Cost and contracts
What should a managed IT agreement include?
The short answer
A good managed IT agreement says plainly what the monthly fee covers, what costs extra, who is responsible for security, how onsite visits work, how urgent issues are prioritized, and what happens to your data and admin accounts if you leave. If any of those are vague, ask before you sign, not after.
What does the monthly fee cover?
It should list the services, not just name a plan: help desk, monitoring, patching, security tools, backups, Microsoft 365 administration, planning. “Comprehensive support” is not a list.
What costs extra?
Look for per-incident fees, after-hours rates, onsite visit charges, and project fees for routine tasks like setting up a new hire. Some extras are fair, like a full office move. Charging for a password reset is not.
Who owns security?
The agreement should say which security tools are included, who watches the alerts, and what happens if there is an incident. If security is “available as an add-on,” you are not buying managed security.
How does onsite support work?
Is onsite included or billed, and where does the tech come from? At eTop, onsite visits are included in our managed IT agreements at no additional charge, from our office in Redlands.
What happens if we leave?
This is the clause most people skip. You should own your admin accounts, your documentation and your data, and the agreement should say the provider will hand them over. A provider that makes leaving hard is telling you something.
Our 20-question evaluation guide covers pricing, infrastructure, security and exit terms in more detail.