But isn’t a casual arrangement much cheaper than a fully managed agreement?

Answer

Initially this can be true. Obviously it is cheaper not to engage IT support, or you can even try to fix problems yourself, rather than commit to a support agreement with a fixed recurring cost.

Over time, however, it becomes apparent that this is a far more expensive option. If your systems are not configured and maintained correctly they become much more expensive to maintain in the future. Faults become more common and require considerable cost and effort to resolve. In this situation your system also becomes disorganized and inefficient, causing you to forego the benefits of an efficient IT infrastructure. Your environment becomes a pointless cost, not a worthwhile investment.

Our experience with existing clients show that on average companies who use casual IT support require over twice the support hours per user than companies with a proactive or managed agreement, and these companies achieve a poor outcome from the money they spend. A support agreement is, therefore, most likely a much cheaper option!