Your employee can’t work. The software company says it’s the network. The MSP says it’s the software. Both tickets are open, and somehow you’re the person chasing an answer.

You hired a managed IT provider to take that problem off your desk. Instead, you became the manager.

That is the part a cheap quote never shows. The monthly price is right there in bold on the contract. But when you have to take time to get your MSP and your software vendor to cooperate, that low monthly bill doesn’t matter any more.

A lower quote can be a good deal. But if an MSP wins by promising the same service for less, it ought to be able to show how it will deliver that service. “Trust us” iswhat sales will say when they want the signature before the hard questions.

Why Do Cheaper MSP Quotes Often Mean Worse Service?

MSPs know how their own industry fails. The same ugly habits keep coming up: competing on price until service suffers, promising more than the team can deliver, neglecting patching or backup tests, and continuously onboarding clients without adding enough people to support them.

Those aren’t abstract management mistakes to the customer. They’re the ticket that sits in a queue while an employee waits, or the technician who has to learn your environment during an outage because nobody documented it. Eventually your team gives up calling support and starts working around the problem.

A provider shouldn’t get to call itself managed IT while the customer does the managing. If “unlimited support” is in the proposal, there had better be trained people with enough time to provide it. Otherwise, the MSP’s pricing problem has become yours.

Ask who takes the call, who handles a problem the first technician can’t solve, and what happens when the person who knows your systems is out. A provider proud of its service should be able to answer without hiding behind a list of tools.

We’re proud to answer those questions. You have a dedicated agent who knows your business, with a backup when they’re out. That backup has coverage too.

Who Fixes Problems Between Your MSP and Your Software Vendors?

Your MSP should, but only if the agreement says so. A password reset is easy to assign. The tough requests occur when there’s a conflict between systems, vendors, or support agreements. Your accounting software stops talking to the server, and your software vendor blames the network. The network provider points back. Your employees are still not able to work.

This is where managed IT either means something or turns into ticket forwarding. Will the MSP stay involved with the vendor? When does support become a separately priced project? Read the agreement while everything is working, because nobody wants to find exclusions in the middle of an outage.

Onsite service has a boundary too. JustMSP doesn’t charge extra for an onsite visit when a supported service or device needs troubleshooting and remote support isn’t feasible. Work on an unmanaged system or device is billed at an hourly onsite rate. You should know where that line is before you’re left waiting for help.

What Does “Security Included” Actually Cover in an MSP Contract?

“Security included” can sound like the end of a conversation, but it should be the beginning of one. An alert doesn’t investigate itself. A failed patch won’t figure out why it failed, and a backup job marked complete doesn’t tell you whether someone can restore the files your team needs. There has to be a person responsible for those extra steps.

Make the provider tell you who owns the response and what the agreement requires them to do. Solutions are easy to print on a proposal. When one of those products reports a problem, someone has to take action. If nobody does, your downtime or data loss is the potential consequence.

Should You Pay an MSP Onboarding Fee?

Only if the fee pays for a separate, defined project. JustMSP doesn’t charge an onboarding fee. We learn your environment and get your supported systems ready for ongoing support as part of taking on the job. Sending a separate bill simply for becoming a customer would be a strange way for us to start the relationship. Now, if there are missing licenses or broken hardware, those still have associated costs. Our transparent assessment will answer those questions quickly, and get you back to fully functional.

Some MSPs charge an onboarding fee just to begin the support you’re already planning to pay for every month. Ask whether that fee pays for a separate, defined project or simply gets you in the door. We do additional project work too, but we will quote for it separately. Compare the price of starting our support with the price of starting theirs. Then add any onboarding fee to the first year’s total. A low monthly rate can look very different after you account for the money required to get started.

How Do You Compare Two MSP Quotes Fairly?

Compare what each agreement covers, not just the monthly price. Even better, published pricing lets you see the cost before a sales call. JustMSP puts its monthly rate and per-user price on the website for that reason. But two providers quoting the same number of employees may still be offering different support. Check which systems each agreement covers, when your team can get help, and what costs extra. If the sales pitch promises to handle everything while the agreement is full of exclusions, you haven’t purchased managed IT. You’ve signed up for another sub-par service.

A final spot check should be contract length. Don’t get stuck in a three-year contract with no leverage. We work to earn your business every month. That’s how we keep you coming back.

Frequently Asked Questions