IT Support Los Angeles

The IT Support Team services and manages computers, networks, phones, software, and the internet connection(s) for small businesses. There is a proactive and reactive component. IT Support companies proactively monitor, patch, update, protect, and plan for the timely replacement of client servers, workstation security equipment, and software. IT support involves setting up disaster recovery plans along with redundancy and failover in order to meet the needs and recovery time objectives of the business. Fast reactive support is important should something fail like internet connectivity, mission-critical application server failure, so everyone in the small business stays productive. The quicker IT support can respond the better. DCG has been providing IT Support to our Los Angeles area clients since 1993.

IT Support Costs in Los Angeles can vary widely. The average hourly rate for IT Support by experienced engineers is $125 - $225 per hour. A widely accepted practice is to charge on the low side of that range for Level 1 ( Least experienced) to on the high side of that range for Level 3 ((Most experienced) IT support engineers. At DCG, we have no Level 1 engineers because we prefer that our clients get help from experienced, level 3 engineers so that 98% of inbound IT support requests get resolved on the first call, and we think our clients appreciate that.

DCG’s hourly rate is $175/hr if you choose to pay using old fashioned checks, but clients who are comfortable with ACH get our hourly cash discount of just $155.

When figuring out your IT support budget, a good rule of thumb is to take the number of PC’s, Servers, Firewalls, Managed Switches and multiple by .25 to .5 hours per device to arrive at your approximate monthly spend. The quarter to half-hour variable is given because clients with a large of applications cost more to support than clients with just two or three applications. If you do the math on the number of devices then multiply by .25 and multiply that by $155, you will arrive at your approximate monthly spend. Example: 1 server 20 computers, 1 firewall, & 1 managed switch = 23 devices. For a manufacturing client with just 2 or 3 applications, we would multiple 23 times .25 hrs and multiple the product times $155 (hourly rate), and your budget will be $891.25/mo.

IT support companies in Los Angeles fall into two categories. Break/Fix and Fully Managed support models. Break/Fix is when the support team waits for something to break, then they fix it. Break-fix support is typical of how internal IT departments work and some outsourced IT companies work. The Fully Managed support model is probably the most common IT support model in the Los Angeles area. There advantages and disadvantages to both models. Clients we work with that come to us from the break-fix model usually complain about systems that go down a lot and experience a lot of down-time. These clients feel that they are driving the innovative technology decisions must beg to get help quickly, or at all. The break-fix model, that allows you to pay when you need the service is usually cheaper of the two models. On the break-fix model, the client is usually on their own when it comes to installing security patches and making sure the backup and offsite transfer of critical data is successful or not. With the break-fix model, clients pay for work and IT help as they go.

The Fully Managed Support model, which is the more expensive of the two IT support models is the more comprehensive approach and most popular. All devices, servers, firewalls, internet connections are monitored and managed 24/7, and a 1-2 year contract is needed. Servers and workstations receive the critical security patches after testing and up/down status is watched and managed on all servers, internet connections, remote office/employee VPN's, etc. Clients using this model are guaranteed a response time that is usually 1-4 hours. Most fully managed providers guarantee their work. With the fully Managed Support model, clients usually pay a flat fee of $75.00 to $150 per month per machine and $200 to $400 per month per server, and these fees to cover the monitoring management and help desk support. The fully managed shops charge by the hour for anything “new” like new workstation or server roll-out, or migration to the cloud.

At DCG, we take a hybrid approach. We charge $14.00 to $20.00 per workstation and $110 to $120 per server. We don’t do long-term contracts unless the client wants one. Our client engagements are mont-to-month. The clients get the benefit of our 24/7 monitoring, security software, and remote access software for a fraction of the cost of the fully managed firms. We then charge our hourly rate for helpdesk and projects on a pay as you go basis. This can be significantly cheaper over time than the fully managed model and it is fair to have support costs decline when everything is in good shape on the client networks.

No matter what model you prefer, we recommend you get long term and recent client reference and testimonial information. It’s also important to make sure that the IT Support group has the manpower to help you in a timely fashion. Ask them about engineer staff counts and typical response time and confirm their answers with the client references. At DCG we have clients that have been with us since 1995 and all are month-to-month. We don’t rely on long term clients to keep a client captive. We think month-to-month is the fairest way to go.

Lastly, we recommend you ask your IT Support company how you will be expected to interact. If you prefer to call, rather than navigate an online portal, or send emails, you need to ask about that. Many IT support companies require you to send emails or do online tickets. At DCG we answer every call within 3 rings. There is no voicemail, or email, or ticking portal needed to get IT support help at DCG.

An IT Support specialist takes charge and is responsible for your IT infrastructure. Clients view us as their VCIO (Virtual Chief Information Officer) and rely on us for strategy, security, IT monitoring, and management. The IT Support specialists do an inventory, disaster recovery (backup), security audit, and creates a roadmap or IT forecast that we agree on and help execute on over the next few months or years. At DCG you will interact with our service coordinators every time an IT issue comes up so we can learn the severity and urgency of the request. All site down, server down, internet down requests are hot transferred to a level 3 (most experienced IT support engineer), 100% of the time. For less urgent requests, we promise 4 hours or less, but hot transfer those requests about 65% of the time. When an engineer is not available for the low priority tickets, we respond closer to the 1-hour mark than 4.

At DCG your IT support specialist can help you when things go wrong, work with outside vendors (Equipment/Internet/Copier/Cable/Phone/software) or plan IT initiatives that move your company to the cloud for applications, or Office 365 for your Mail and Microsoft Teams, and Sharepoint when the time is right.

At DCG, we don’t sell hardware, so if your IT support specialist recommends a hardware change for your small business, he will provide you with a detailed shopping cart from Dell, HP, Lenovo, Sonicwall, or Amazon. That way you can rest assured that he is recommending the hardware because you need it, and not because he is going to make a commission on it!