For many decades, break-fix IT support was the standard. But its popularity has declined in recent years, as another contender has taken the spotlight: managed IT services. Thought leaders claim that managed services are the future. Are they right? Or does break-fix support still have a place in the world?
This article will explore the ongoing debate of break-fix vs managed services, and explain which model is best for your needs. By the end, you will know exactly which to choose.
Break-Fix and Managed IT: What are They?
Before going any further, it’s crucial to define these terms.
Break-fix IT support is the traditional model that businesses across the world have relied on for years. You wait for something to break, then call an expert. The problem is solved, you pay the invoice, and work continues as normal.
Managed services offer a more proactive approach. Rather than waiting for an outage to occur, you hand over daily maintenance and monitoring to a third party. These experts watch your systems for any issues, often resolving them before they can result in downtime.
Leaders in the IT industry have recently accused the break-fix model of obsolescence. But why? It all comes down to one thing: downtime.
The Real Cost of Downtime for SMBs
For some companies, downtime is an inconvenience. For small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs), it’s a disaster. Even a few hours can have a far greater impact than you might expect:
- Financial: The upfront costs alone are often frightening. Just one hour of downtime can cost thousands of dollars. Larger enterprises have the money to lose, but an SMB is usually operating on razor-thin margins to start with.
- Operational: As staff sit idle, tasks quickly pile up and your entire workforce slowly begins to fall behind. Even once the downtime ends, it could take days to return to full operational capacity. This damages employee morale, potentially increasing turnover.
- Reputational: Long periods of downtime, especially if they occur repeatedly, damage your professional reputation. Clients and partners need to trust that you’ll be available when they need you. If they can’t, they might go elsewhere in future.
One thing is clear: you must avoid downtime at all costs. So it follows that when choosing your desired IT support model, you should prioritise the one that helps maintain continuity.
Managed Services vs Break-Fix: Which is Best?
If downtime is the yard stick by which a support model is measured, then which is best? In almost all situations, the answer is managed services. Outsourcing provides a number of powerful advantages over the break-fix model:
Fewer Outages
A managed service provider (MSP) proactively monitors your systems 24/7. This allows them to identify the common warning signs of an impending breakdown, attack, or other incident. They will act immediately to resolve the problem, preventing many outages from occurring at all.
Faster Recovery
When you do experience downtime, your MSP steps in at once to resolve the issue causing it. This means employees can return to work sooner, reducing the burden on them once downtime ends and ultimately improving morale.
Access to On-Demand Expertise
One of the biggest perks of partnering with an MSP is that you gain immediate access to a full team of IT experts. Any questions you might have about your technological infrastructure can be directed towards them, improving your own knowledge and reducing the risk of user error in the future.
Less Damage
Even if the worst happens and you experience an extended period of unplanned downtime, a third party will help mitigate the harm caused to your business. Preventative measures such as backups and strong security minimise the amount of data lost, and faster recovery times preserve both your finances and reputation.
Keep Your Business Running Smoothly
Downtime is expensive, distracting, and entirely avoidable. But to prevent it, you must stop relying on solutions that only begin to address the problem when it’s too late. The question of break-fix vs maintenance comes down to how much work you can afford to lose. If the answer is “Not much”, then the managed service model provides you with a way to preserve continuity, control monthly costs, and ensure seamless productivity.
Good IT isn’t just about continuous maintenance. It’s also about the one-time projects that end quickly, but can have long-lasting ramifications on your business. We have over 20 years of experience helping clients complete their projects quickly, efficiently, and with as few issues as possible. If that sounds appealing to you, learn more today.
FAQ
What’s the Difference Between Break-Fix vs MSP Services?
“Break-fix services” are when you wait for a problem to announce itself, and then hire someone to address it. Managed services involve a long-term partnership with an expert known as a “Managed service provider”, or MSP, who will perform ongoing maintenance to prevent those issues from appearing in the first place.
What’s the Most Important Factor When Choosing Between Managed IT Services vs Break-Fix?
The most important factor to consider when choosing between break-fix and managed IT is business continuity. Costs (the fixed monthly fee of an MSP, compared to the irregular and unpredictable costs of a break-fix provider) come in at a close second.
Is an MSP Overkill for a Small Team?
Small teams can absolutely benefit from managed services. In fact, due to budget constraints and limited room for error, SMBs often stand to gain far more than a larger company would.
Can I Mix Models?
If you prefer to combine a break-fix approach with managed services, this is certainly possible. Some SMBs choose to hand over only their most critical systems to an MSP, while using the break-fix model for everything else.
Which is More Cost-Effective: Managed IT, or Break-Fix?
Generally speaking, managed IT is typically more cost-effective than break-fix. This is because an MSP only charges a set monthly fee, whereas the costs associated with time-sensitive repairs are often much higher and harder to predict. However, break-fix might be cheaper if you only occasionally experience IT issues and don’t require constant oversight.
