My new IT support business & Contract

Business IT/MSP Talk
1

Hello everyone,

First of all i want to thank Tom and everyone involved in the forum and Youtube videos, guiding and support for anyone in this business industry. I learned a lot from you guys and also being a very big nerd when it comes to systems, servers and also software, i decided to start an IT support company.
Since I really like this type of “playground”, I can say it is very satisfying for me as a business.
I already landed my first contract and going towards the second which is a bit scary when it comes to what that involves.
I could use some advice when it comes to this new contract because it is a bit tricky.
The contract that i will have to do the pricing involves a Hub where companies will rent offices or desks but they will receive access to all kinds of devices and facilities:

  1. 3D printers
  2. 2 Normal printers
  3. 2 Plotters
  4. Storage Space(on-premise)
  5. Meeting Rooms with all the gear attached
  6. 20 laptops
    • many more devices

What i will do, or manage:

  1. Provide Cybersecurity mentorship if requested
  2. Provide IT support or mentorship to the companies that rent the desk/office ( up to 55, yes 55)
  3. 2 servers( VMware sphere )
  4. 1 Storage area network
  5. Tape backup server
  6. 4+ Cisco switches
  7. 1 Fortigate Firewall
  8. Building access system
  9. Surveillance system
  10. Handle the Security of all systems
  11. probably more that i can remember, it is a long list.

There might be more services i will need to offer that I have no clue yet. This week we will begin the discussion when it comes to pricing and services required.
This also involves me being on site all the time, and this also means I will have to hire someone skilled because I want to grow the business not be a 1 man squad.
Altho I do have a lead that had contact with this type of industry and did enduser hardware and mild software debugging(windows users) but has no clue on servers or even Linux as an operating system but he enrolled in CCNA certification. If you have any opinion related to this type of hiring please share it. I know this involves me teaching him and that requires a lot of resources.

I already have Ninja One as a RMM and i will use the ticketing system for everyone that will require my support in the Hub because I want everything to be traceable. And also create a documentation through Ninja One for the devices so that people can use it instead of bombarding me calls and other issues that are simple to solve.

Since this contract involves a lot more than I expected I really would like your input. Any suggestion is welcomed, or any tips and tricks, like “how to avoid…”, “pay attention to…”, “what not to do”, anything is welcomed.

I probably missed a lot of details but please ask questions.

2
  • Make sure clearly define what is or is not in scope.
  • Be very clear on pricing so the clients knows what to expect
  • Charge enough to grow and hire people.
3

Thank you for your feedback Tom.

  • Will do my best to be as clear with the pricing as possible.
  • Regarding the scope my policy is always redact the contract with my lawyer.

Questions:

  1. Do you have any type of insurance, In case mistakes are made?
  2. If so is there a specific type of insurance?
4

Yes, you will want to talk to a commercial insurance provider so you have all the needed cyber-security policies covered.

5

and first you should decide, what would be done in-house and what you will to delegate.
Here is two polar views

  • All will be done by myself(my team)
  • All will be delegated/outsourced

Actually you will land yourself somewhere in between.
In the first scenario you’ll have to have a lot of knowledge, in second -you should keep your outsourcerers in line.
Good luck btw.
If you need something more specific - keep asking, it’s perfectly fine.

6

@LTS_Tom started inquiries with multiple providers. Thank you for your support so far.

@Trifon1 thank you for pointing this details, I did not pay to much attention to this.
What I realized now is that I will need to outsource any physical deployments like wiring, racks and so on. Good thing I am in good relations with a company that does this type of deployments. I will have a chat with them as soon as possible.

For anything else my plan is to have everything done in-house and have proper documentation made on the infrastructure as much as possible. I can’t say I’m a high level expert, but if i read the documentations on anything thrown at me and I can handle pretty much any type of software, platform, hardware and so on.
Hiring someone that is knowledgeable in this field (“always hire someone that is better than you”) will only give me room to improve the business and also have more time on improving my skills.

If you spot anything wrong in they way I think this should work, please let me know. I’d rather learn before learning the hard way.

Thank you again !

7

Good luck…
and word of advise… There is no such things as “Good relations” in this IT world. You have to have

  • Service catalogue
  • SLA (on paper, damn it!)
  • Absolute readyness for something (pretty much all) will go wrong. If you consider it doesn’t - you have missed something.