I founded my company, phx-IT, in 2003 on a simple concept. Most companies and their staff prefer to have an IT person that is PERSONABLE and PRESENT onsite to handle their technology needs. Instead of waiting for problems to arise, we visit each customer at regular intervals throughout the week and handle their needs while onsite. As we’ve grown we’ve scaled this same model to having technicians visit our clients’ offices on a set schedule multiple times each week. We feel that understanding our customers’ technology needs REQUIRES our presence. This doesn’t mean we’re not available to remotely assist. Rather, remote support is added value to each of our customers instead of being the primary service.
Over the past 10 years IT support companies have gradually been placed into 2 separate categories, Break/Fix and Managed Service Providers. I think there is a better way of doing business.
The Break/Fix model
This provides IT support at an hourly rate when a customer has a problem. These providers typically aren’t proactive about preventing problems but tend to be very good firefighters in emergencies.
MSP’s (Managed Service Providers) provide preventative maintenance on systems and charge a fee per server and workstation (or per user). They work almost entirely remotely and are very proactive but charge a higher rate if they ever have to be onsite, which they typically avoid at all costs since their pricing/service model simply doesn’t take into account the value of being onsite.
As we’ve grown, we’ve added all of tools that our competitors use to allow us to provide a high level of service and give us an advantage in the ever changing IT landscape. The major difference is, we don’t charge our customers a monthly rate for the tools we use. We see these tools as necessary to do our jobs and keep our clients safe and secure.
I am passionate about the way we do business and know that our company’s most valuable possession is our reputation.