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February 3, 2026
Most businesses don't realize their current IT setup is costing them far more than it should—until the bills pile up or systems crash.
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Break/fix IT sounds straightforward. Something breaks, you call someone, they fix it. You pay for what you use. Simple, right?
Except it’s not. When your server crashes at 2 PM on a Tuesday, you’ll pay whatever it takes to get back online. That’s when you discover emergency IT calls cost three to four times more than planned maintenance. And that’s just the service bill.
The real cost is what happens while you’re down. Your team can’t work. Customers can’t reach you. Orders don’t get processed. For the average small business, system outages cost thousands of dollars per minute. One afternoon of downtime can wipe out weeks of profit.
Think about the last time you called for emergency IT support. The technician dropped everything to help you. That urgency costs money.
But here’s what most business owners don’t consider: that emergency probably didn’t need to happen. Most IT failures give warning signs days or weeks before they crash. A server running hot. A backup that’s been failing quietly for months. Security patches that never got installed.
When you’re in reactive mode, you’re always paying premium rates. The technician charges more because it’s urgent. The fix takes longer because they’re troubleshooting under pressure. And if parts need to be overnighted, that’s another expense.
Compare that to proactive monitoring. Issues get flagged before they become emergencies. Patches happen during off-hours. Backups get tested regularly. The monthly cost is predictable, and it’s a fraction of what you’d pay for a single emergency visit.
Small businesses typically underestimate their IT support costs by at least 50% when they ignore expenses like recruitment, training, and benefits for in-house staff. Or when they don’t factor in the true cost of downtime and emergency repairs with break/fix providers.
The break/fix model also creates a perverse incentive. Your IT provider only makes money when things break. They’re not motivated to prevent problems. In fact, preventing problems would hurt their bottom line.
That’s why businesses in Indianapolis, Terre Haute, and Danville are shifting to managed IT services with flat-rate pricing. You pay the same amount every month regardless of how many issues come up. That means your provider is financially motivated to prevent problems, not profit from them.
Let’s say you’re thinking about hiring an IT person. You see job postings around $50,000 to $60,000 for someone with decent experience. That seems manageable.
But salary is just the starting point. Add another 25-30% for benefits, taxes, and insurance. Now you’re at $65,000 to $78,000. Then factor in recruitment costs if you use an agency—that’s another 15-20% of the first-year salary. We’re looking at $75,000 to $90,000 before this person even starts.
And here’s the thing: one person can’t cover everything. They can’t be available 24/7. They can’t be an expert in cybersecurity, cloud services, disaster recovery, and network management all at once. When they’re on vacation or out sick, you’re exposed. When they leave, you’re scrambling to replace them while paying those recruitment fees again.
For businesses with 10 to 50 employees, outsourced IT support typically represents 30 to 50% of the expense of a single in-house IT staff member. You get access to an entire team of specialists instead of one generalist. You get 24/7 coverage instead of 8/5. You get predictable costs instead of salary negotiations and turnover expenses.
IT department turnover is particularly painful for small businesses. When your IT person leaves, they take institutional knowledge with them. The replacement needs three to six months to get up to speed on your systems. During that time, service bottlenecks pile up and productivity drops.
The real question isn’t whether you can afford managed IT services. It’s if you can afford not to have them when you factor in the true cost of the alternatives.
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Let’s talk real numbers. For comprehensive managed IT support in the Indianapolis, Terre Haute, and Danville area, businesses typically pay between $100 and $250 per user per month.
That range depends on what’s included. At the lower end, you’re getting basic help desk support and monitoring. At the higher end, you’re getting 24/7 support, proactive cybersecurity, cloud services management, disaster recovery, and compliance assistance.
Most businesses land somewhere in the middle, around $125 to $200 per user per month. For a company with 20 employees, that’s $2,500 to $4,000 monthly for complete IT management. Compare that to the $6,000+ you’d pay for one in-house IT person who can’t provide the same breadth of expertise or coverage.
Flat-rate pricing means you pay the same amount every month regardless of how much support you need. If you have ten tickets one month and fifty the next, the price doesn’t change.
