What managed IT actually includes — and what it doesn't

"Managed IT" is one of those phrases that sounds specific and isn't. Two providers can quote within a few hundred dollars of each other and deliver services that differ enormously — and you usually find out which one you bought when something breaks.

This is what the arrangement actually covers, what it almost never covers, and how to tell the difference before you sign rather than in month three.

What is genuinely included

Email and account administration. Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 run properly: mailboxes created and removed, access controlled, storage watched, security settings configured, shared drives organised. For most small companies this is the single most valuable piece, because email failing is the thing that stops the business.

Hosting, domains and renewals. Tracked and renewed before they expire. This sounds trivial until an SSL certificate lapses because the reminder went to an employee who left eighteen months ago, and your site shows a security warning to every visitor for two days.

Security patching and backups. Applied on a schedule rather than left for later. Backups running and — the part people skip — actually verified. An unverified backup is a belief, not a backup.

Website maintenance. Updates, small fixes and content changes, so the site doesn't quietly rot between projects.

Staff onboarding and offboarding. Accounts, access and devices set up on day one, and removed properly on the last day. The second half matters more than the first and gets neglected far more often.

Somewhere to call. One number for anything technical, including problems that turn out to belong to another vendor.

What is almost always excluded

These are standard exclusions across the industry. The problem is not that they exist — it's that many providers don't mention them until you ask.

• Hardware. Laptops, servers, switches, phones. Sometimes procurement is included; the equipment never is.
• Software licences. Your Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace subscriptions are yours. Some providers resell them, which is convenient and worth checking for markup.
• Projects. A migration, an office move, a new system rollout. These are scoped and quoted separately, and reasonably so — they aren't routine work.
• On-site attendance, or a limit on it. Most arrangements include some and cap the rest. Find out which.
• After-hours support. Usually a separate tier. If your business runs on weekends, this matters more than the headline rate.

A provider who states these clearly before you sign is not being difficult. They are being the kind of provider you want.

The three pricing models

Fixed monthly retainer. A set scope of work on a set schedule. Predictable, and it suits businesses whose needs are steady. Ours starts at SGD 480 a month in Singapore, or ₹8,000 in India, for scheduled care.

Per user, per month. The most common model for full managed services. Singapore rates generally run SGD 100–300 per user for arrangements including on-site engineers. Ours starts at SGD 85 because our team works remotely — which is a real difference in what you're buying, not a discount on the same thing.

A dedicated administrator. A named person working for your company every working day. The comparison here is against employing someone: a mid-level IT manager in Singapore costs SGD 7,000–10,000 a month in salary, and SGD 8,500–12,500 all-in once CPF and the rest are counted. A dedicated administrator from us starts at SGD 2,500.

Avoid pure hourly break-fix arrangements if you can. They pay your provider more when things go wrong, which is exactly the wrong incentive.

Six questions that reveal what you're actually buying

• If email stops working at 9am tomorrow, who do I call — and is that included? The most useful question in the whole conversation.
• What are your response and resolution times, in writing? A good provider grades them by severity. A mail system down is not a password reset.
• What counts as a billable project versus included support? This is where most disputes come from. Get examples, not principles.
• Who holds admin access to our accounts, and do we own them? You should own everything. Your provider holds delegated access, never ownership.
• What happens when we leave? Ask before you join. The answer tells you a lot about the relationship you're entering.
• How much on-site time is included? And what a visit costs beyond that.

Do you need it at all?

Honestly, maybe not yet. If you're five people using Gmail and a website nobody depends on, a managed arrangement may be more structure than your problem warrants.

It starts making sense when the number of accounts, devices and renewals exceeds what one person remembers, when email or the website going down would actually cost you money, or when the person who has been handling IT alongside their real job is quietly drowning.

That last one is the most common trigger, and it usually shows up as things not being done rather than as a crisis.

How we do it

We publish what we charge and what we don't cover, because the guesswork above is the problem we'd rather not be part of. Contracts are through our Indian or Singapore entity depending on what suits you, work is delivered by our team in Kerala during your business hours, and on-site attendance is arranged separately rather than pretended to be included.

Full detail is on the managed IT page, and the Singapore pricing is on our Singapore page. If you have a quote from someone else and want a second opinion on what's actually in it, send it over.