Understanding Break Fix IT Support & Managed IT Service

The trend in IT service for the past several years is a strong growth in Managed IT Service Programs or MSP for short.  What has been behind this growing trend and what does it mean for small and medium sized organizations?

Today's article discusses the significant differences between break fix I.T. support and managed IT services as it is practiced in Mississauga.  What are each of these programs?

Wikipedia defines Break Fix:

"This type of technical support has been very common in the services industry. It is also known as "Break-Fix" IT Support. The concept behind this type of support is that the customer pays for the materials (Hard Drive, Memory, Computer, Digital Devices etc.) as well as pays the technician based on their pre-negotiated rate when they have a problem"

It goes on to define Managed Services,

"Managed Services means a company will receive a list of well-defined services on an ongoing basis, with well-defined "response and resolution times" for a fixed rate or a flat fee. This can include things like 24/7 Monitoring of Servers, 24/7 Help desk for your daily computer issues and On-site visits by a technician when issues cannot be resolved remotely. Some companies also offer additional services like Project Management, Backup and Disaster Recovery^[3] and Vendor management in the monthly price."

1. These definitions bring out a key difference between the two practices; Break Fix is customer driven where they must initiate interactions and a request for support, while Managed Service is IT professional driven where the service response levels are predefined and action is taken without the customer specifically requesting each action.
2. The pricing model is very different.  Break Fix is primarily ad hoc with a negotiated call out rate for labout but everything else is on an as needed basis.  Managed service programs are much more all inclusive with a predetermined Service Level Agreement (SLA) which defines what, when and how things will be done by your IT professional.   With MSP you get all of the SLA for a single, predetermined price.
3. Break fix often leads to confusion about what should be covered in a service call and what was never anticipated.  Too often clients think that when they have an IT company supporting them on a break fix basis that the IT company should be providing an overview of their network and be advising them in advance what needs to be done.  Unfortunately, unless this service has been expressly requested, since the IT support work is done on a per hour basis, there is no room to be doing advance investigation, network analysis or serious preventative work unless specifically initiated by the client.
4. Managed services plans are very different in the way that they define the relationship between the client and supplier.  With these plans the discussion is much less about the inputs of what actions are to be taken, and more about the outcomes that the IT support company is prepared to deliver.  The discussions and contracts are based upon issues of network performance, predictability of work to be performed, and how the program will assist clients to maintain their productivity and performance. Of course items like response plans and the tools that will be used are important but the essential basis of the agreement still comes down to the results being achieved on a continuing basis.
5. Break fix plans are inherently unpredictable for both parties.  Since break fix plans are just what they describe, an adhoc deployment of resources when called for both the purchaser and the IT supplier are left with a less than predictable circumstance.  Unfortunately, these plans often lead to large surprise costs just when least likely to be affordable since the nature of the work entailed often is critical in timing and length.  Emergency repair procedures can consume budgets at alarming rates. For the IT provider they are also unpredictable since they never know when or if a customer will need service and this can lead to challenges with scheduling resources to respond as quickly as wanted.
6. Managed service plans are designed to avoid the unpredictability for both parties.  They are based upon a periodic (monthly is most common) retainer rate which covers all of the services and supports which are listed as part of the SLA agreement between the parties.  To accomplish this level of agreement the parties sit down and sort through the client's priorities; the levels of security, backup needs, instrusion management, upgrade needs, patch managment and help desk requirements before they finalize their contract.  There may be provisions for extended hours of support and specific performance levels for critical applications.  The basis of the discussion and the agreement is a full disclosure between the parties about what it takes to ensure a reliable and secure IT environment that meets the client's business requirements.  Delivery of services can be provided by specialized technical resources based upon the components of the client system.  The service provider will have knowledge of what is needed before it is critical.
7. One costs method more.  There is a belief that break fix IT support contracts are less costly than MSP programs.  The truth is that service for service MSP contracts will cost less over time than break fix.  Unfortunately, break fix support is often low level support with a lot of IT avoidance built into the equation and when this is compared to comprehensive IT service it looks cheaper.  Too often purchasers try to eliminate some of the key parts of IT support to save dollars.  The  reluctance to spend eventually catches up and leads to downtime, lower productivity, security issues and user frustrations.

The trend to MSP contracts for IT services has occurred primarily due to the increased compexity of network environments and a desire for predictability of costs.  It also has occurred because time and again it has been proven that a fully managed and defined IT process will save dollars.

If you are concerned about controlling the costs of your IT systems and achieving better results for dollars spent then consideration of managed services should be high on the agenda.  The discipline that this form of contract brings to the network both for design and support is crucial to creating a successful relationship between you as a client and your IT providerwhich can work over a long term.