For most small commercial print shops with 5–20 employees, managed IT services typically cost $90–$125 per user per month. At this price range, printers should expect proactive monitoring, a 4-hour response target, hourly backups, cybersecurity protection, and business continuity planning designed for production environments — not generic offices.

When properly implemented, managed IT can reduce unplanned downtime by up to 80%, helping print shops avoid missed deadlines, lost revenue, and emergency repair costs.

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Below is a clear breakdown of what that pricing includes, why print shops have different IT needs, and how to know if managed IT is worth it for your business.
 

1. What’s Included in Managed IT for Commercial Printers

At $90–$125 per user/month, a managed IT plan for a print shop typically includes:

• 24/7 monitoring of servers, print servers, and critical systems

• Help desk support with a target response time of within 4 hours

• Remote and on-site support when production systems are affected

• Patch management scheduled to avoid production disruptions

• Vendor coordination with ISPs, hardware, and software providers
   

Unlike break/fix IT, these services are proactive — with managed services problems are identified and resolved before they cause downtime.
 

2. Why Commercial Print Shops Pay More Than Generic Offices

Print shops are not typical small businesses when it comes to technology.

Key differences include:

• Large file sizes and constant data movement

• Print servers and RIP systems that must stay online during production

• Tight deadlines where minutes of downtime impact revenue

• Higher recovery costs when systems fail mid-job
   

A generic office might tolerate an outage for part of a day.For a printer, even 1 hour of downtime can delay multiple jobs and damage customer trust. This is why commercial printers benefit from MSPs with industry-specific experience, not one-size-fits-all IT support.

 

3. Backup, Disaster Recovery & Business Continuity Costs

Business continuity is a core component of managed IT for printers — not an add-on.

Most printer-focused managed IT plans include:

• Hourly backups of servers and critical systems

• Secure, off-site backup storage

• Ransomware-protected backup versions

• Defined recovery objectives:

  • RPO (Recovery Point Objective): ≤ 1 hour

  • RTO (Recovery Time Objective): restoration within hours, not days

• Regular monitoring and testing of backups
   

With these measures in place, many print shops reduce downtime by up to 80% after hardware failures, cyber incidents, or human error.

 

4. What’s NOT Included (and Usually Costs Extra)

Transparent pricing builds trust. Most managed IT plans do not include:

• New hardware purchases (servers, switches, workstations)

• Major infrastructure upgrades or office moves

• Specialized software licensing

• After-hours emergency work outside the plan’s scope
   

These items are typically quoted separately so your monthly IT costs remain predictable.

 

5. Is Managed IT Worth It for a 5–20 Person Print Shop?

Managed IT is usually worth the investment if:

• One outage costs more than a single month of service

• Your team doesn’t have dedicated internal IT staff

• You want predictable monthly IT costs

• Downtime directly impacts production schedules and revenue

• You prefer prevention over emergency fixes

 

For many commercial printers, managed IT replaces unpredictable break/fix invoices with a flat monthly cost and far fewer disruptions.
 

Real Example: Managed IT Pricing for a Small Print Shop

• Client size: 10–15 employees

• Monthly cost: Within the $90–$125 per user range

• Services included:

  • Proactive monitoring

  • Help desk & on-site support

  • Hourly backups

  • Business continuity planning

Results:

• Downtime reduced by approximately 80%

• Faster recovery after incidents

• Fewer emergency service calls

• Predictable IT spend month to month

 

Why Commercial Printers Trust Exterity Group

Choosing the right MSP matters — especially in production environments.

Commercial printers work with Exterity Group because we offer:

• 25 years of experience supporting commercial printers

• A dedicated local support team in Portland, OR

• Clear response expectations (4-hour target)

• Hourly backup strategies built for production systems

• IT solutions designed specifically for print environments

 

Ready to Understand Your True IT Costs?

If you’re running a commercial print shop and want fewer outages, faster recovery, and predictable IT spending, managed IT may be the right fit. Please contact us by email or phone: 503-709-9489.