Nottingham Computers’ managed IT support starts from £79 per supported user, per month, excluding VAT. That starting point includes managed endpoint antivirus and threat protection; the written proposal confirms the users, devices, systems, sites and service boundaries that apply.
Start with the written scope, not a headline number
A monthly support price is useful only when the responsibilities behind it are clear. Begin by listing the people who need help, the devices they use, the sites they work from and the systems they rely on. Include cloud administration, suppliers and routine security work as well as helpdesk requests. This creates a practical baseline for a proposal and prevents two unlike services being treated as equivalent.
The £79 figure is a starting point per supported user, per month, excluding VAT. It includes managed endpoint antivirus and threat protection as part of the core service. It is not a promise that every environment, licence, backup requirement, project or specialist system can be covered for the same amount. Nottingham Computers records the applicable boundaries in the written proposal before work begins.
- Count supported users and note shared or specialist devices.
- List the cloud services, key suppliers and business locations involved.
- Separate the recurring support service from one-off change work.
- Ask which responsibilities remain with your organisation or another supplier.
Know what the recurring managed service can cover
A useful managed service joins day-to-day support with the routine work that keeps an environment manageable. Nottingham Computers’ published scope includes telephone, email and portal support, secure remote assistance, device monitoring and alert handling, Microsoft 365 administration, identity and access administration, patching and device-health oversight, supplier coordination, asset and licence visibility, and regular technology review and roadmap work.
The purpose of this list is to establish ownership, not to make every request look the same. A priority issue, an account change, an unsupported application and a planned improvement can need different handling. Service levels explain the proposed priority definitions and response commitments for eligible services; the signed agreement and service schedule identify the commitments that apply to your organisation.
- Support channels and escalation route for eligible services.
- Monitoring, patching and endpoint protection responsibilities.
- Microsoft 365, identity and ordinary administration tasks.
- Asset, licence, supplier and improvement-plan visibility.
Identify items that may sit outside the monthly service
A clear proposal also states what is not included in the recurring charge. Microsoft 365 and third-party licences, managed backup capacity and retention, advanced cyber security products and monitoring, projects, migrations, onboarding work, hardware, connectivity and specialist systems may be priced separately. Those categories are not defects in a proposal; they are areas where needs, usage or delivery effort can differ between organisations.
Ask how these items are estimated and approved. For example, a migration may be a defined piece of project work, while new backup capacity may change as data retention requirements change. A provider should distinguish an included operational activity from a separate purchase or project before the cost is incurred. That protects both the customer and the service team from assumptions made during an early conversation.
- Licences and subscriptions required for named products.
- Backup capacity, retention and recovery design beyond the agreed scope.
- Advanced security services or specialist monitoring requirements.
- Onboarding, migrations, hardware and other planned projects.
Compare proposals using the same questions
The fairest comparison gives every provider the same operational picture. Share the same user count, device list, locations, cloud services and known constraints, then ask each provider to describe the responsibility they are accepting. Compare what happens when a user needs help, when an important service fails, when a supplier must be coordinated and when technology needs to change. This is more informative than comparing a single monthly number in isolation.
Read exclusions and assumptions with the same care as inclusions. Check whether monitoring includes alert handling, whether security tooling is managed or merely supplied, whether backup is monitored or also tested, and how work outside scope is approved. Consider contract term, exit assistance, documentation ownership and the route for updating the scope when the business changes. A lower recurring price may reflect a narrower responsibility rather than a like-for-like service.
- Use one inventory and requirements list for every quotation.
- Compare service boundaries, priorities, escalation and communication.
- Check who owns documentation, supplier coordination and change control.
- Record exclusions, assumptions and separately priced work in writing.
Use price as one part of a broader decision
Price matters because it affects budgeting and the service your organisation can sustain, but it should follow a clear understanding of risk and responsibility. A business that relies heavily on Microsoft 365, remote access, shared devices or several suppliers may need a different support arrangement from one with a smaller, simpler environment. The relevant question is whether the proposed service leaves important work without a named owner.
Before accepting a proposal, confirm how the first months will work. Ask what information is needed for onboarding, how service contacts are introduced, how current issues are documented and how early priorities are agreed. A written proposal should give you a usable basis for approving the recurring service and any initial project work, without implying that every future requirement has already been costed.
- Match the service to business dependencies, not only current ticket volume.
- Confirm the onboarding information and decisions required from your team.
- Agree how future changes are scoped and approved.
- Keep the signed agreement and service schedule as the controlling documents.
Prepare the information that makes a proposal useful
An initial conversation is more productive when the business can describe its current environment honestly. Bring the approximate user count, locations, key systems, known suppliers, immediate concerns and any planned changes. You do not need a perfect technical audit before asking for a proposal. The point is to ensure that the provider understands the work your organisation depends on and can state the assumptions it has made.
Ask for a proposal that can be checked later. It should identify the recurring charge, included responsibilities, separate costs, assumptions, contract documents and the person to contact when the scope changes. If a point remains unknown, record it as a discovery or onboarding action. This keeps the commercial decision transparent while allowing technical detail to be confirmed in an orderly way.
- Current user, device, site and supplier information.
- Known issues, planned projects and material constraints.
- Written assumptions and actions for information still missing.
- A proposal that distinguishes recurring and separate charges.
What this guide cannot price
This guide explains the published starting point and a comparison method. It cannot determine a final monthly charge without the agreed users, devices, systems, sites, support boundaries and any separate licence, backup, security or project requirements. It also cannot establish the effort required to take over an undocumented environment, resolve historic issues or make a specialist application supportable; those matters need discovery and a written decision.
Questions to take into a pricing conversation
Bring an up-to-date view of the environment and ask for answers in the proposal rather than relying on memory from a sales call.
- Which users, devices, systems and sites are included?
- Which security, backup and Microsoft 365 responsibilities are covered?
- What is separately priced and how is that work approved?
- Which service levels apply to the eligible services in scope?