Could you tell me exactly how much your business will spend on IT next month? For a lot of companies the honest answer is no. Technology costs tend to show up as surprise bills: a server that fails, a laptop that will not start, an urgent call to whoever can come out fastest. That makes IT one of the hardest lines in the budget to plan.
In this short video we explain why. Most companies treat IT like car repairs, only paying when the engine is already smoking. The traditional break-fix model actually lets the IT provider profit when your systems fail. At CMIT we flip that model: our incentive is preventive maintenance, so things never break in the first place. Call us at (512) 642-5457 to stop the surprise bills.
IT treated like car repairs
Many businesses only think about their technology when something goes wrong. Nobody calls for help while everything is running, so the bill arrives at the worst possible moment: the system is down, the team is waiting, and the fix has to happen now. Waiting for the engine to smoke is exactly what turns IT into an unpredictable expense.
The break-fix incentive problem
Under a break-fix arrangement, the “IT guy” gets paid when something fails. The more problems there are, the more there is to bill. That means your provider earns more when your systems break, which is the opposite of what you want from the people responsible for keeping your business running.
We flip the model
At CMIT our incentive points the other way. We focus on preventive maintenance so issues are caught and handled before they turn into outages. When your systems stay healthy, we have done our job. That puts our incentive on the same side as yours: technology that simply works.
Pay as you go, or a predictable flat rate?
Here is the question worth asking when you budget for operations: do you prefer paying as you go, never knowing what the next bill will look like, or having a predictable flat rate you can plan around? With a preventive approach, IT stops being a surprise and becomes a cost you can count on. We worry about the budget, so you do not have to.
Key Takeaways
- Treating IT like car repairs means you only pay once something is already broken, usually at the worst possible moment.
- The break-fix model lets a provider profit when your systems fail; preventive maintenance is about keeping them from failing.
- A predictable flat rate turns surprise IT bills into a cost you can plan around.
Tired of surprise IT bills? See what our managed IT services include, or get in touch. You deal with the owner, not a call center.
