Time and Material services - also called T&M - may seem like a great way to reduce technology spend when outsourcing IT; however, the true business costs, both hidden and visible, typically end up costing businesses a lot more with T&M services.
At first glance, Time & Material (T&M) agreements for IT services seem like a practical, cost-effective choice. You only pay when something breaks, and the logic feels sound: why pay for support you're not using?
However, this approach is misleading and often ends up costing your business far more—in both opportunity and risk—than a well-structured managed service agreement (MSA). With T&M, you get what you pay for.
| On paper, T&M pricing can appear to be a fraction of Managed Service packages based on monthly spend. |
This article covers the hidden costs of a T&M approach to IT services. It sheds light into the factors of T&M services that will only be discovered once the time & materials services have begun.
Good IT companies will always warn you of these factors before choosing T&M services, and many IT companies are no longer supporting time & material services for these reasons.
T&M services are inherently reactive. Your IT provider is only called when something goes wrong. That means no proactive monitoring, patching, or maintenance is happening behind the scenes to prevent problems before they occur. Without continuous attention, small issues build up into larger, more disruptive (and expensive) problems.
In contrast, managed services are designed to prevent downtime and disruptions, not just respond to them. This enables the IT provider or MSP to see and react to the bigger picture instead of each issue as a standalone event.
Cybersecurity threats don’t wait until you’re ready. In a T&M model, there’s no incentive for your provider to stay on top of threat detection, employee training, or policy enforcement unless you specifically ask—and pay—for it. This leaves your business sitting as low-hanging fruit for cybercriminals. By the time a breach happens, it’s too late.
| 43% of cyberattacks are aimed at small businesses. Sadly, only 14% are prepared to defend the attack. (Accenture) |
Remediation costs associated with the clean up and restoration following a successful cyberattack can be substantial due to the time (days, weeks, months), new hardware, forensics, and quality/experience of the IT professionals needing to do this work.
A managed services provider (MSP), like TLC Solutions, includes cybersecurity as part of the core offering: regular updates, endpoint protection, monitoring, and compliance support are baked in. This dramatically reduces your exposure to ransomware, data loss, regulatory fines, business downtime, or worse... loss of your business or customers.
When you only engage your IT provider sporadically, they don’t have full visibility into your systems. They don’t know your network, your users, or your business goals. This means every support ticket starts with a learning curve—and the meter is running. Troubleshooting becomes slower, less accurate, and more expensive.
With a managed agreement, your provider is deeply familiar with your systems and can resolve issues faster and more effectively.
Things we've heard from companies on T&M (time & material) agreements when we introduce TLC Solutions and TechnolojoyTM:
One of the most frustrating aspects of T&M is the unpredictable monthly spend. A quiet month might cost you little—but one bad day could lead to thousands in IT bills. This volatility makes budgeting difficult and can lead to deferred support requests, increasing the risk of downtime.
Managed services offer a flat, predictable monthly rate. No surprises, no hesitation to ask for help, and better control over your IT budget.
Every hour your systems are down—or your employees are waiting for slow, reactive IT support—is an hour of lost productivity, missed opportunities, and customer dissatisfaction. This is the true cost of T&M: not just the technician’s hourly rate, but the compounded loss to your operations. Managed services reduce downtime through automation, early detection, and strategic planning.
T&M agreements may look cheaper on paper, but they leave your business exposed to inefficiencies, higher long-term costs, and greater security risks. A managed services agreement, on the other hand, gives you predictability, proactive protection, faster support, and peace of mind.
Don’t wait until something breaks or a cyberattack happens to invest in IT—choose a partner who’s already working to prevent the next issue before it ever happens.
Would you like help comparing the ROI of T&M vs Managed Services for a client presentation?
Get in touch with TLC Solutions to see how they can support your business technology goals.
