Written By: Frank Saulsbery
THE LATEST THOUGHTS FROM THE FOUNDER
A running column from Frank Saulsbery. Not a sales pitch, just the way he’d explain it if you pulled up a stool next to him. Meet Frank →
A SNEAK PEEK…
“At the end of the day, the goal isn’t to spend more. It’s to have fewer surprises.”
A very very common question “Help me understand this. How do you actually come up with your pricing?”
And it’s a fair question. Because on the surface, managed services can feel a little confusing. You’re paying a fixed monthly amount, but you don’t always see something “break” or a big repair happening. So naturally, you wonder what’s behind the number.
If you’ve ever felt that way, you’re not alone. Most business owners are used to paying for things as they happen. Something breaks, you fix it, you get a bill. Simple and familiar. So shifting to a model where you’re paying ahead of time can feel like a leap.
The easiest way to understand it is this. You’re not just paying for repairs anymore. You’re shifting who is responsible when things go wrong.
In a traditional break-fix or time-and-materials setup, the responsibility sits with you. If something fails, if the network goes down, if your team can’t work for two hours, that impact belongs to the business. You may have someone you call to fix it, but they weren’t actively watching or maintaining things before it happened.
It’s a bit like having a car and only going to the mechanic after it breaks down on the side of the road. Nobody planned for it, and now you’re dealing with the cost and the downtime all at once.
With managed services, that responsibility shifts. Instead of waiting for something to break, the provider is actively keeping systems updated, secure, and running the way they should. If there’s a problem, it becomes their job to resolve it quickly and minimize the impact on your business.
So when we talk about pricing, we’re not just looking at how often things break. We’re looking at everything it takes to keep them from breaking in the first place.
That includes the time spent monitoring systems, keeping software up to date, protecting against threats, management tools, anti-virus software, backup services etc. all while making sure everything runs efficiently day to day. Over the years, working with thousands of devices, you start to see patterns. You know how much effort it takes to properly support a business of a certain size and complexity.
That history is what helps shape the baseline pricing.
Then there are other factors layered on top. Some businesses have compliance requirements that require additional oversight and reporting. Others use specialized software that takes more time and training to support. Those things are very real, and they do affect the level of effort required to do the job well.
Now, here’s the part that I think is important to say out loud. Not every business needs the same level of service.
If you’re a very small operation with minimal technology and low risk, you may not need a comprehensive managed services setup right away. In those cases, a simpler approach might be just fine for a period of time.
But once your business relies on technology to operate day to day, and downtime starts to affect your customers or your team, that’s usually when the conversation changes. It becomes less about saving money in the short term and more about creating consistency and avoiding disruption.
What I’ve seen over the years is that most businesses don’t mind paying for support. What they really want is predictability. They want to know their systems are being taken care of and that if something goes wrong, it’s not going to derail the day.
So when you look at managed services pricing, it’s less about the monthly number and more about what responsibility is being taken off your plate.
Question to think about.
If something critical went down tomorrow, who owns fixing it, and how confident are you that it would be handled quickly and completely?
If you feel confident in that answer, you’re likely in a good place.
If there’s some uncertainty, it might be worth taking a closer look at how your current support model is structured and whether it’s really aligned with how your business operates today.
At the end of the day, the goal isn’t to spend more. It’s to have fewer surprises. And sometimes the best first step is simply understanding what you’re already responsible for and deciding if that’s where you want to stay.
That’s how I see it, anyway, and I’d enjoy hearing how you see it. None of this is a sales pitch. It’s just the kind of thing I’d talk through with you if we were sitting across the table. If it raised a question, or you think I have it wrong, I want to hear about it.
My door is always open. Whether you want to talk this through or just say hello, you can reach me anytime.
Network Solutions Unlimited is a generational managed IT services provider based in Decatur, Illinois, serving businesses and nonprofits with genuine support and decades of trusted relationships. Led by Baily Saulsbery and founded by her father Frank, we're not just your IT provider; we're your neighbors who happen to be really good at technology. Contact us today to experience IT support that actually cares.
