Every managed IT provider in BC advertises “fast response” or “rapid support.” Almost none define what those words mean in their service contracts. That’s a problem, because the difference between a 15-minute response and a 4-hour response is the difference between productive employees and a building full of people staring at frozen screens.
Here’s what IT support SLAs actually mean, why response time matters more than fix time, and how to evaluate the numbers your prospective MSP gives you.
Response time vs. resolution time
These get conflated constantly. They’re very different.
- Response time is how long until a real human acknowledges your ticket and begins working on it.
- Resolution time is how long until the issue is fully fixed.
An MSP can have a slow response time but a fast resolution time (they take a while to get to your ticket but fix it quickly once they do). They can have a fast response time but a slow resolution time (immediate acknowledgment but the actual fix drags on). Both numbers matter, but response time is the one that drives user experience.
What “15-minute response time” actually means
When we say our average response time is 15 minutes, that means: from the moment a ticket arrives in our system, the average time until a senior technician picks it up and either starts working on it or replies to ask clarifying questions is 15 minutes. That number is measured automatically across every ticket, every day. It’s not aspirational — it’s observed.
For comparison, the industry average for managed IT response times is 30–60 minutes during business hours, with first-tier triage teams pulling tickets out of a queue.
Why response time is the metric that matters
Two reasons:
- It’s the metric your employees feel. If a critical system goes down at 9:15am, the difference between “someone is working on this in 15 minutes” and “someone will look at this in 90 minutes” is the difference between a minor disruption and a half-day of lost productivity.
- It’s the metric that’s easiest to measure objectively. Resolution time depends heavily on the issue (a password reset takes 2 minutes; a server rebuild takes 6 hours), so it’s hard to compare across providers. Response time is a fair apples-to-apples comparison.
The cost math on response time
Let’s say your business has 25 employees and an average wage cost of $50/hour fully loaded. Your team collectively generates ~12 IT tickets per month.
If those 12 tickets each have an extra 60 minutes of response time delay (90 vs 30 minutes), and during that delay 1 person is fully blocked, that’s 12 hours/month of pure lost productivity. At $50/hour, that’s $600/month or $7,200/year.
If 5 of those tickets affect a small team (say 4 people each), the multiplier increases dramatically — closer to $15,000–$25,000/year in pure productivity loss.
How to evaluate an MSP’s response time claims
- Ask for it in writing. “What’s your contracted response time SLA?” If they don’t have one, that’s a red flag.
- Ask for a sample monthly report. Reputable MSPs measure and report on response times. Ask to see one (anonymized if needed).
- Ask what happens if they miss the SLA. Some MSPs offer credits or escalation guarantees. Others have nothing.
- Verify with reference clients. Ask current clients about their experience, not just the salesperson’s claims.
The bottom line
Response time is one of the few IT metrics that has a direct, measurable impact on your business. A 15-minute response time can save a small business tens of thousands of dollars per year compared to an MSP with a 60-90 minute response.
If you’d like to talk about what response time looks like for your specific business, our free 30-minute assessment covers SLAs, expectations, and the right model for your team.
