In-house technician or managed IT services? The full sums for a 30-workstation SME

• Real cost Adding holiday and Christmas allowances, 23.75% TSU, insurance, meal allowance, training and tools, a technician costs between €30,300 and €40,700 a year (scenarios with base salaries of €1,400 and €2,000).
• Cover 22 working days of holiday plus 5 of training add up to 27 days without a technician, not counting sick leave.
• Specialisation One person rarely masters networks, firewalls, Microsoft 365, servers, backups and security to the same level.
• A fair comparison The technician’s total annual cost against the annual fee, and the fee is only known after an assessment.

The figure agreed at interview is only the start. In Portugal, the employer bears:

• 14 salary payments 12 months plus holiday and Christmas allowances.
• 23.75% TSU The company’s Social Security contribution, on top of the salary (the employee contributes 11% on their side). It does not appear on the employee’s payslip, but it does appear in the company’s accounts.
• Workplace accident insurance Mandatory under Law no. 98/2009; the amount varies by insurer.
• Meal allowance For every day worked.
• Training The Labour Code guarantees at least 40 hours a year; for an IT technician, certifications in networking, security and Microsoft normally go beyond that.
• Tools Laptop, mobile phone, licences for remote access, inventory and monitoring, and travel.

Simulation with two salary levels

Illustrative simulation. TSU, holidays and training follow the law; salaries and the remaining lines are assumptions to be replaced with your company’s actual figures. Recruitment is not included.

For reference, INE (Statistics Portugal) reports an average total gross monthly pay of €1,694 in 2025. Spread over 14 months, it is close to scenario A; scenario B corresponds to a more experienced profile.

With 22 working days of holiday and around 5 days of mandatory training, the company is without its technician for 27 working days. Add sick leave and, one day, the technician’s own departure — which means recruiting and rebuilding knowledge of the network from scratch.

Faults do not follow the calendar. If the server fails in August, either there is nobody, or someone from outside is called in who does not know the infrastructure and charges for it. We have done the sums for that scenario in what each hour of downtime costs a 20-workstation company.

A company of this size almost always has:

• Network Switches, Wi-Fi access points and firewall.
• Cloud productivity Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, with accounts, licences and security rules.
• Servers and backups On premises or in the cloud, with copies that need to be tested.
• Security Device protection, two-factor authentication and password policies.
• Peripherals and mixed platforms Printers, phones and, often, Apple alongside Windows.

The most common profile is a technician who is strong on user support and less comfortable with networks or cybersecurity — precisely the areas where a mistake costs most. In a managed services model, there are specialists for each area who have already solved the same problem at other companies.

It makes sense when there are highly specific internal applications, a need for permanent physical presence or enough scale for a small IT team. Even then, the usual approach is to pair the in-house lead with an external partner for security, networks and cover. For companies of 50 to 200 workstations, we detail that hybrid model in in-house IT department or external partner.

In a 30-workstation company without those requirements, the retainer usually wins on cover, specialisation and predictability.

1. Add up the technician’s total cost — use the simulation above with your own figures.
2. Ask for a proposal based on an assessment — not on a per-workstation price taken from a table. DataRoad’s IT Unlimited proposal is only finalised after we have analysed the infrastructure.
3. Compare the scope — on-site visits, security, monitoring and hours. On Essential (from €395/month + VAT) support is remote and by telephone, with no on-site visits; on IT Unlimited Premium (from €750/month + VAT) on-site support is unlimited.
4. Read the exit terms — the DataRoad contract is annual, with automatic renewal, 60 days’ notice and no lock-in.

For market benchmarks, see the cost of an IT contract for business. If you are finalising next year’s budget, see the guide to IT budgeting for 2027.

PTR Pharma Consulting, a consultancy in the health and pharmaceutical sectors, handed all its IT management to DataRoad under an annual IT Unlimited contract with a fixed fee. The scope covers workstations, wireless network, printers, servers and backups, internet connection, firewall and VPN. The corporate website and business email are hosted on DataRoad’s servers, with redundant backups and protection against spam and phishing.

Instead of one person trying to cover everything, the company has a team responsible for the whole and a single contract. Read the full PTR Pharma Consulting case study.

We assess your infrastructure, work out the cost of the in-house model with you and deliver an IT Unlimited proposal with a fixed monthly fee, with no obligation, so you can compare side by side.

More than 10 workstations · support contract · remote, on-site and telephone support. Call +351 211 459 950* or write to sales@dataroad.pt.

*Call to a Portuguese landline.

• PwC Tax Guide 2026 — Social Security (23.75% employer, 11% employee)
• Portuguese Labour Code (Law no. 7/2009) — art. 131 (40 hours of training) and art. 238 (22 working days of holiday)
• Government of Portugal — “Real wages grew 3.2% in 2025” (INE data: €1,694 average total gross monthly pay)
• Law no. 98/2009 of 4 September — workplace accident compensation regime