What if the way you pay for IT support is designed to keep your business in a state of constant crisis?

It’s a hard truth, but it’s one of the most common issues in the IT industry. The traditional “break-fix” IT model, where you pay an hourly rate to fix problems as they happen, creates a fundamental conflict of interest.

Your goal as a business owner is to have smooth, uninterrupted operations. You want your technology to just work. But if your IT provider only gets paid when something breaks, their success is tied directly to your downtime. Every server crash, every software glitch, and every security scare becomes a billable opportunity.

This isn’t to say your IT provider is a bad person. They are likely competent and mean well. However, the business model itself forces them into a reactive, firefighting mode. They are so busy fixing today’s emergencies that there is no time, and no financial incentive, to focus on preventing tomorrow’s issues. This dynamic creates an adversarial relationship you might not even realize exists: your goal is to minimize problems, while their income depends on those very problems occurring.

The Endless Cycle of “Putting Out Fires”

If you’re relying on a break-fix IT model, this cycle probably sounds familiar:

1. A problem occurs. A server goes down, an application crashes, or email stops working.
2. You call your IT provider in a panic.
3. They come out, fix the issue, and send you an invoice for their time.
4. Things run smoothly for a little while, until the next unexpected problem sends you right back to step one.

In this scenario, your IT provider is never truly incentivized to perform proactive maintenance, create a long-term technology plan, or address the root causes of your recurring issues. Why would they? That would only reduce their future billable hours.

This reactive state leaves your business vulnerable. As we discuss in Chapter 4 of my book, Near Miss, this adversarial relationship means critical tasks like strategic planning and security hardening get pushed aside in favor of the next urgent ticket.

“But I Found Someone Cheaper…”

Many business owners try to solve this frustration by finding a cheaper hourly provider or even relying on a tech-savvy employee who is “good with computers.” On the surface, it seems like a smart way to save money. In reality, it often makes the problem much, much worse.

A well-meaning but untrained person rarely has the expertise to manage the complexities of modern business security, compliance, and network architecture. They may fix the immediate symptom, but they often miss the underlying disease. As I’ve seen firsthand, this can lead to disaster. One company I worked with lost vital data because a family member managing their IT failed to secure the backups properly. A professional, proactive approach would have easily prevented this.

The Solution: A True Partnership with a Managed Service Provider (MSP)

The alternative to the break-fix chaos is a partnership with a true Managed Service Provider, or MSP.

An MSP operates on a flat, predictable monthly fee. This simple change completely transforms the dynamic. Suddenly, it is in the MSP’s best financial interest to keep your systems running smoothly, securely, and efficiently. Their profitability is now tied directly to your uptime, not your downtime.

A competent MSP does not just put out fires. They become your strategic partner. They accomplish this by:

• Providing Proactive Maintenance: They monitor your systems 24/7, applying patches and updates to prevent problems before they can start.
• Offering Predictable Costs: You get a single, transparent monthly fee that covers your support, making it easy to budget for your technology.
• Developing a Technology Roadmap: They work with you to create a long-term IT strategy that aligns with your business goals, ensuring your technology supports your growth instead of holding it back.
• Aligning Their Success with Yours: They are invested in your long-term success because a stable, secure client is a profitable client.

If your business has more than a handful of employees, it’s time to stop paying for problems and start investing in performance. Moving to a managed services model is one of the most important strategic decisions you can make to secure your operations and turn your IT from a liability into a competitive advantage.

Questions to Ask Your Current IT Provider

To find out if you’re stuck in a reactive loop, ask your current provider these key questions from Near Miss:

1. What proactive maintenance measures are currently in place for my company?
2. How will you help us create an IT strategy and technology roadmap that aligns with our business goals?
3. Does our current service model incentivize you to prevent problems or just to fix them?

The answers will tell you everything you need to know about whether you have a simple vendor or a true strategic partner.

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This post is adapted from concepts in the book Near Miss: Preventable IT Failures Threatening Your Business Security. Get your copy to learn more about moving from a reactive to a proactive IT strategy.