IT BlogTrue Flat-Rate IT: Your Business Should Save Its Nickels and Dimes | Fuse Technology Group | Detroit & Michigan

Many Michigan businesses rely heavily on their IT, even more so with staff working remotely. While the last year has presented many new challenges for businesses to face, one of the more frustrating problems has been the unexpected tech support bills that came from it.

We have an old analogy about those other IT companies out there. It goes like this:

It’s Friday morning, and the last day of the month. Your server goes down. You call your IT provider (who you pay a monthly service contract for), but they can’t get there until the end of the day, or maybe Monday. Meanwhile, you’re stuck, dead in the water. You plead, you demand, and convince your trusted IT provider to leap to action.

They arrive on site eventually, and work to get you back up. By the end of the day, your staff is up and running again, and things can go back to normal.

A week later you get a bill. Apparently, “escalation” wasn’t a part of your initial service contract.

We call that “kicking them while they’re down.” It’s abhorrent and everything we stand against at Fuse.

We’ve seen something similar over the years that plays out a little differently, so we’re updating our analogy:

Your staff is working from home, and one of your employees is struggling to gain access to the VPN to remote in and work. They put in a ticket with support (who again, you pay a monthly contract for). Support walks them through solving the issue, and it’s done in 20 minutes.

A week later you get a bill. This time, the excuse was that the user had an issue with their laptop at home.

The “kicking them while they’re down” motif comes in a lot of different varieties, but it still stings nonetheless.

Move Away from “Nickel and Dime” IT

So many IT firms claim they offer all-you-can-eat flat-rate IT support, but there is always a huge “if.” Granted, smaller, less experienced firms are wise to cover their backsides to prevent their clients from out-scoping contracts, but when you’ve been doing this for a long time, you have the experience to solve problems quickly and keep your time within budget.

We decided a long time ago that when we said flat-rate, we truly mean it. This means the printers, switches, routers, modems, and even smartphones that your staff use every day are supported. If an employee can’t print, we help them print. If a user can’t access their documents on their tablet, we see to it until it works. It’s covered under your agreement.

IT shouldn’t be a profit center. You invest in software and technology as tools to increase productivity. You work with an IT provider to keep these tools running smoothly. It’s unfair for an IT firm to throw you for a loop and charge you for support simply because the problem wasn’t expected.

We Provide True Flat-Rate IT Support

We’d be happy to show you how IT support should be. If you’ve been getting surprise, unexpected bills due to new IT challenges that your staff has had, it’s time to re-evaluate. We’d be happy to talk to you about your current IT problems, look at your existing IT budget (and bills) and show you how it should have been handled.

Want to get started? Give us a call at 248.545.0800 today.