This model works because it aligns incentives correctly. Your IT provider wants to prevent problems, not profit from them. The more proactive they are, the fewer issues you’ll have, and the smoother everything runs.
Here’s what you should expect in a comprehensive managed IT package: 24/7 monitoring of your network, servers, and workstations. Help desk support when employees have issues. Proactive patch management and software updates. Regular backups with tested disaster recovery procedures. Cybersecurity monitoring and threat detection. Cloud services management if you’re using Microsoft 365, AWS, or similar platforms.
The best providers also include strategic IT planning. They help you budget for technology needs, plan for growth, and avoid the costly mistakes that come from buying the wrong solutions or waiting too long to upgrade critical systems.
What’s not typically included: hardware purchases, major infrastructure projects, and specialized compliance work beyond basic guidance. Those usually involve separate project fees. But the day-to-day management, support, and monitoring—that’s all covered in your flat monthly rate.
One thing to watch for: some providers advertise low rates but exclude critical services. They might not include after-hours support. They might charge extra for on-site visits. They might limit how many support tickets you can open per month.
Ask specific questions before you sign anything. What happens if you get hit with ransomware? Is the remediation covered, or is that a separate billable incident? What about when you need to onboard a new employee and set up their systems? Is that included or an extra charge?
The providers worth working with will give you straight answers. They’ll explain exactly what’s covered and what’s not. They won’t hide fees in fine print or surprise you with charges later.
Proactive IT support costs more per month than break/fix services. That’s just reality. But it costs dramatically less over time when you factor in everything else.
Start with downtime. The average small business loses thousands of dollars per minute during critical system outages. One afternoon of downtime can cost more than a year of proactive monitoring. When systems are monitored 24/7, issues get caught and fixed before they cause outages.
Then there’s the cybersecurity factor. Small and mid-sized businesses accounted for 70.5% of data breaches in 2025. Attackers are using automation to target SMBs at scale, and 88% of ransomware attacks hit small businesses. The cost of a breach—between ransom payments, recovery expenses, lost business, and reputation damage—can be devastating.
Proactive cybersecurity monitoring catches threats early. Penetration testing identifies vulnerabilities before attackers do. Security patches get applied quickly instead of languishing for months. Employee training helps your team recognize phishing attempts and social engineering.
Cloud services are another area where proactive management saves money. Most businesses are paying for cloud resources they’re not using. Auto-scaling that never got configured properly. Storage that’s never cleaned up. Licenses for users who left months ago.
A good managed IT provider audits your cloud spending regularly. They right-size your resources. They eliminate waste. They make sure you’re using the services you’re paying for and not paying for services you don’t need.
Disaster recovery is the same story. Forty percent of small businesses fail to reopen after disasters. Ninety percent fail within a year if they can’t resume operations within five days. The cost of implementing proper disaster recovery—regular backups, tested recovery procedures, business continuity planning—is a fraction of the cost of trying to rebuild from scratch after a major incident.
When you add it all up, proactive IT support typically costs 30 to 50% less than the alternatives when you account for downtime, security incidents, wasted cloud spending, and the true cost of in-house staff or break/fix services.
If you’re still paying for IT only when things break, you’re probably paying too much. If you’re dealing with frequent downtime, security concerns, or an overwhelmed in-house IT person, you’re definitely paying too much—even if the monthly bill looks manageable.
The real cost of IT isn’t just what shows up on invoices. It’s the productivity lost to system failures. The opportunities missed because your team can’t work. The security vulnerabilities that exist because nobody’s actively monitoring your network.
Most businesses in Danville, Indianapolis, and Terre Haute discover they can get better service, better security, and better outcomes for less total cost when they switch to proactive managed IT services with flat-rate pricing. They get access to cybersecurity expertise, penetration testing, disaster recovery planning, and cloud services management—all for less than they were paying to put out fires.
We’ve been helping businesses across Illinois and Indiana solve exactly these problems for over 30 years. Predictable costs, 24/7 live support, and proactive monitoring that keeps your systems running so you can focus on running your business.
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