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How much does managed IT support cost for a small Irish haulage or logistics company?

IT support for haulage companies explained: per-user Silver and Gold fees, what's billed separately, how drivers and dispatch are counted, and what to ask.

The short answer: IT support for haulage companies usually comes as a monthly fee per user. With us, Silver starts from €45 and Gold from €70 per user per month, excluding VAT. Microsoft 365 licences and business phones sit outside that fee. The part to agree carefully is who counts as a user. Drivers, dispatch and office staff use IT very differently.

This guide is for owners and office managers at haulage, logistics, courier and fleet firms. It focuses on Meath, Cavan, Westmeath, Louth and Dublin. It also covers the monthly fee, the extras and the questions worth asking before you sign.

What IT support for haulage companies costs per user

Most of the monthly bill depends on two things: how many people you support and which package each one gets. So the cost of IT support for haulage companies varies with the mix of staff in each firm. In other words, you don’t pay one flat rate for the whole business.

Silver, from €45 per user per month excluding VAT, covers the basics:

  • Remote support from our helpdesk.
  • Monitoring and operating system patching on managed PCs and laptops.
  • Antivirus, endpoint detection and response (EDR) and ransomware protection.
  • Microsoft 365 backup of email, OneDrive and SharePoint.

Gold, from €70 per user per month excluding VAT, includes everything in Silver. On top of that, it adds email security and phishing awareness training, plus full Microsoft 365 admin and support. It also brings leaked-password alerts, a business password manager, application control and unlimited on-site call-outs as needed.

In addition, Gold includes 24/7 security monitoring by our security operations centre partner. That’s separate from our helpdesk, which runs Monday to Friday, 9am to 5:30pm. After-hours emergency support costs extra, which matters if your dispatch office opens at 5am.

How drivers and dispatch fit into IT support for a haulage company

This is where transport firms differ from a typical office. A dispatcher may share a PC across shifts. Meanwhile, a driver might only use a phone for email and job details. Some providers count named people, while others count devices or mailboxes. Because of that, agree in writing how your provider of IT support for haulage companies counts people.

Questions worth settling with any provider include:

  • Does a driver who only checks email on a phone count as a full user?
  • How do you cover a shared dispatch or yard PC when several people log in?
  • Can lighter users go on a cheaper package, with office and accounts staff on Gold?
  • What happens to the bill when agency or seasonal staff start and finish?

Whatever you agree, give each person their own login rather than one shared account. That way, you can remove access quickly when someone leaves or a phone goes missing.

Hypothetical example

A Drogheda haulier has four office and accounts staff, two dispatchers and 15 drivers. The owner wants Gold for the office team, because they handle fuel and subcontractor invoices. The dispatchers and drivers need different cover, so the owner asks each provider to explain how they would count them. Only then does it make sense to compare quotes for IT support for haulage companies.

What’s billed outside the monthly fee

Several costs sit outside IT support for haulage companies, so check each appears as its own line.

Microsoft 365 licences. Microsoft 365 licences are billed separately and aren’t part of Silver or Gold. Gold, however, includes Microsoft 365 admin and support.

Business phones. Our VoIP business phones start from €17 per user per month excluding VAT, with unlimited UK and Ireland calls. We supply handsets separately unless your proposal says otherwise. For dispatch offices, our guide to choosing a dispatch office phone system covers call routing and mobile apps.

Server and device backup. Our Microsoft 365 backup doesn’t cover transport-management or accounts data on a local server or PC. Instead, we scope device and server backup in your proposal, and we test restores every two weeks.

Vehicle systems and projects. In-cab and vehicle systems stay with your equipment and software suppliers. Likewise, we quote new depots, networking between sites and hardware as separate projects.

Questions to ask before choosing IT support for haulage companies

Before you sign, put the same questions to every provider of IT support for haulage companies. Then compare the answers, not just the monthly totals:

  • Who exactly counts as a user, and how do you handle shared PCs and drivers’ phones?
  • Which package covers email security, and who gets it?
  • What does after-hours help cost when dispatch runs early or late?
  • Does backup cover our transport-management and accounts data, or only Microsoft 365?
  • How quickly can you remove access when a driver leaves or loses a phone?
  • Do phones, licences and hardware appear as separate lines?

Also ask how the provider protects against fake fuel and supplier invoices. The NCSC’s business email compromise guidance recommends a strict call-back check for any change of bank details.

How Sweeney Computer Services can help

Oliver Sweeney set up the company in 1985, and we still work from Hurdlestown, Kells, Co. Meath. We now support more than 50 businesses and more than 10 schools. Our IT support for haulage companies covers depot and office PCs, phone and tablet accounts, and backup.

See our IT support for transport and logistics, along with our managed IT support and VoIP business phones. You can also read about our cybersecurity and backup and recovery services.

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