The Managed Services Model – Always Better Than Break / Fix?

With many IT companies moving towards the managed services model of providing IT support, you could be forgiven for thinking that traditional break/fix support is dying completely. This article provides you with three reasons why, in some ways, the traditional model is still alive and well.

1. Some companies will always want to trim costs right down. Very small companies or those lacking funds will only ever call in the “IT people” when something is going badly wrong. They prefer to try to fix things internally and sometimes hobble along with systems that could work far more effectively if given more care and attention. Clients like this will never sign up for a managed services model; they will simply see it as a monthly cost that they can avoid. By continuing to provide break/fix support, you can win business from these clients. 

2. Some firms have competent internal IT resources. Some companies have one or more technically competent members of staff, whom they will assign to check backup logs and deal with day-to-day desktop support issues. Companies with this resource will be reluctant to commit to the managed services model, as they will probably only want to call on your business when something happens that the internal resource cannot deal with.

3. Some businesses simply don’t like to commit. Some businesses have bosses who always like to be in control. These are bosses who will want to call you in for a paid day and give you an (often unrealistic) list of issues to deal with. These bosses don’t like the loss of control that comes with passing over responsibility to an external managed services provider—and will probably end up with an inferior IT system as a result.

As you can see, there are some specific types of clients who will always favor break/fix over the managed services model. Whether you really want to choose to work with them is another matter entirely!

Are you trying to move your business to the managed services model? Share your plans in the Comments box below. 

And to follow through on the tips introduced in this short article,  especially if you also support SaaS and IaaS, be sure to enroll now in our free 7-day eCourse: Go-to-Market Strategy 101 for B2B SaaS Startups and Scaleups.