How we work
Sized to your business, not to a price per user
Most of our clients buy a retainer: hours each month, at one rate whoever does the work, with a team sized to meet them. Here is why it serves you better than a fixed fee, and what it costs.
Why we work on retainers
Excellent service takes skill and capacity. We bring the skill; retained hours bring the capacity.
The usual industry model
A fixed price per user
- The supplier is paid the same however much you need, so the team is sized to the price.
- Your request joins a queue behind every other client’s busy month.
- Expertise is rationed: a first line answers, and a specialist is an escalation away.
- As your business grows, the service quietly gets worse, and nobody can show you why.
How we work
Retained hours
- We know next month’s demand this month, across every client.
- The team is sized to that demand, with room for the unexpected.
- Every hour is reported to you, so you see where the time goes.
- If your demand grows, the retainer grows with it, and so does the team behind it.
What a retainer gives you
Four things a fixed fee cannot promise
One rate, whoever does the work
Your retainer buys our senior engineers and tech consultants, at one rate, whoever picks it up.
Expertise is usually rationed: the first line answers, and reaching a specialist means an escalation, a wait or a higher rate. On a retainer every hour is priced at the senior engineer rate, less your discount, whoever does the work. Your problem goes straight to the person best placed to solve it, and you never weigh up whether a question is worth a consultant's time.
- Engineer Your retainer rate
- Senior Engineer Your retainer rate
- Tech Consultant Your retainer rate
On consumed time, each grade is charged at its own list rate.
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A team sized to you
Retained hours tell us next month’s demand this month, so the people are there when you call, not hired after the backlog has formed.
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A report that shows where the hours go
Every month: what was done, who did it and how long it took. When a pattern emerges we talk it through, and you choose whether to fix the cause or pay for the demand.
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A cap, so a month never surprises you
You set how far past your hours we may go. Up to the cap, work carries on; at the cap, we stop and ask. The most you pay in a month is always a number you agreed.
The honest answer
Will it cost more than a fixed fee?
On paper, month by month, it often will. A fixed fee per user is priced to be the cheapest line on a comparison, and it stays cheap by rationing what you get.
A retainer prices the hours your business actually needs, at one rate whoever does the work, with a team sized to meet them. What you are paying for is the gap between a problem being logged and a problem being solved: the hour your office loses when a line is down, the specialist you reach straight away, the replacement planned before the failure rather than after it.
How many hours you need is shaped by your own decisions: the technology you run (every device, server and system needs managed service: updates, patching, monitoring and end of life planning), the vendors you rely on, and the people you hire. A fixed fee asks your supplier to absorb all of that quietly, and they protect themselves by doing less. A retainer makes it visible in the monthly report, and puts the decision where it belongs, with you: fix the cause, or pay for the demand.
You pay for the demand your business creates, and we keep the capacity to meet it. Neither side subsidises the other.
What the hours also buy
A conversation every month, not once a year at renewal
On a fixed fee, a supplier has little reason to talk about how much you use, because every conversation about demand becomes a conversation about price, so it waits for renewal. On a retainer the hours are visible to both sides, and the conversation happens every month, while there is still time to act on it.
The monthly report is where it starts: what was done, who did it and how long it took. When a pattern shows up, a vendor that keeps letting you down, laptops past their best, a team that needs training, we bring it to you and you decide whether to fix the cause or keep paying for the demand. Over time we come to know your business, and you can see exactly what your IT costs and why.
So call us about anything, however small. Small problems are where the patterns show up first, and on a retainer you never have to weigh up whether a question is worth an hour.
Retainers
How a retainer works
Two numbers, agreed with you: the hours you commit to each month, and the most we may go past them before we stop and ask.
Your commitment
Your retainer hours
A set number of hours each month for the term, paid every month whether or not they are used. In return you get the discount, a team sized for you, and unused hours that carry forward for three months.
Your limit
Your monthly cap
How many hours past your retainer we may work in a month, set with you when we agree your retainer. Up to the cap, work carries on without waiting for approval; at the cap, we stop and ask. You can change it whenever you wish.
For example
A 20 hour retainer with a 5 hour cap
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A quiet month
14 hours used. You pay for your 20, and the 6 unused hours carry forward for three months.
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A busy month
24 hours used. Hours carried forward cover the extra 4 first; any they do not cover are charged as overage.
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An exceptional month
Your hours and any carried forward are used, and 5 overage hours take you to your cap. We stop and call you: raise your cap, or let the rest wait.
Your commitment over the term
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Start of term
Fixed for the term
A term of 12 to 60 months. Your minimum commitment and your discount are fixed from the day it starts: the longer the term, the bigger the discount.
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Any time in the term
Increase at any time
If your business needs more, increase your minimum commitment mid term. The higher level starts a new term from that month.
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End of term
Decrease at renewal
If you need less, reduce your minimum commitment when the current term ends, and the next term starts at the new level.
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- What the hours cover
- Remote support, quick changes, site visits (plus the £30 call-out), managed service work and minor projects. Major projects, which need a project manager, are priced fixed.
