Outsourced IT Support

[WLeg]

Just digging / researching....

What does our esteemed membership think is reasonable to pay for out sourced IT Support - I am trying to find rates for both on-site and remote options, in Central London ?

What qualities, certifications, experience, any other relevant factors do you look for in a IT company ?

(As I not asking for IT advice, but advice on IT support I though here was a better place than the IT sub-forum, however, if I'm wrong would a nice mod please move this post ?)

 

[Simon_M]

You pay peanuts, you get monkeys!

The SLAs are where they will catch you - I have been in situations where I have had to wait days for IBM or Oracle to do a job I could have done myself in minutes.

S

 

[brucemillar]

Central London is full of IT Support.

Problem is that many customers think that IT support should be free. More and more we are in competition with India where it is almost free.

Then it all goes bang and the perceived savings that they got bonus on evaporates in seconds as they realise they cant transact. Then it's all somebody else's fault. Not they guy who said I can save you loads on IT spend.

Depends exactly what you want to outsource. Mainframe, Storage, SAN etc.

 

[moonloops]

Too many variables to give you an accurate answer.

Just as an example, one firm I know pay £50k per annum per "engineer" for on-site resource 8am to 6pm on two shifts. You can figure that they are paying the staff between £25k and £35k per annum + overheads depending on experience of the "engineers".

If your company has rigid control of the infrastructure,apps and end devices the need for high quality support is less than if your business operates like the wild west!

 

[Brigham1806]

Just digging / researching....

What does our esteemed membership think is reasonable to pay for out sourced IT Support - I am trying to find rates for both on-site and remote options, in Central London ?

What qualities, certifications, experience, any other relevant factors do you look for in a IT company ?

(As I not asking for IT advice, but advice on IT support I though here was a better place than the IT sub-forum, however, if I'm wrong would a nice mod please move this post ?)

Depends what you want a number if companies offer managed services, including Dell, HP and others.

If its only a small project the big boys won't be interested. I work for one of the big names on managed services accounts. If you are wanting easy management and quick resolutions. Then this is the way to go.

Some have helpdesks in the uk some are world wide. All I will say is if you want it all you pay for it!

 

[grober]

Have you tried switching it off and on again?

 

[WLeg]

Thanks for the responses so far - I'm looking more at the Small Business end - so companies with less than 40-50 staff, where they don't have an internal IT team....

 

[A-AvantGarde]

Thanks for the responses so far - I'm looking more at the Small Business end - so companies with less than 40-50 staff, where they don't have an internal IT team....

What sort of systems do they need support with and what level of support is needed - do they need any on-site presence?

It's not my area, I work in internal IT with 1000's of users and have also managed large outsource contracts with some of the large IT outsourcers. I've come across a few organisations that do what you're looking for but I'm not that close to it.

 

[WLeg]

Looking at MS dynamics (Exchange, SharePoint, AD) and desktop support. Initial rmote, but with onsite if necessary/requested.

 

[A-AvantGarde]

Looking at MS dynamics (Exchange, SharePoint, AD) and desktop support. Initial rmote, but with onsite if necessary/requested.

Ok, that's helpful, do you know which flavour of Dynamics e.g. GP, NAV, AX or CRM? and how bespoke is / are the implementation?