Managed IT Services
An MSP contract is bought on price per seat and lived with on scope. Fibi compares providers on what is actually included, what counts as a project, how fast tickets really get answered and what happens if you leave — then negotiates the terms with you.
No cost · No obligation · Results in 24 hours
What Is It
Managed IT is sold as a per-seat monthly fee, which makes providers look comparable when they are not. One contract includes after-hours support, another bills it hourly. One covers server patching, another calls it a project. One answers in fifteen minutes and resolves in four hours; another promises the same and measures only the first response. The price per seat tells you almost nothing until you have read what sits behind it.
The second thing that separates them is fit. A twenty-person firm with cloud applications and laptops needs a very different provider from a two-hundred-person manufacturer with on-premise systems, shift work and industrial equipment. Compliance obligations narrow the field further — an MSP that has never carried a HIPAA or CMMC engagement will learn on your budget.
Fibi works out which model you actually need — fully outsourced, co-managed alongside internal staff, or specific functions only — then compares providers on scope, response and resolution commitments, escalation path, onboarding effort, and what leaving looks like. We are paid by the provider you select, so the review costs you nothing.
Why It Matters
What is included, what is billed hourly, what is a project. Most disputes with an MSP are scope disputes, and nearly all of them are decided by wording agreed before the first ticket.
A fifteen-minute response target means little if resolution is unbounded. We push for commitments on both, with defined severity levels and a real escalation path attached to names.
Plenty of teams need extra hands rather than replacement — after-hours cover, patching, a service desk in front of internal engineers. Co-managed arrangements are usually cheaper and less disruptive than handing everything over.
Managed IT and managed security are not the same purchase. Whether EDR, SIEM, MDR, phishing testing and incident response are in scope — and who is on the hook during an incident — needs writing down.
Documentation quality, tooling ownership, admin credentials and what you keep at the end. An MSP that owns your RMM tenant and holds the only documentation is expensive to leave regardless of the notice period.
Not the three curated logos — clients of your size, in your sector, who joined more than a year ago. We ask for them and we call.
The Fibi Advantage
Who Needs This
Growing past the point where the most technical person in the office can keep up, and needing a help desk, patching, backup and someone accountable when something breaks.
A single engineer handling everything, with no cover for holidays, illness or after-hours incidents. Co-managed support removes the single point of failure without replacing the person.
Tickets ageing, the same problems recurring, projects stalling. Worth comparing the market before renewal rather than after another bad quarter.
HIPAA, PCI DSS, CMMC or a customer security questionnaire that needs documented controls, evidence and someone who has done it before.
Several locations with inconsistent equipment and no standard build. Standardisation and central management usually pay for themselves before the contract ends.
Two IT estates, two sets of tooling and two contracts to reconcile — with a deadline attached and no spare internal capacity.
FAQ
Managed IT providers we compare
MSPs, co-managed IT specialists and providers with managed security or professional services in scope. All available through Fibi at the same rate as going direct.
Free Advisory
Tell us what you need. We'll go to market across our full carrier network and return a side-by-side comparison within 24 hours — at zero cost to you.