- The rate
- Every retainer is priced on the senior engineer hourly rate, discounted by up to 35% depending on the term, whoever does the work. The rate is reviewed once a year, and any rise is capped at the Consumer Prices Index plus five percentage points.
- Beyond your hours
- Overage, up to your cap, is charged at the senior engineer rate without the retainer discount. If it recurs, we propose a larger retainer rather than continue to bill the difference.
- Unused hours
- Carry forward for three months and can go towards project work or a busier month. After three months they lapse.
- Warnings
- You hear from us as you approach your retained hours, again when they are used (carried-forward hours included), and before we reach your cap.
- Billing
- To the minute, with no minimum charge per request. Travel is never charged. One invoice a month.
Request a retainer proposal Or call 01642 661888 and talk it through with a director.
The service desk
Four commitments we put in writing
These apply whichever way you pay for our time. The live figures on our home page show how we are doing against them today, and here is how each one is measured.
3rings
Answered by a trained Odyssey employee
Every call, within three rings. No menu, no queue and no voicemail: a member of our team in Stockton-on-Tees.
2hours
Actively working on anything urgent
Our written minimum: actively working within 2 hours on anything urgent, and within 10 working hours on everything else. In practice we are usually much faster.
1minute
Billed to the minute
No rounding up to the quarter hour and no minimum charge per request. Travel is never charged; the only addition for a site visit is a £30 call-out.
0barriers
A ticket system, not a barrier
We run a ticket system to keep work organised, not to keep you at a distance. You can always speak to a person, and you decide the priority of your own request.
Other ways to buy our time
Four engagement models
Every hour we work for you falls under one of four arrangements. The arrangement sets the rate and the commitment; it never changes who answers the phone or who does the work.
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Consumed
For ad hoc work, with no commitment
Pay only for the time we spend, at the list rate for the grade and the time of day. Best for simple, low-risk tasks where a survey or a fixed price is not required.
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- Rate
- List rate, by grade and time of day
- Certainty
- Low, varies with use
- Most in a month
- No limit
- Approval
- Each job, as it arises
- Commitment
- None
- Priority
- Standard queue
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Fixed price
For a defined piece of work or project
We survey the work and propose a fixed price before we start, so you know the cost in advance. Nothing ongoing beyond the project.
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- Rate
- A fixed sum for the job
- Certainty
- Fixed, overrun is ours
- Most in a month
- The agreed price
- Approval
- Scoped and priced before we start
- Commitment
- The project only
- Priority
- Scheduled to plan
- Most clients
Retainer
The way most of our clients work with us
A committed block of hours each month, bought in advance at a discount, for service desk, minor projects and managed service. Engineers, senior engineers and tech consultants, all at one rate.
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- Rate
- One discounted rate, whoever does the work, consultants included
- Certainty
- Fixed monthly spend
- Most in a month
- Your retainer, plus the cap you set
- Approval
- Pre-authorised within your hours
- Commitment
- A set number of hours a month, for a term of 12 to 60 months
- Priority
- Priority response
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Fractional
When you need scheduled on-site presence
Agreed engineer days at your site, added to a retainer. A day is seven hours on task, and we rotate the engineers so several of the team know your business. Save what can wait for the visit; the service desk handles the rest as it arises.
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- Rate
- Agreed day rate, on top of a retainer
- Certainty
- Fixed monthly spend
- Most in a month
- Your retainer and days, plus your cap
- Approval
- Pre-authorised and scheduled
- Commitment
- Your retainer plus agreed days, for the same term
- Priority
- Priority, plus booked days
In a client's words
"Odyssey looked after our phones for twenty years before we gave them our IT, so we knew the people. What the retainer changed is the waiting. When something stops in a haulage business it costs money by the hour, and now the person who picks up is the one who can fix it. The monthly report shows me where the hours went, and I have never opened an invoice I was not expecting."
Questions people ask
Do we pay for retained hours we do not use?
Yes. A retainer is a commitment: you pay for your hours every month of the term, which is what lets us size the team for you and discount the rate. Unused hours are not lost; they carry forward for three months and can go towards project work or a busier month.
Can a month cost more than we expect?
Only as far as your cap. The most you pay in a month is your retainer plus the overage hours you agreed. At the cap we stop and ask before doing any more work.
How long is the term?
Between 12 and 60 months, agreed with you. The longer the term, the larger the discount on the senior engineer rate, and both the discount and your minimum commitment are fixed for the whole term.
Can we change the cap?
Yes, whenever you wish. We set it with you when we agree your retainer, and it stays until you ask us to change it: raise it ahead of a busy period, or lower it if you would rather work waits. Your minimum commitment is different: it can be increased at any time, and reduced at the end of the term.
Who does the work under a retainer?
Whoever is best placed to solve it: an engineer, a senior engineer or a tech consultant. Every hour costs the same, so you never have to ask for a cheaper person or wait for an expert.
Is a retainer right for a small business?
Retainers are sized to the business, and a small one needs few hours. If your demand is genuinely occasional, consumed time may suit you better, and we will say so. The retainer earns its place once you rely on your technology every day.
Want a retainer sized to your business?
Call and we answer within three rings. Or tell us what you need and we will call you back at any time.