If you've been looking for IT support prices in Vancouver, you may have noticed that most companies don't put their prices online. That's annoying, and it makes it hard to plan your money.
This post gives you real numbers. We'll talk about the average cost of IT support for small businesses in Greater Vancouver, what each price level includes, and what factors can make the price go up or down. At the end, you'll know exactly what to expect before you call anyone.
Quick answer: The cost of managed IT support in Vancouver ranges from $75 to $150 CAD per user per month, depending on the services you choose. For an office with 10 people, the monthly cost will be between $750 and $1,500.
What does "per user per month" mean?
Most managed IT companies in Vancouver charge by the user and by the month. This means you pay a set amount each month for every person in your business who uses a computer, laptop, or mobile device that the IT provider supports.
This model is easy to understand: you know how much your IT costs each month, and there are no surprise bills. It also grows naturally: if you hire someone new, you can add a user to your plan.Let someone go, get rid of them.
An accounting firm with 10 employees pays $1,000 a month for IT support. A law firm with 25 people costs $2,875 a month at $115 per user. These costs usually cover what you would have spent on emergency support, break-fix calls, and hiring an in-house IT person.
What does managed IT support usually include?
The exact scope depends on the plan, but here are some things that most businesses in Vancouver should expect from a good managed IT provider:
Keeping an eye on and taking care of
• Monitoring of servers, workstations, and network devices from anywhere at any time
• Automatic patching for Windows, macOS, and apps made by other companies
• Regular reports on the health of the system
Help desk support
• Your team can get unlimited remote help during business hours.
• Phone, email, and portal ticketing
• Help on-site for problems that can't be fixed from a distance
Cybersecurity (Plans for Professionals and Advanced Users)
• Antivirus and endpoint detection for the next generation
• Filtering emails and protecting against phishing
• Setting up and managing multi-factor authentication (MFA)
• Checking the dark web for stolen credentials
Backup and disaster recovery (for the Professional and Advanced plans)
• Daily backups that are done automatically and stored off-site or in the cloud as a backup.
• Tested restoration procedures, not just backups that sit around and do nothing.
• Recovery time goals set out in your service agreement
Support for compliance (Advanced plan)
• PIPEDA and BC PIPAcompliance advice
• Paperwork for audits and insurance needs
• Virtual CISO (vCISO) advice for businesses that have to follow rules
What things affect the price?
Not every company pays the same amount. These are the main things that affect the cost of your IT support:
How many users and devices there are
The more devices and users you have, the more you have to keep track of. Volume pricing is often better for larger teams, but very small teams (fewer than 5 users) may have to pay a little more per user because the fixed costs are spread out over fewer seats.
Type of business
Industries that are regulated, like healthcare, law, and accounting, need more compliance controls, paperwork, and help with audits. This makes the cost go up, but it's necessary and much cheaper than the costs of a breach or failure to comply.
Support on-site vs. support only from afar
If your team works from home and your infrastructure is in the cloud, remote-only support is usually enough and costs less. If you have physical servers, office networks, or need regular visits to your site, you should think about travel time and on-site rates.
Condition of existing infrastructure
If your hardware is old, your network isn't well-documented, or your systems haven't been kept up, you might have to pay an onboarding fee to get everything up to a manageable level before ongoing support starts. A good provider will be open about this from the start.
Cloud vs. local environment
It's usually easier and less expensive to support fully cloud-based environments (like Microsoft 365 and cloud servers) than hybrid or fully on-premises setups. Expect to pay a little more for support if you still have physical servers in a back room.
Which costs less: managed IT or break-fix?
A lot of small businesses in Vancouver start out with break-fix support, which means they call someone when something goes wrong and pay by the hour. You only pay when you have a problem, which makes it feel cheaper.
The reality is different. Think about how much a single serious IT problem costs:
• In Vancouver, an emergency visit to the site usually costs between $150 and $250 per hour.
• A ransomware attack can cost between $10,000 and $50,000 or more to fix, get back up and running, and recover lost data.
• If a server at an accounting firm goes down during tax season, it can cost them days of work.
ManagedIT support stops most of these things from happening in the first place.For most businesses with five or more users, managed services are always better than break-fix.
A company with 10 employees that spends $1,000 a month on managed IT (or $12,000 a year) is well protected against problems that could cost them much more than that in a single event.
Things to think about when setting prices in Vancouver by industry
Law offices
The Law Society of BC's rules say that law firms in BC must keep things private. IT support for law firms usually includes better security controls, NDA agreements with the provider, and help with legal practice management software. Most law firms in Greater Vancouver charge between $100 and $130 per user per month.
Companies that do accounting
During tax season, accounting firms need to be able to access software like QuickBooks, Sage, CaseWare, and TaxCycle all the time. IT support for accounting firms puts uptime, secure remote access, and moving old software to the cloud at the top of the list. Most of the time, it's $100 to $120 per user per month.
Clinics for medical and dental care
Under BC's PIPA, healthcare providers must protect patients' privacy and be careful with EMR systems. IT support for clinics includes making sure that electronic medical records (EMRs) work with their systems, setting strict access controls, and keeping track of who has access to what. Because of the compliance requirements, prices usually start at $115 to $150 per user per month.
Small business in general
For businesses that don't have to follow specific rules, like trades, retail, or professional services, the Essential or Professional plan covers most of their needs.Most small businesses in Greater Vancouver pay between $75 and $115 per user per month.
How to get a quote that is right
We don't believe in prices that work for everyone because every business is different. This is what we think about when we make a quote:
• How many people and devices (computers, laptops, and mobile phones) there are
• Your current infrastructure, whether it's in the cloud, on-premises, or a mix of the two
• Industry and any rules that must be followed
• Your biggest IT worries and pain points right now
• You only need on-site support or remote support.
After a short conversation, most quotes can be ready in less than 30 minutes. There's no pressure to buy anything, and you don't have to. You just get a clear picture of what support would look like for your business.
Want a clear answer about prices?
Schedule a free 30-minute meeting with our team. We'll ask you some questions about your business and give you a clear, itemized quote with no hidden fees or vague ranges.
→Give us a call at 778-909-5896.
→Email: hello@ayvant.ca
→Make a reservation online: Click here to reserve.