idaho with the very basic security protections (anti-virus, patching, firewall, etc.), you should expect to pay somewhere in the range of $89 – $130 per user per month. Take note that some companies charge by the number of users and some charge by the number of computers and servers.

Some of these companies may also offer a low rate for 24×7 monitoring, but then charge for time and materials on any actual helpdesk work that needs to be done (this includes when your employee calls in to see why their printer won’t work – you can imagine how the hours start adding up!).

For a managed IT support partner in Idaho that is also an expert in cybersecurity, you should expect to pay anywhere from $130 – $185 per user per month. This is a large range because, once again, remember each company has edges to what is included in their standard offering. Most companies also charge a fee for onboarding a new client, which is typically around the same price as one month of service (however, this can vary by company). Additionally, be prepared for projects that may come up during the onboarding process. These projects, such as cloud migration, a new server, VoIP system, etc. will be an additional charge outside of the monthly service because they are one-time projects.

Here is an example of what an Idaho company of 20 people may expect to pay when choosing a managed IT and cybersecurity partner:

Monthly service: $165 x 20 = $3,300
Onboarding fee: $3,300
New server: $4,200
_______________________________
First Month Total: $10,800
Ongoing Monthly Total: $3,300

Keep in mind this number could change heavily depending on any project work you will need done to bring your company’s infrastructure up to date, as well as additional monthly services you may need such as O365 licensing and backups or a VoIP phone system.

Lastly, be prepared for your cost of service to go up over time. I typically see an increase anywhere from 3-5% year over year. This is simply because the cost of doing business goes up, as well as the cost of improving technology.

Hopefully, this article has helped to answer your questions on how much IT support and cybersecurity cost in Idaho. If you still have questions, don’t hesitate to give us a call or send us a message.