Guides
How to choose IT support in Macao
A support company is judged by what it will put in writing — how fast it answers, what is included, and what happens when things break — not by how good the pitch sounds.
Definition
IT support outsourcing means handing the day-to-day maintenance and incident handling of your PCs, network, email and licences to an outside team working to a written SLA. You keep decision rights and ownership of your data.
1. Response times that are specific
“As soon as possible” cannot be measured, and you find out what it means on the worst day. A contract should state three numbers: time to first response, time to be on site, and which situations count as an emergency.
- 24/7, or office hours only?
- What are the response times for remote versus on-site?
- How are public holidays and typhoon days counted?
2. On-site coverage and travel
Macao Peninsula, Taipai, Cotai and Coloane are different journeys. Write down whether “Macao-wide” includes the islands, and whether outlying sites carry extra time.
3. A written record after every visit
What was done, what was replaced, what risk remains, what needs following up. That record is how you explain IT internally and how you build next year’s budget — and it is the difference between a process and a memory.
4. How accounts and data are handed over
Outsourcing is not giving up control. Ask who holds the administrator account, how it is returned when the engagement ends, and whether all data can be exported. Get those three right and changing supplier becomes a handover, not a rebuild.
5. Cost structure and how quotes are produced
Monthly managed, per-visit and per-project are three different pricing logics; they cannot be compared line by line. Ask what happens outside scope, whether there is a minimum charge, and whether an assessment and written scope come before any quote.
Our sequence is free check → written scope → quote. Pricing follows the scope; the scope is written before work starts.
Seven questions to ask
Read them out as they are. Vague answers are the risk.
- Which SLA sentences will you put in the contract?
- Does on-site cover the whole of Macao, including the islands?
- Do I receive a written report after each visit?
- Who holds the administrator account?
- If I change supplier later, can all my data be exported?
- Are Microsoft and Adobe licences registered to the company?
- Will you assess and write the scope before quoting?
Five warning signs
Not automatically disqualifying — but worth a second question.
- “Just WhatsApp me when something breaks” — no SLA, no records
- A quote that will not say what is excluded
- Wanting to run your admin account from a personal login
- Refusing to say whose name the licences are under
- Selling hardware only, with no maintenance story
Frequently asked questions
How is outsourced IT different from hiring a full-time IT person?
A hire is a person in the office; outsourcing is a responsibility written into an SLA. Most SMEs do not need full-time on-site IT, and outsourcing brings 24/7 remote support, fixed response times and written reports. If you have heavy internal system development, a mix of outsourced operations and in-house development may fit better.
We only have a few PCs — is outsourcing worth it?
It is not about the number of machines, it is about the cost of downtime. If losing the connection means you cannot issue invoices or ship orders, a clear response commitment is worth having. Scope and cost depend on device count, sites and inspection frequency — usually settled after one assessment.
Is changing supplier painful?
It comes down to accounts and data. Confirm before signing that the company holds the administrator account and that data can be fully exported; the switch then becomes a handover process rather than a rebuild.
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