When you hire a Managed Service Provider (MSP), the shared goal is simple: reduce technology disruptions to your organization. Your MSP exists to help you execute technology consistently, minimize issues, and keep your environment stable. But many businesses are surprised when they discover that projects such as moves, adds, and changes (MACs) aren’t included in their MSP agreement. Instead, they’re billed separately.
Why? Isn’t that just part of IT support?
To answer this, let’s step back and look at the bigger picture: MSPs build their services around consistency & standards. These standards are the “box with defined edges,” guiding how systems are supported day after day. Projects, however, introduce a level of variability and risk that fall outside of that well-defined box. To protect your business—and ensure projects succeed—MSPs handle changes to the environment as unique engagements.
The MSP Goal: Consistency Over Chaos
Imagine two shapes:
- A box with well-defined edges
- A random blob with no boundaries
Supporting IT with standards is like working inside that well defined box. Everything has boundaries, processes are repeatable, and outcomes are predictable. Supporting IT without standards is like chasing a blob—it changes shape, has no clear rules, and slows everything down.
That’s why MSPs operate with well-defined practices:
- Executing the same way, every day
- Eliminating one-offs that create confusion
- Simplifying support so that anyone on the service desk can assist
- Accelerating time to resolution because environments look familiar across clients
For Morefield, achieving this goal means applying a set of standards to every environment we manage.
What Do MSP Standards Look Like?
Standards aren’t just abstract rules. They’re structured, written guidelines that touch on every area of technology critical to your business.
Here’s how Morefield organizes our standards:
- By Category – We break technology down into strategic areas such as servers, workstations, security, networking, and cloud.
- We Ask a Question – What exactly are we evaluating?
- We Assign Priority – How critical is this to the environment?
- We Define the Why – Why are we evaluating it? What risk does it address?
- We Set a Frequency – How often should we check this? Monthly? Quarterly?
- We Create a Process – What exact steps will we take to find the answer?
This isn’t guesswork. Standards are written with yes|no questions that provide clear edges to the “box.” For example:
- Good: The system partition is at least 50GB.
- Bad: What is the actual partition size?
By sticking to measurable parameters, MSPs keep environments predictable. Every system is checked, measured, and aligned to the standard. The result? A stable IT environment where support tickets are resolved quickly because surprises are minimized.
Why Projects Are Different
But here’s the catch: no IT environment stays frozen in time.
Changes, upgrades, and product replacements are inevitable. Hardware ages, software vendors retire applications, businesses expand into new locations, and users demand new capabilities. This is the normal life cycle of technology.
When it’s time to make changes, they can’t just be slotted into the “standards box.” A project is bigger than a support ticket. Projects introduce:
- New variables that need planning
- Budget implications beyond the monthly agreement
- Dependencies across hardware, software, and employees
- Measurable outcomes that must be tracked
If MSPs tried to include all of that within the flat monthly fee of a managed service agreement, one of two things would happen:
Costs would spiral, forcing higher costs for technology support.
Standards would erode, and projects would be rushed without proper planning.
Neither outcome benefits you the client. That’s why MSPs treat projects as separate events.
The Right Way to Manage IT Change
When Morefield undertakes a technology project, the objective isn’t just to “install the new thing.” It’s to manage the chaos of change so that your employees are happy with the outcome. Done correctly, projects:
- Roll out smoothly with minimal disruption
- Deliver measurable improvements
- Stay on time and on budget
- Leave the environment more standardized, not less
This is possible when projects are planned, budgeted, and executed as standalone efforts outside the monthly MSP agreement.
How Projects Are Identified and Planned
The good news is that project planning isn’t an afterthought. It’s built into the very fabric of the MSP relationship. At Morefield, we include strategic planning sessions as part of our agreements. These typically happen quarterly or bi-annually. During these sessions, we:
- Review reports from monthly site visits and standards checks
- Identify patterns and trends across your environment
- Spot risks before they spiral into problems
- Discuss technologies that could provide better business outcomes
Because the data is based on standards reviews that are conducted during monthly site visits, the conversation is grounded in facts, not guesswork. From there, Morefield will work with your organization to:
- Apply budget to the issues identified
- Rank priorities so the most important improvements come first
- Create a roadmap for the next cycle of upgrades
This process ensures you’re not blindsided by surprise costs or rushed projects. Instead, each project is anticipated, budgeted, and aligned with your business goals.
Why the Separate Billing Matters
Think of it like remodeling your kitchen.
You wouldn’t expect your day-to-day handyman service to cover a full kitchen remodel. That renovation project requires a separate plan, a budget, specialized labor, and a timeline. You’d sit down with a kitchen contractor, agree on a scope, and understand the costs before any work begins. IT projects work the same way.
- Moves, adds, and changes are like remodeling projects. They go beyond day-to-day maintenance and require specialized attention.
- The monthly MSP agreement is like having a handyman on call—fixing things, maintaining systems, and ensuring consistency.
By keeping projects outside the monthly agreement, MSPs protect your budget, your systems, and your outcomes.
What to expect from a best in class MSP
The goal of your MSP is always the same: eliminate disruptions, standardize your environment, and deliver predictable outcomes. That’s why Morefield invests in building clear standards, monitoring them, and working with you to plan strategically.
But technology doesn’t stand still. When it’s time to make a change—whether migrating to new hardware, replacing a system, or adding new users—the rules shift. Those projects need to be handled separately to ensure they’re done right.
Yes, it means an additional investment. But just as with a home remodel, that investment is managed with a budget and a plan. The result isn’t just new technology—it’s an improved, more stable environment that supports your business for the long term.
Ready to Learn More About our Approach for Delivering Managed Services – Contact Morefield today
At Morefield, we believe that projects aren’t exceptions to your IT strategy—they’re part of the natural evolution of your business. By separating them from the day-to-day support agreement, we give them the attention they deserve.
And just like a trusted contractor helps you plan for your next home improvement project, we’ll help you plan, budget, and execute your iMAC projects so that your organization’s technology continues to enrich—not disrupt—your operations.